(mis)Adventures with Flexlib

Howard K7JNX

I have applications that use Flexlib.dll to interface with the radio. So after installing v4.2.20 I went looking for a fresh copy and there was none! Although the release notes mention the move to 64 bit architecture, although unsaid, apparently smartsdr was migrated from .net framework to the modern .net architecture (so was it .net7 or .net8 or .net9 or what?) and flexlib routines are now included inside of smartsdr.exe itself.

OK, so the download page does provide a download for flexlib.dll 4.2.20 — but it contains only the raw .cs files, not organized into a formal visual studio project that can be built into a dll. Remains to be seen if I can create the necessary project to build what I currently need: a 32 bit .net framework dll that can be used by my existing programs.

It sure would have been nice if the release notes had discussed this change and what it means for users of flexlib.dll. And it would have been nice if the programmers at Flex had made available for download flexlib.dll in 32 bit .net framework as well as newer 64 bit .net versions.

Looking ahead, I wonder how much difficulty I will encounter if/when I attempt to migrate my programs to 64 bit .net and what version I ought to target to remain in step with Flex's development.

Howard, K7JNX

Eric-KE5DTO

Howard,

We provide the full project for FlexLib (see FlexLib\FlexLib.csproj in the zip), so it should be easy enough to download and compile using Visual Studio (which has a free Community version). Have you tried this?

Trucker

You might try re-linking your project to the new Flexlib dll in Visual Studio to see if it will work. In the past I have copied the dll from the SmartSDR install in Windows to a subfolder in my project and re-linked to it and some of the other dll's that I used from SmartSDR in my project. Then, I would use the downloaded API files for a reference when things would not work as something had been changed.

I don't think that Flex Radio is using 32 bit in Windows anymore.

James

WD5GWY

Howard K7JNX

Eric, thanks for replying. Yes, indeed you do provide flexlib.csproj (as well as csproj files for UiWpfFramework, Util, Vita and ComPortPTT). But when I try to compile flexlib.csproj using Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022 (64-bit) - Version 17.14.34, I immediately get errors like "Unable to find project information for 'T:\Trash\Flexlib4.2.20\Util\Util.csproj'. If you are using Visual Studio, this may be because the project is unloaded or not part of the current solution so run a restore from the command-line. Otherwise, the project file may be invalid or missing targets required for restore."

There are also similar error messages for UiWpfFramework and Vita. I'm not familiar with working with large coordinated projects using loading and unloading, but I surmise that Flexlib, Util, UiWpfFramework and Vita need to be projects built together as part of a single solution, so I think what is missing is a single .sln file to do that.