As part of learning C++, I wrote a simple class library + application that references it. Everything builds, except the class library does not generate a .lib file, which results in the application throwing a "LINK : fatal error LNK1104: cannot open file". This seems very reasonable; obviously, if a necessary file isn't there, there's an error and it's fatal. (Side note: I don't have a book yet)

So, I went looking for reasons a .lib file might not be generated. My search-fu, by the way, is rather weak. All I did find was that, if the library did not have any __declspec(dllexport) tags, it would not export a .lib.

I shall now post the header and .cpp contents of the class library (A simple "Console" class with one "Write(std::string)" method).

Header:

// Extensions.h

#pragma once

#include "stdafx.h"

namespace Extensions {

    __declspec(dllexport) class Console
    {
    public:
        __declspec(dllexport) static void Write(std::string text);
    };
}

I am unsure whether I need to tag the function when I've tagged the class, but I can check that when it works.

And the .cpp file:

// This is the main DLL file.

#include "stdafx.h"

// #include "Console.h"

namespace Extensions {

    void Console::Write(std::string text)
    {
        std::cout << text.c_str();
    }
}

I've checked and it is set to generate a dynamic link library.

Thanks.

c++ visual-studio-2010 .lib
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