I have a c sharp dll. How can I make it usable in other languages, such as PHP or Delphi?

Question

I have a dll developed in C Sharp. How can I make it usable in other languages, such as PHP or Delphi?

I cannot find any solution to this problem yet. Isn't there any easy way of doing this?

Answer 1

If Delphi can understand COM, then you can make a COM wrapper around the .NET DLL.

I am doing this now for an older IDE which doesn't understand .NET, but it understands COM so I am able to use the latest .NET features in my older applications.

Answer 2

In addition to COM, you could try these (from my Delphi Win32 to WCF answer) for Delphi Win32:

• Use Delphi Prism with the UnmanagedExport attribute to create a .NET wrapper that you can call from native Delphi Win32
• Use Managed VCL to do .NET interop from native Delphi Win32
• From another Stackoverflow question: create a C++ DLL crossing the bridge this used "mixed mode C++"
• Use RemObjects Hydra on both the C# or Delphi Prism and native Delphi Win32 side (RemObjects wrote Delphi Prism, so this works like a charm)

The last one might be the real one you are after.

For PHP it is a different story;

• PHP might run on a non-Windows box,
• there are .NET implementations of PHP that would allow for direct linking of your C# assembly DLL

--jeroen