I have installed and successfully tested Inline::C with a simple "Hello World" and vowel counter (from the Inline::C Cookbook) so I'm reasonably happy that the installation is correct. I now want to invoke a vendor's C written API from Perl. The vendor's sample C code includes the line: #define SHLIBNAME “dptcpiphi.dll” My Perl code includes the following in order to access (I pray) the functions which I expect to be contained in dptcpiphi.dll: 
use Inline C => Config => AUTO_WRAP => ENABLE;
use Inline C => Config => LIBS => '-L"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Pr
+oduct\4.1\dptcpiphi.dll" -ldptcpip';

[download]
The full Perl script is short: 
#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use Inline C => Config => AUTO_WRAP => ENABLE;
use Inline C => Config => LIBS => '-L"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Pr
+oduct\4.1\dptcpiphi.dll" -ldptcpip';

use Inline C => DATA ;
use strict;
my $DPbuff = "statusbuffer";
my $status = MyGetCtrlStatus('0x14','localhost','1703',$DPbuff);

print "$status\n";

__END__
__C__
int MyGetCtrlStatus(char ShiftCmd, char pHostName, char uPortNum, char
+ pCtrlStatus) {
    char JobInfo;
    int status = DPGetCtrlStatus(ShiftCmd, pHostName, uPortNum, pCtrlS
+tatus);
    printf ("Running...\n");
    return pHostName;
}

[download]
The gcc compile step appears to complete successfully but when it comes time to link the object libraries together it fails: 
Test_pl_5261.o:Test_pl_5261.c:(.text+0x27): undefined reference to `DP
+GetCtrlStatus'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
dmake.exe:  Error code 129, while making 'blib\arch\auto\Test_pl_5261\
+Test_pl_5261.dll'

[download]
(I know the code isn't going to work at present but I can fix that as long as I can get Inline::C to link the vendor libraries into my Perl script.) Have I completely misinterpreted the purpose and capabilities of Include::C or simply made a mess of using the tool?

In reply to Understanding Inline::C to call vendor libraries by murrayn

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.