Just a code snippet that should allow you to open the engine through Acknex.DLL in a C# application .

Of course, this does not get the ENGINE_VARS struct yet, but that's easy to add .
Code:

---

	[DllImport("acknex.dll")]
	static extern void engine_open(char[] commandline,int callback);	

        public MyA6App()
        {
		InitializeComponent();
		engine_open("level.wmb".ToCharArray(), 0);
        }

---

The same proceedure for using Acknex.dll goes for the c# app, you've gotta run WED.EXE -p [wdl] [exePath]

Ooooh boy... *cracks fingers* I might actually get something done with this engine again. C++ was just too clumsy of an interface with the engine... I'm a fan of being able to use Windows.Forms inline with A6 .

-Rhuarc

Nice... although this forgoes the need for any c++ intermediary plugin .

I know, I wrote it the way you did before, but I was going to try some things to get the acknex window handle, which didn't work with C# for some reason, so I tried C++ without success

ENGINE_VARS *ev = engine_open("test.wdl",0);
HWND A6Window = ev->hwnd;

Yay, no need for stupid complex C++ window handling anymore, time for some C# coding

@Rhuarc: Yes... but try to use it in C# and you'll see the problems. WinForms offers functions to convert these Window handles to the Form type, but produces an error if you run the application

EDIT: nevermind...

On this topic in general, though I'm an C veterin, I like simple and C# seems a lot more straight forward. I tried the simple case scenario of loading a level and it works just fine.

However, the true usage seems to require C# defs of the C structs; i.e., ENGINE_VARS* is not acceptable in C# without some work. There are also a large number of preprocessor macros that would have to be modelled on the C# side. I'm trying to decide whether its worth the time. The main thing that gripes me about the CScript is its seeming strange rules concerning functions, what can be passed in, and what you can do with them once they're pased in. On one hand, you want to avoid globals when possible, yet CScript cries for them! Lite-C will remove a good number of these odd restrictions and include latitude for user defined types (structs). Still, C# as an attractive alternative.

Have any of you been successful in your deeper investigations of its usage?