Why am I having problems passing argument to or from a FORTRAN DLL from VB.NET

Question

I have a DLL written in fortran that I know works because I am getting it from a working software package that we use daily. I am trying to call it from anything but am having problems i believe with passing the correctly formatted arguments in and out of it, so i decided to try and access it from a VB program. I chose VB because I have contacted the developer of the software package we are using and he gave me his DLL function call in VB6, even though he is not allowed to show me the FORTRAN source.

Problem is (perhaps, i think) that I am writing in VB.NET, which has different data types than VB6. Can anyone see why i am am having problems.

The error i get upon running is: "AccessViolationException was unhandled: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt."

Here is the function call i was supplied with:

Declare Sub FCC_Curves Lib "FCC_Curves.dll" (Read_Flag As Boolean, First_Flag As Boolean, Frequency_MHz As Single, IQT As Integer,  ByVal Radiation_Opt As String, ByVal L1 As Long,  ERP_Watts As Single, T_PowerWatts As Single, Tx_GaindBi As Single, T_Loss As Single, ByVal Service As String, ByVal L2 As Long, Reliability As Integer, ByVal FCC_CurvesDataPath As String, ByVal L3 As Long,  ByVal TerrainRoughness As String, ByVal L4 As Long, Haatm As Single, NPRfl As Integer, NFCCCurve As Integer, HPRfl As Single,  Crve As Single, FCC_Loss As Single, Code As Integer, FS As Single)

and here is my code:

Module Module1

    Declare Sub FCC_Curves Lib "FCC_Curves.dll" (ByVal Read_Flag As Boolean, ByVal First_Flag As Boolean, ByVal Frequency_MHz As Single, ByVal IQT As Int16, ByVal Radiation_Opt As String, ByVal L1 As Int32, ByVal ERP_Watts As Single, ByVal T_PowerWatts As Single, ByVal Tx_GaindBi As Single, ByVal T_Loss As Single, ByVal Service As String, ByVal L2 As Int32, ByVal Reliability As Int16, ByVal FCC_CurvesDataPath As String, ByVal L3 As Int32, ByVal TerrainRoughness As String, ByVal L4 As Int32, ByVal Haatm As Single, ByVal NPRfl As Int16, ByVal NFCCCurve As Int16, ByVal HPRfl() As Single, ByVal Crve() As Single, ByRef FCC_Loss As Single, ByRef Code As Int16, ByRef FS() As Single)


    Sub Main()

        Dim Read_Flag As Boolean
        Dim First_Flag As Boolean
        Dim Frequency_MHz As Single
        Dim IQT As Int16
        Dim Radiation_Opt As String
        Dim L1 As Int32
        Dim ERP_Watts As Single
        Dim T_PowerWatts As Single
        Dim Tx_GaindBi As Single
        Dim T_Loss As Single
        Dim Service As String
        Dim L2 As Int32
        Dim Reliability As Int16
        Dim FCC_CurvesDataPath As String
        Dim L3 As Int32
        Dim TerrainRoughness As String
        Dim L4 As Int32
        Dim Haatm As Single
        Dim NPRfl As Int16
        Dim NFCCCurve As Int16
        Dim HPRfl(12) As Single
        Dim Crve(5) As Single
        Dim FCC_Loss As Single
        Dim Code As Int16
        Dim FS(15) As Single
        'Dim HPRfl As Single
        'Dim Crve As Single
        'Dim FCC_Loss As Single
        'Dim Code As Int16
        'Dim FS As Single

        Read_Flag = True
        First_Flag = True
        Frequency_MHz = 98.1
        IQT = 0
        Radiation_Opt = "ERP"
        L1 = 3
        ERP_Watts = 1000
        T_PowerWatts = 1000
        Tx_GaindBi = 2.15
        T_Loss = 0
        Service = "Broadcast"
        L2 = 9
        Reliability = 50
        FCC_CurvesDataPath = "C:\Program Files\CSPT_Extension\data\"
        L3 = 37
        TerrainRoughness = "Off"
        L4 = 3
        Haatm = 1500
        NPRfl = 13
        NFCCCurve = 6
        Dim i As Int16
        HPRfl(0) = 11
        HPRfl(1) = 128
        For i = 2 To 12
            HPRfl(i) = 1500
        Next
        For i = 0 To 5
            Crve(i) = i * 15
        Next



        FCC_Curves(Read_Flag, First_Flag, Frequency_MHz, IQT, Radiation_Opt, L1, ERP_Watts, T_PowerWatts, Tx_GaindBi, T_Loss, Service, L2, Reliability, FCC_CurvesDataPath, L3, TerrainRoughness, L4, Haatm, NPRfl, NFCCCurve, HPRfl, Crve, FCC_Loss, Code, FS)

    End Sub

End Module

Answer 1

Yes, the VB.NET data types are not compatible with the VB6 ones. A VB6 Integer is now a Short (aka Int16). A VB6 Long is now an Integer (aka Int32). A VB6 Boolean was an odd duck, now equivalent to Short where the value True is -1 and False is 0.

Start by changing Long in the function declaration to Integer, that's the Big One.

Answer 2

I found the solution. In VB6 the argument that do not otherwise specify are by default passed to functions as ByRef. In VB.NET if you leave an argument blank in the function declaration, it automatically inserts ByVal, which seems to therefore be the defacto default. VB.NET forces you to specify in other words, so if you are taking a function declaration from VB6 to VB.NET, know that the unmarked default in VB6 is ByRef.

Answer 3

Sometimes it's necessary to use the Auto keyword in an external function with string parameters.

Declare Auto Sub FCC_Curves Lib...