How to link a .DLL statically?

Question

We have a (pure native C++) .DLL that is build by VS. As clients we have some native C++ applications and a .Net-Wrapper around this DLL written in C++/CLI. Finally there ar

Answer 1

You can generate a dll and export the entry point to a lib using dllexport, this is explained here

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/3y1sfaz2.aspx

Answer 2

Pick up a copy of DLL to Lib (Edit: If you can't find a cheaper option)

Answer 3

Another option is to have two projects, one project will output a .lib which can be statically linked, and a second project which will output a .dll and will have your .lib as dependency, you should add .def to your .dll with the symbols that you are planning to export, or else it will be empty.

Answer 4

In the C++ project file for the dll, create two configurations, one that generates a DLL and one that generates a .lib. Two projects are not necessary, since any .NET/C++ project can support multiple build configurations (this is how Release and Debug versions build differently).