What/How do I access installed Drivers in .NET 2.0 ?

3 Apr 2006 3:11 PM

Chip

Hi -

There are installed device drivers on my system that I do not know how
to access from my .NET code.

I can see them in the Registry (and in my XP control panel), but I have
no idea how to find/open/use/get-access-to this code. And I can seem to
find anything relevant in the MSDN KB.

Can someone point me to the starting place for writing code that
accessed installed drivers on a machine?

Thanks in advance
cg

4 Apr 2006 12:19 AM

Dennis

What Drivers are you trying to access. I don't think that accessing Drivers
directly is for the "faint of heart" and suggest a complete back-up of your
computer before you do this unless you know exactly what you are doing.

--
Dennis in Houston

Show quoteHide quote

"Chip" wrote:

> Hi -
>
> There are installed device drivers on my system that I do not know how
> to access from my .NET code.
>
> I can see them in the Registry (and in my XP control panel), but I have
> no idea how to find/open/use/get-access-to this code. And I can seem to
> find anything relevant in the MSDN KB.
>
> Can someone point me to the starting place for writing code that
> accessed installed drivers on a machine?
>
> Thanks in advance
> cg
>
>

4 Apr 2006 11:55 AM

Chip

Hi Dennis -

I have an installed USB scanner (not a normal "image scanner" something
a bit more exotic thatn that) that has a driver and I have the API for
the device, but I just don't know how to get my code to be able to say
"Hello" to this thing.

I know that everything is all hooked up and installed correctly because
the "sample" tester application can drive the device just fine, so it
is just a matter of me opening/getting/finding/using the driver, and
"my world SHOULD be happy.

4 Apr 2006 11:13 PM

Dennis

I assume it's not managed code so you should be able to add it as a com
object. Got to Project|Add References|Com. Then select the "Browse" button
and select your driver .dll. You should then be able to add this as a
reference and assuming you know the API's, declare them in your VB.Net code
with appropriate paraameters. Note that a "Long" in an API is probably an
integer in VB.Net.

--
Dennis in Houston

Show quoteHide quote

"Chip" wrote:

> Hi Dennis -
>
> I have an installed USB scanner (not a normal "image scanner" something
> a bit more exotic thatn that) that has a driver and I have the API for
> the device, but I just don't know how to get my code to be able to say
> "Hello" to this thing.
>
> I know that everything is all hooked up and installed correctly because
> the "sample" tester application can drive the device just fine, so it
> is just a matter of me opening/getting/finding/using the driver, and
> "my world SHOULD be happy.
>
>