Yesterday I was working on a C#.net solution. The solution is quite big and has so many projects added in it. Some of these projects require a COM DLL as a reference. I was working on a machine, where the solution was getting built successfully, then for some reason I moved all code to some other machine. However this time when I rebuilt the Solution on new machine, I got so many errors only related to COM DLL.
The error was like –
“A reference to ‘[DLL_NAME]’ could not be loaded. Please make sure that the file is accessible, and that it is a valid assembly or COM component.”
Initially I struggled to understand the error and then on how to make a COM object DLL. Because it was quite a long time back almost 4 years ago I created a COM dll so I forgot the steps to make a com object. J
And then it just clicked in my mind to write up a step by step article on how to create a COM object DLL for my some those friends who are still struggling to create a COM dll. J
Here are the steps. Let’s start then J
The error was like –
“A reference to ‘[DLL_NAME]’ could not be loaded. Please make sure that the file is accessible, and that it is a valid assembly or COM component.”
Initially I struggled to understand the error and then on how to make a COM object DLL. Because it was quite a long time back almost 4 years ago I created a COM dll so I forgot the steps to make a com object. J
And then it just clicked in my mind to write up a step by step article on how to create a COM object DLL for my some those friends who are still struggling to create a COM dll. J
Here are the steps. Let’s start then J
- The first step is to open a command prompt. You will need to type “cmd” in run box and hit enter button.
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| How to make a com dll - open Command Prompt |
- “TlbImp.exe” is an executable file which you need to create a com object from existing valid type library dll.
- If you are working on VS-2010 then follow the steps –
- If a machine is 32 bit where you are making your COM dll then go to following location in opened command prompt –
%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\bin
- If a machine is 64 bit then go to following location in command prompt –
%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\bin
- VS-2005 users follow the steps –
- 32 bit users, go to following location -
%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\Bin
- 64 bit users, go to following location –
%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\Bin
- Now type following command in command prompt and hit enter as shown -
TlbImp.exe fully_qualified_path_of_your_dll
- If a dll is valid type library then the above command will create a successful COM dll object in location from where you are executing “tlbimp.exe” with the same dll name.
- Copy this newly created valid COM object to your project reference location and build the solution. The error will not appear again… J
