importing dlls with python

[Martin v. Loewis]

tkeon0 at netscape.net (Trevor Keon) writes:

> Hi, I am new to Python, and was wondering if it was possible to import
> dlls written in Delphi 5?  I have tried a number of methods to make it
> work, and I either get:

Depends on what you are trying to do. If you want to use the DLL
as-is, it will be tricky. If you can arrange for the DLL to look like
a Python module, it will interact much better.

> function initxxx: Integer;  StdCall;
>   export; 

If you want to implement a Python module as a DLL, you need to follow
the Python/C API, see

  http://www.python.org/doc/current/ext/ext.html

In particular, this means that you need to call InitModule4 inside
initxxx, and that initxxx needs to get a proper signature.

If you want to call an arbitrary DLL (be it compiled by Delphi or by
other means), you can try the CallDLL package. A 2.1 version of
calldll is available from

http://www.nightmare.com/software.html

Regards,
Martin