Hi, I have an object implemented in a dll, wich is used by the executable. lets call it iobjectmanager. I have this method in the objectmanager: [code\] virtual _stdcall smartptr<object> getObject(const char* name)=0 [\code] And I get errors calling this function when the exe is compiled by VC2005 express, and the dll is compiled by mingw. Do you know if it may be caused by the function returning a complex type.

A little off-topic, but passing pointers across a DLL boundary is A Bad Thing. If your smartptr class deletes the object from within the module it's allocated, then all is well.

Also, since this is a virtual function, I presume you're exporting an entire class. Exporting classes is a very compiler-specific thing, so you're likely going to have to compile the exe and dll with the same compiler.

What kind of error? At run-time or at compile-time?

Thank you for your answers. I will explain in detail how my system work. I use abstract (pure virtual) classes. the object class is something like this:

class iObject
{
public:
virtual _stdcall void incRef()=0;
virtual _stdcall void decRef()=0;
}

my objectmanager is also an abstract class, derived from iObject. My program get a pointer to the objectmanager by calling an extern"C" initialisation function. And my "smart pointer" class is just a pointer, calling incRef and decRef at proper times. The decRef functions, implemented in the dll, free the object. I don't really "export" the class.

The implementation of objectmanager is in the dll, compiled with mingw, and the exe is compiled with visual C++.

The problem arise when a call the getGlobalObject() function of my objectmanager from the exe. I get an access violation somewhere near the end of getGlobalObject's code in the dll. If I return a raw pointer, I don't get the problem. So I guess it comes from how mingw deals with returning objects.

I'm using this system to enable the creation of plugins for my engine, and I would like to be able to create plugins with any c++ compilers.