C++ - linking to 3rd party DLL - intermittent access violation

Question

I have been provided with a C++ DLL and associated header file in order to integrate it with my application. To begin with, I am simply trying to call the DLL from a simple Win32 console application (I'm using Visual Studio 2008 Express).

I've linked the DLL by specifying it as an additional dependency in the project settings.

The interface (i.e. the only exported function) simply returns a pointer to an instance of the Class that I actually need to call. I can successfully call this, get the pointer and call the first function that I need to (an "init" function).

When I come to call the function that actually does the processing I require, I'm intermittently getting a "0xC0000005: Access violation reading location...." error. That is, I run the program - it works successfully and exits - I try to run it again (changing nothing - all parameters are hard coded) and get the error (and continue to do so).

I can't consistently recreate the problem but I'm beginning to think that it may be something to do with the DLL not being unloaded properly - after getting the error on one occasion I tried deleting the DLL and was told by Windows that it was in use. That said, on another occasion I was able to delete the DLL after getting the error, copy it back, then still got the error on the next run.

Should the DLL be correctly unloaded when my .exe finishes? Would I be better off trying to explicitly load/unload the DLL rather than doing it implicitly?

Any other help or advice greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

What types are involved in the classes exported by the DLL? We have often had these kinds of problems with Visual Studio when the classes make use of STL - I'd guess that any template usage would probably be a way to potentially cause this sort of problem.

Answer 2

What's your setting for "Runtime library" under "C/C++" in the configuration properties?
You should probably try /MD (or /MDd for debugging).
see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2kzt1wy3(VS.71).aspx

Answer 3

It won't have anything to do with the DLL being unloaded; different processes using the same DLL do not share any state. Also, the DLL will be unloaded when the process exits; perhaps not gracefully, but it will be unloaded.

I can think of two likely reasons for an intermittent failure.

Most likely, the DLL has a race condition. This could be one that's exposed if the DLL has been cached, causing the timing to change. That would explain why your first run didn't fail but subsequent ones did.

I think it's also possible that the DLL didn't release its lock on some file. If there is some file you know is accessed by this DLL, try checking to see if that file is locked after the process ends.

Also, get this in a debugger. Turn on first-chance exceptions in visual studio and look at the callstack where the AV is happening, and post it here.