I have been using Perl and the WIN32-API to encode data into barcode sequences that can be printed
I have over 100 barcode applications written using different barcoding DLLs from different barcode software venders.

ActiveState has two versions of Perl available: Version 5.10 and v5.8.8
The ActiveState PPM repository has two versions of the WIN32-API: 0.47 and 0.46
Programs working in Perl 5.8.7 using WIN32-API  Version: 0.41 cause the newer releases to abort.

One example is:

The United States Postal Service (USPS) has released a
freeware encoder for their new OneCode barcode.
This encoder is a DLL.  
The DLL and sample applications are available here:
http://ribbs.usps.gov/OneCodeSolution/

In the USPS sample C program the DLL is invoked this way
char TrackString[21];
char RouteString[12];
char BarString[66];
int RetCode;
__declspec (dllimport) int USPS4CB( char *TrackPtr, char *RoutePtr, ch
+ar *BarPtr);

[download]

The following Perl script works perfectly in Perl 5.8.7 using WIN32-API 0.41 but fails in newer releases

use Win32::API;
$dll = new Win32::API("USPS4CB","USPS4CB",[P,P,P],I);</span><br />
$transbar = "\0"x66; 
$bardata = "3070202120200000000127203643012";
$rc =0;
$track = substr($bardata,0,20) . "\0";
$route = substr($bardata,20,11) . "\0";
$rc = $dll-&gt;Call($track,$route,$transbar);
$transbar =~ s/\0.*$//; 
print "$transbar \n";

[download]

The ouput returned is:
ATTDAATFADDDTDDTFTFFADADFDTDDAFTATTAAATAAFTFADFDTTTFADAFDDATDDTFT
I no longer have a fully functional version of Perl 5.8.7 and have been unable to build one.
Can anyone tell me how to get this to work in the newer releases of Perl?

In reply to WIN32-API Purgetory by jkretlow

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