Renaming DLL in Delphi

3
votes

Suppose I've got a large ActiveX library written in Delphi, let's call it Lib1.dll. It contains multiple interfaces. The task is to rename the library to Lib2.dll in such a way, that another application can call both methods from Lib1 and Lib2 at the same time. I thought to do it in next way:

  1. Rename Delphi project to Lib2 (that will rename the library).
  2. Replace *Lib1_TLB.pas* file with *Lib2_TLB.pas* with the same content, but with new GUIDs of interfaces and coclasses.
  3. Paste new GUIDs to Lib2.ridl.
  4. Generate new Lib2.tlb file from that ridl and that should be ok.

But it isn't. I'm getting Delphi error "Couldn't find Lib1.ridl file". Okay, rename both ridl and tlb.pas back to Lib1, compile&build ok, but registering ActiveX server crashes the IDE. Please suggest me a way to rename the lib or how to make my current progress work.

1
delphidllcomactivexrename
Why would you like to have 2 same ActiveX libraries with two same type libraries. I think you just want to create instances of the interfaces through the COM class factory instead, see e.g. here. - TLama

1 Answers

0
votes

I assume you are using a recent version of Delphi using .ridl files for COM interfaces so keep in mind that it is the central unit for dealing with COM. You may start with copying and renaming the ridl file from Lib1.ridl to Lib2.ridl. Then inside Lib2.ridl, not _TLB.pas (which is recreated automatically) regenerate the library's GUID and those of coclasses. Interfaces may remain unchanged. After that you should be able to generate tlb and refresh _TLB.pas and finally build and register the new library.