Forum Discussion

Copper Contributor

Oct 31, 2018

Msix : how to load DLL from other msix package.

There is a good MS documentation about msix extension. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/launch-resume/extend-your-app-with-services-extensions-packages?context=/windows/msix/render ...

Dooyoul Chung

Copper Contributor

Nov 01, 2018

Hi Andy,

Thanks for reply. I've set en-us.msix as an optional package.

I've switch from LoadLibraryEx() to LoadPackagedLibrary() but still does not working.

If I set en-us.msix as "Framework" and set <PackageDependency> from mainapp.msix then I can load mainappres.dll from mainapp.exe. However the en-us.msix is an option package of mainapp.msix not a "Framework".

Is there other way of I can define appmanifest.xml either mainapp.msix or en-us.msix can load DLL the same way as en-us.msix defined with "Framework".

Thanks for sharing your suggestion.

Andy Liu

Former Employee

Nov 02, 2018

With regards to loading the mainappres.dll, can you try making the en-us.msix optional package to be in a related set with the mainapp.msix, and also make sure mainappres.dll is in the root of en-us.msix when you are using LoadPackagedLibrary? Related set documentation for working within Visual Studio is here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/packaging/optional-packages

If you are not using Visual Studio, you can create the related set manually by bundling the mainapp.msix into an .msixbundle, with the AppxBundleManifest.xml containing a pointer to the en-us.msix. The documentation for how to do this is here: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/appinstaller/2017/05/12/tooling-to-create-a-related-set/

Let me know if this works for you.

Andy

Dooyoul Chung
Copper Contributor
Nov 02, 2018
Thanks Andy,

Now, "Optional package" works as expected. The issue caused converting MSI to MSIX with "Msix Packaging Tool" with defining below Install Location. If I define install location as "C:\Program Files\MsixPrototype" then MSIX generated under [ROOT]\Program Files instead of [ROOT]\VFS\ProgramFilesX64\ which caused problem to loading optional package.
Once change package location under [ROOT]\VFS\ProgramFilesX64\MsixPrototype\mainapp.exe
and "Optional Package" as [ROOT]\VFS\ProgramFielsX64\MsixPrototype\mainappres.dll
all worked well with LoadLibraryEx( ).

Suggestion is remove "Install location" from "MSIX Packaging Tool" UI _or_ adding description to avoid confusion.

Thanks all.