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Setting up the C++ project

To begin, you'll need to have Microsoft Visual C++ 2010; and yes, the free Express edition is just fine.  Once you've got that installed (and any necessary updates) go ahead and open it up and start a new project.  We want to create a Win32 project so select that and give it the name NativeAdd.

Select Next and on the following screen, under Application Type, choose DLL (Dynamic-Link Library) and click Finish.

Great!  The C++ project has been created!  The next step is to make a few changes to the code; open up dllmain.cpp and the top of the file remove the following line:

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1. #include "stdafx.h"  

#include "stdafx.h"

and replace it with this:

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1. #include <Windows.h>  

#include <Windows.h>

After that, let's go to the DllMain function and remove the entire switch statement so that the only code left in the function is: return TRUE;

The dllmain.cpp file should now look like this:

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1. #include <Windows.h>  

2.   

3. BOOL APIENTRY DllMain( HMODULE hModule,  

4.                        DWORD  ul_reason_for_call,  

5.                        LPVOID lpReserved )  

6. {  

7.     return TRUE;  

8. }  

#include <Windows.h>

BOOL APIENTRY DllMain( HMODULE hModule,
                       DWORD  ul_reason_for_call,
                       LPVOID lpReserved )
{
    return TRUE;
}

Now turn your attention to NativeAdd.cpp and remove the line: #include "stdafx.h"

The next thing we'll do is get rid of the extra files automatically added to the project by Visual Studio.  In the solution explorer, open the Header Files folder and right click the stdafx.h file and select Remove.  Go ahead and just click remove again if you get a popup box.  Do the same to targetver.h and also stdafx.cpp in the Source Files folder.

The next step is to add a few files.  First, we'll add NativeAdd.h to the Header Files folder.  To do so, right click the Header Files folder and select Add > New Item.  Select Header File from the list and name it NativeAdd.h.

Now we'll grab some necessary files from the Flex SDK and add them to our project.  Navigate to the Flex SDK directory and enter the include directory.  You'll want to copy the FlashRuntimeExtensions.h file from there.  Go back into Visual Studio and right click the Header Files folder, select Add > Existing Item.  When the file selection dialog comes up, paste the FlashRuntimeExtensions.h and then select it.

We've got one more file to grab from the Flex SDK so go back to the root folder of the Flex SDK.  Navigate to lib/win and copy the FlashRuntimeExtensions.lib file.  Right click the NativeAdd project in the solution explorer and select Add > Existing Item and again paste the file in the file selection dialog box and select it to add it to the project.  If you've followed along your solution explorer should look like the image below.

We've got just one more thing to take care of before getting into the code.  Because we removed the stdafx files, we need to tell the compiler not to look for them.  To do this, right click the project file in the solution explorer.  Select Properties to bring up the dialog box.  Choose Configuration Properties > C/C++ > Precompiled Headers.  At the top of the dialog box, change Configuration to All Configurations.  Now, in the right-most pane, change the Precompiled Header option to Not Using Precompiled Headers.  Use the image below as a guide if you need it.

Coding with C++

With the C++ project finally set up, it's time to start adding some code.  We'll start with the NativeAdd.h file so open up that file and enter the code below.

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1. #include "FlashRuntimeExtensions.h"  

2.   

3. extern "C"  

4. {  

5.   __declspec(dllexport) void ExtInitializer(void** extDataToSet, FREContextInitializer* ctxInitializerToSet, FREContextFinalizer* ctxFinalizerToSet);  

6.   

7.   __declspec(dllexport) void ExtFinalizer(void* extData);  

8.   

9.   __declspec(dllexport) FREObject doAdd(FREContext ctx, void* funcData, uint32_t argc, FREObject argv[]);  

10. }  

#include "FlashRuntimeExtensions.h"

extern "C"
{
  __declspec(dllexport) void ExtInitializer(void** extDataToSet, FREContextInitializer* ctxInitializerToSet, FREContextFinalizer* ctxFinalizerToSet);

  __declspec(dllexport) void ExtFinalizer(void* extData);

  __declspec(dllexport) FREObject doAdd(FREContext ctx, void* funcData, uint32_t argc, FREObject argv[]);
}

As mentioned, I'm no authority on C++, but I'll do my best to explain the code above.  First, the #include is comparable to the import statement in ActionScript.  This tells the file to also use the FlashRuntimeExtensions.h file.  The extern "C" line tells the compiler that we want the following block of code to be compiled C-style and not C++ style.

The command I'm least familiar with is the __declspec(dllexport) but I think it is safe to assume this essentially marks the following functions as exports from our dll; meaning they are visible to other applications that might use the dll.

Following the __declspec(dllexport), we define our function signatures.  Unlike AS3, the return type comes first.  It is followed by the function name and then the parameter list.  The first two functions are for setting up and shutting down our Native Extension.  The third function is the one that will handle the bulk of the work for us, doAdd.  Note that in this header file, we are simply defining the function signatures, but not providing a function body.  We will do that next in the NativeAdd.cpp file.

Open the NativeAdd.cpp file and enter the following functions.  We'll go over each function one at a time, but first let's just make sure the file is all ready to go.  At this point, make sure the file contains only the following code.

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1. #include "NativeAdd.h"  

2. #include <stdlib.h>  

3.   

4. extern "C"  

5. {  

6.   

7. }  

#include "NativeAdd.h"
#include <stdlib.h>

extern "C"
{

}

We're going to be adding all of our functions inside the extern "C" block and we'll start with our doAdd function.

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1. FREObject doAdd(FREContext ctx, void* funcData, uint32_t argc, FREObject argv[])   

2. {  

3.   int32_t one, two, sum;  

4.   FREObject result;  

5.   

6.   FREGetObjectAsInt32(argv[0], &one);  

7.   FREGetObjectAsInt32(argv[1], &two);  

8.   

9.   sum = one + two;  

10.   

11.   FRENewObjectFromInt32(sum, &result);  

12.   

13.   return result;  

14. }  

FREObject doAdd(FREContext ctx, void* funcData, uint32_t argc, FREObject argv[]) 
{
  int32_t one, two, sum;
  FREObject result;

  FREGetObjectAsInt32(argv[0], &one);
  FREGetObjectAsInt32(argv[1], &two);

  sum = one + two;

  FRENewObjectFromInt32(sum, &result);

  return result;
}

This is the function that is actually going to do the work for our extension and return our sum.  To begin with, we declare a few variables of type int32_t.  The next variable is an FREObject that will hold the result of our addition.  The FRE types are how data is passed between Flash and C; I highly suggest checking out the Adobe documentation on working with the various types if you are going to be doing more of this on your own.

The next two function calls grab the data passed in by Flash, which comes in via the argv array, and stores it in our locally defined variables one and two.  These represent the two numbers that will be added together.  Next we do the actual addition and store the result in the sum variable.  The last thing we need to do before returning the sum is to convert it into an FRE object that Flash can understand.  The function FRENewObjectFromInt32 takes care of that for us and now we can return the result.

You may be wondering about the ampersands and asterisks if you aren't familiar with C coding.  It has to do with the actual memory address of the variables and is quite beyond the scope of this tutorial, but if you're interested in learning more, you can read up on pointers on wikipedia.

The next couple of functions we define are not specified in our NativeAdd.h file, but they are necessary all the same.

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1. void ContextInitializer(void* extData, const uint8_t* ctxType, FREContext ctx, uint32_t* numFunctions, const FRENamedFunction** functions)  

2. {  

3.   *numFunctions = 1;  

4.   FRENamedFunction* func = (FRENamedFunction*)malloc(sizeof(FRENamedFunction)*(*numFunctions));  

5.       

6.   func[0].name = (const uint8_t*)"doAdd";  

7.   func[0].functionData = NULL;  

8.   func[0].function = &doAdd;  

9.   

10.  *functions = func;  

11. }  

12.   

13. void ContextFinalizer(FREContext ctx)   

14. {  

15.   return;  

16. }  

void ContextInitializer(void* extData, const uint8_t* ctxType, FREContext ctx, uint32_t* numFunctions, const FRENamedFunction** functions)
{
  *numFunctions = 1;
  FRENamedFunction* func = (FRENamedFunction*)malloc(sizeof(FRENamedFunction)*(*numFunctions));
 
  func[0].name = (const uint8_t*)"doAdd";
  func[0].functionData = NULL;
  func[0].function = &doAdd;

 *functions = func;
}

void ContextFinalizer(FREContext ctx) 
{
  return;
}

These methods deal with the ActionScript ExtensionContext object which we'll see when we get to the AS part of this tutorial.  The first function is the initializer.  First we tell it how many functions we will define, which in this case is just the 1, doAdd.  Next we allocate memory for the function using malloc.  After that we fill in some data regarding our function.  We give it a name, set the data to NULL and then mark the address of our function.  Lastly, we assign our FRENamedFunction pointer, func, to the passed in double-pointer functions.  I don't have a good grasp on working with pointers so most of this I got from the Adobe docs.

The other function, the finalizer, doesn't really need to do anything so we keep it simple with nothing more than an empty return statement.

The last two functions we need to add are the ones we had declared in our .h file; the ExtInitializer and ExtFinalizer functions.  The functions we covered above are responsible for dealing with the extension context object, while the ones below are for the actual extension itself.

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1. void ExtInitializer(void** extData, FREContextInitializer* ctxInitializer, FREContextFinalizer* ctxFinalizer)   

2. {  

3.   *ctxInitializer = &ContextInitializer;  

4.   *ctxFinalizer   = &ContextFinalizer;  

5. }  

6.   

7. void ExtFinalizer(void* extData)   

8. {  

9.   return;  

10. }  

void ExtInitializer(void** extData, FREContextInitializer* ctxInitializer, FREContextFinalizer* ctxFinalizer) 
{
  *ctxInitializer = &ContextInitializer;
  *ctxFinalizer   = &ContextFinalizer;
}

void ExtFinalizer(void* extData) 
{
  return;
}

Again, the finalizer here is simple so we'll focus on the ExtInitializer function.  This function is actually pretty simple as well.  All we're doing is telling the extension where to find the context initializer and finalizer functions - that's it.

Your NativeAdd.cpp file should look like this when it is completed.

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1. // NativeAdd.cpp : Defines the exported functions for the DLL application.  

2.   

3. #include "NativeAdd.h"  

4. #include <stdlib.h>  

5.   

6. extern "C"  

7. {  

8.   FREObject doAdd(FREContext ctx, void* funcData, uint32_t argc, FREObject argv[])   

9.   {  

10.     int32_t one, two, sum;  

11.     FREObject result;  

12.   

13.     FREGetObjectAsInt32(argv[0], &one);  

14.     FREGetObjectAsInt32(argv[1], &two);  

15.   

16.     sum = one + two;  

17.   

18.     FRENewObjectFromInt32(sum, &result);  

19.   

20.     return result;  

21.   }  

22.   

23.   void ContextInitializer(void* extData, const uint8_t* ctxType, FREContext ctx, uint32_t* numFunctions, const FRENamedFunction** functions)  

24.   {  

25.     *numFunctions = 1;  

26.     FRENamedFunction* func = (FRENamedFunction*)malloc(sizeof(FRENamedFunction)*(*numFunctions));  

27.       

28.     func[0].name = (const uint8_t*)"doAdd";  

29.     func[0].functionData = NULL;  

30.     func[0].function = &doAdd;  

31.   

32.     *functions = func;  

33.   }  

34.   

35.   void ContextFinalizer(FREContext ctx)   

36.   {  

37.     return;  

38.   }  

39.   

40.   void ExtInitializer(void** extData, FREContextInitializer* ctxInitializer, FREContextFinalizer* ctxFinalizer)   

41.   {  

42.     *ctxInitializer = &ContextInitializer;  

43.     *ctxFinalizer   = &ContextFinalizer;  

44.   }  

45.   

46.   void ExtFinalizer(void* extData)   

47.   {  

48.     return;  

49.   }  

50. }  

51. </stdlib.h>  

// NativeAdd.cpp : Defines the exported functions for the DLL application.

#include "NativeAdd.h"
#includeextern "C"
{
  FREObject doAdd(FREContext ctx, void* funcData, uint32_t argc, FREObject argv[]) 
  {
    int32_t one, two, sum;
    FREObject result;

    FREGetObjectAsInt32(argv[0], &one);
    FREGetObjectAsInt32(argv[1], &two);

    sum = one + two;

    FRENewObjectFromInt32(sum, &result);

    return result;
  }

  void ContextInitializer(void* extData, const uint8_t* ctxType, FREContext ctx, uint32_t* numFunctions, const FRENamedFunction** functions)
  {
    *numFunctions = 1;
    FRENamedFunction* func = (FRENamedFunction*)malloc(sizeof(FRENamedFunction)*(*numFunctions));
 
    func[0].name = (const uint8_t*)"doAdd";
    func[0].functionData = NULL;
    func[0].function = &doAdd;

    *functions = func;
  }

  void ContextFinalizer(FREContext ctx) 
  {
    return;
  }

  void ExtInitializer(void** extData, FREContextInitializer* ctxInitializer, FREContextFinalizer* ctxFinalizer) 
  {
    *ctxInitializer = &ContextInitializer;
    *ctxFinalizer   = &ContextFinalizer;
  }

  void ExtFinalizer(void* extData) 
  {
    return;
  }
}

You should now be able to successfully build the dll!  You can find the NativeAdd.dll in either the debug or release folder in your project directory.

package com.rhuno 
{
  import flash.events.EventDispatcher;
  import flash.external.ExtensionContext;
  
  public class NativeAdd extends EventDispatcher
  {
    private var _ctx:ExtensionContext;
  
    public function NativeAdd() 
    {
      _ctx = ExtensionContext.createExtensionContext('com.rhuno.NativeAdd', '');
    }
  
    public function doAdd(a:int, b:int):int
    {
      var result:int;
      result = _ctx.call('doAdd', a, b) as int;
      return result;
    }
  
    public function dispose():void
    {
      _ctx.dispose();
    } 
  }
}

_ctx = ExtensionContext.createExtensionContext('com.rhuno.NativeAdd', '');

<supportedProfiles>extendedDesktop</supportedProfiles>

<extensions>
  <extensionID>com.yourname.NativeAdd</extensionID>
</extensions>

var ane:NativeAdd = new NativeAdd();   
var sum:int = ane.doAdd(5, 5);
trace(sum);
ane.dispose();