[Gdal-dev] C# Bindings

[Simon Perkins]

Hi,

I've just tried to use the GDAL C# SWIG bindings on Windows for the 
first time today and ran into a couple of problems. I'm using Visual 
Studio 2005 Express with SWIG 1.3.29.

I compiled GDAL and then typed:

 > cd swig\csharp
 > nmake /f makefile.vc interface
 > nmake /f makefile.vc
 > nmake /f makefile.vc test

The first two makes seem to work OK. The final test throws an exception 
and prints the following:

Unhandled Exception: System.TypeInitializationException: The type 
initializer fo
r 'OGR.ogr' threw an exception. ---> System.TypeInitializationException: 
The typ
e initializer for 'OGR.ogrPINVOKE' threw an exception. ---> 
System.TypeInitializ
ationException: The type initializer for 'SWIGExceptionHelper' threw an 
exceptio
n. ---> System.DllNotFoundException: Unable to load DLL 'gdal_ogr_wrap': 
The spe
cified module could not be found. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007007E)

...

As with so many VS 2005 problems, this turned out to be a manifest 
issue. Inserting a few lines into the makefile.vc to embed the manifest 
files into the DLLs fixed this. I'll check in these changes if nobody 
objects. I suspect that similar lines need to be added for other SWIG 
languages on windows if anyone else feels like doing that...

However, I'm still a little unclear about exactly how to use the SWIG 
libraries. My primary interest is in the GDAL RasterIO functions, which 
seem to be present as Band.ReadRaster() and Band.WriteRaster(). The C# 
function signatures for these are:

public int ReadRaster(int xoff, int yoff, int xsize, int ysize, 
SWIGTYPE_p_int buf_xsize, SWIGTYPE_p_int buf_ysize, SWIGTYPE_p_int buf_type)
 
public int WriteRaster(int xoff, int yoff, int xsize, int ysize, int 
buf_len, SWIGTYPE_p_int buf_xsize, SWIGTYPE_p_int buf_ysize, 
SWIGTYPE_p_int buf_type)

These functions seem to be missing some arguments. In particular, how do 
you pass in the buffer where data is to be read from / written to? What 
are those SWIGTYPE_P_int types? Can anyone give me an example of how to 
use these functions? Do they work? If not can anyone give me some 
pointers on fixing them?

Cheers,

Sy