VB.NET-SafeArrays Mixed Language Readme

This sample demonstrates how to pass an array of strings from Visual BASIC .NET and manipulate it in Fortran using the SafeArray and BSTR routines in module IFCOM.

System Requirements:

Microsoft Visual Studio 2013*, 2015* or 2017* Professional Edition or above with Visual BASIC installed
Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2019 Composer Edition for Fortran Windows* or newer

Build Instructions:

For Visual Studio IDE users:

Open Visual Studio and load the solution .sln file
If project "ARRAY" is not shown in boldface type in the Solution Explorer, right-click on project "ARRAY" and select "Set as StartUp Project".
Clean the solution from menu Build > Clean Solution
Build the project from menu Build > Build Solution
Run the application from menu Debug > Start Without Debugging or press Ctrl-F5
A form will be displayed containing a "Push Me" button, an input values box and an output values box. The input value box has the string values "One", "Two", "Three", ... "Twelve". When the button is pushed, Visual BASIC will call the Fortran routine passing it an array of the input strings.

For Command line users:

Open the Intel Visual Fortran Build Environment window from Start menu and navigate to the sample folder
Use following commands to build and test:
1. Clean the build folder use: build.bat clean
2. To build a release version: build.bat release
3. To build a debug version: build.bat debug
4. To run the program:
  1. Build the VB project ARRAY in Visual Studio IDE
  2. Manually copy the ArrayOfVBStr.dll built from above steps under directory .\debug or .\release to the VB project output folder ARRAY\bin\Debug or ARRAY\bin\Release
  3. Run ARRAY\bin\Debug\ARRAY.exe or ARRAY\bin\Release\ARRAY.exe from the command window

Detail Notes:

To enable debugging of Fortran code called from Visual Basic, right click on project "ARRAY" and choose Properties. In the left column, select "Debug" > tab and check the box labeled "Enable native code debugging", close the properties page to save the changes.
The Fortran code has three parts:
- The file test.txt is opened in the project folder and the bounds of the array are written to the file. This demonstrates the use of the SafeArray routines to access the bounds information.
- The file testout.txt is opened in the project folder and the contents of the array are written to the file. This demonstrates retrieving elements from a SafeArray and converting the BSTR string to a Fortran string.
- Each BSTR element of the array has the text " potato" appended to it so that the modified array is returned to Visual BASIC. This demonstrates manipulating BSTR values.
To view the Visual BASIC code, open Array.vb and double-click on the Push Me button.

VB.NET-Safearrays Mixed Language Sample