Re: netcdf for win32/borland

-----Original Message-----
From: Wim Pool <address@hidden>
To: address@hidden <address@hidden>
Date: Tuesday, March 24, 1998 3:26 AM
Subject: netcdf for win32/borland



Hello John,

I am very new in the field of NetCDF and I am just learning C. I
have, however, a lot of experience in Delphi and want to use netCDF
to work on large datafiles.
Therefor I have downloaded nc version 3.4 from the places given in
message #447 in ncdigest.
The NCDUMP program works fine with the dll given in the win32bin.zip.
Using Delphi, however, I cannot access function's in this netcdf.dll.

Being a familliar with the Borland interface I installed Cbuilder and
wrote my first C program. This also was not succesfull.
With a few adjustments in the code I was able to compile the 3.4
sources with Cbuilder to a new dll. This Borland DLL can be read by
both Cbuilder and Delphi programs.

Comparing the old MS netcdf.dll with the new Borland netcdf.dll
(using windows quick view) indicated that the provided NetCDF is
different in format from Borland's DLL. MS gives no export table,
Borland gives an export table.

The ncdump program does not work with Borland's DLL.

Do you know the explanation for this and do you think that I am doing
the correct thing by using Borland's DLL.

---------

Hi Wim:

I'm not particularly an expert on this platform, but here's what I
understand:

1) using the DLL: you need to link to the file netcdf.lib, which has stubs
into the DLL. This library replaces the "export table" that Borland uses.
(Its possible to use export files in MS, we just chose this way).

2) I wouldnt expect the Borland and MS DLLs to be interoperable.  But I
would expect you could use the  MS DLL (by linking to the netcdf.lib
library), even from a Borland compiled program.  (At link time you basically
have to say what DLL you are using, I think)

3)  There shouldn't be any problem using libraries built with the Borland
compiler. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so run all of the
standard tests. If it passes, then i would use it with confidence.  If you
have the time, send us what changes and compiler options you used, and we'll
add that information to our web site for others to learn from.

4) we also provide static librariies (netcdfs.lib) that should be useable
with any compiler,
and statically linked executables (ncdumps.exe and ncgens.exe).

Let me know if you are still having trouble.

John Caron