how to use a library in masm or more specifcally a .lib file?

Question

I have made a .lib file using visual studio 2010 and now I want to use it in masm. How can I do that? need help. I tried to look it on the internet but couldn\'t find any pr

Answer 1

Your MathFuncsLib.lib includes decorated symbols and references to other .libs.

MSVC "decorate" its C++-symbols, i.e. the symbols contain not only names but also arguments, types, etc. - the whole declaration. If you call DUMPBIN.EXE MathFuncsLib.lib /SYMBOLS you can see the symbols stored in the .lib and find:

067 00000000 SECT19 notype () External | ?Subtract@MyMathFuncs@MathFuncs@@SAHHH@Z (public: static int __cdecl MathFuncs::MyMathFuncs::Subtract(int,int))

?Subtract@MyMathFuncs@MathFuncs@@SAHHH@Z is the decorated symbol and (public: static int __cdecl MathFuncs::MyMathFuncs::Subtract(int,int)) its undecorated content. MASM can't automatically undecorate the symbols, so you must manually explore the symbol and take the whole symbol in a PROTO directive. A following equate is useful for later calls.

It isn't generally a good idea to mix C++ and Assembler especially when using objects. Better is to write a C-program (C and C++ are two different languages!) and to integrate those .libs into an Assembler program. There are many examples for this in the net.

I've got following code running:

test.asm:

include \masm32\include\masm32rt.inc        ; MASM32 headers especially 'pr2'

includelib msvcprtd.lib
includelib MathFuncsLib.lib

?Subtract@MyMathFuncs@MathFuncs@@SAHHH@Z PROTO SYSCALL
Subtract EQU 

.data
    int1 SDWORD 100
    int2 SDWORD 10
    result SDWORD ?

.code
main PROC

    invoke Subtract, int1, int2
    add esp, 8
    mov result, eax

    printf ("%i\n",result);

    invoke ExitProcess, 0

main ENDP

END main

test.cmd:

@ECHO OFF 
SET PATH=C:\masm32\bin; 
SET LIB=C:\TMP\;C:\Compiler\Visual Studio Express 2010\VC\lib; 
ml.exe /nologo /coff test.asm /link /subsystem:console /opt:noref /ignore:4044 /nologo 
test.exe

In my testcase C:\TMP is the path to MathFuncsLib.lib. C:\Compiler\Visual Studio Express 2010\VC\lib is the path to msvcprtd.lib.