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Using Sentry Windows SDK with C#

Product: Sentry Spelling Checker Engine Windows SDK, Version 5.15 and earlier

The following declarations may help customers who need to integrate Sentry Spelling Checker Engine into a C# application.

Sentry Windows SDK version 5.16 and later includes a C# class (located in ssce\sdk\c#\ssce.cs) that provides C# declarations for Sentry's API.

Function declarations

Sentry API functions documented in the Sentry Programmer's Guide are shown in C/C++ syntax. The following table shows how to translate C/C++ data types into C# data types:

C/C++ type	Type description	C/C++ example	Equivalent C# type	C# Example
const char *	String, or more accurately, pointer to an array of characters	const char *fileName	[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] string	[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] string fileName
const SSCE_CHAR *	Input string, or more accurately, pointer to a null-terminated array of Latin 1 characters (e.g.., text being spell-checked)	const SSCE_CHAR *text	[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] string	[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] string text
char *	Output string.	char *fileName	[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] StringBuilder	[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] StringBuilder fileName
SSCE_CHAR *	Output string, or more accurately, pointer to an array of Latin 1 characters	SSCE_CHAR *errWord	[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] StringBuilder	[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] StringBuilder errorWord
SSCE_S16	Signed, 16-bit integer	SSCE_S16 sid	short	short sid
SSCE_S16 *	Pointer to a signed, 16-bit integer ("pointer" meaning "pass by reference")	SSCE_S16 *format	ref short	ref short format
SSCE_S32	Signed, 32-bit integer	SSCE_S32 strLen	int	int strLen
SSCE_S32 *	Pointer to a signed, 32-bit integer ("pointer" meaning "pass by reference")	SSCE_S32 *cursor	ref int	ref int cursor
SSCE_U16	Unsigned, 16-bit integer	SSCE_U16 fileNameSz	ushort	ushort fileNameSz
HWND	Window handle	HWND parentWin	Int32	Int32 parentWin
HINSTANCE	Instance handle	HINSTANCE clientInst	Int32	Int32 clientInst

For pointer-type parameters (denoted by "*", as in SSCE_CHAR *str) the keyword "const" indicates that the parameter is passed by reference but will not be modified by the called function. If "const" is missing, the parameter is either an output parameter (meaning it is modified to by the called function) or an input/output parameter (meaning its value is read by the called function and may be modified by the called function).

By default, C# uses wide (2-byte) character strings, but the Sentry DLL uses single byte strings. For this reason, the [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] modifier should be applied to string-type parameters (both input and output).

Following are some example function declarations:

[DllImport(@"ssce5432.dll")] public static extern short SSCE_SetKey(ulong key);

[DllImport(@"ssce5432.dll")] public static extern short SSCE_GetSid();

[DllImport(@"ssce5432.dll")] public static extern short SSCE_CheckString(short sid,
  [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] string str, ref int cursor,
  [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] StringBuilder errWord, short errWordSz,
  [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] StringBuilder otherWord, short otherWordSz);

(Note that references to ssce5432.dll should be changed to the name of the Sentry DLL included with your version of the Sentry Windows SDK.)

For more information on calling DLLs from C#, search MSDN for "Platform Invoke Tutorial."