Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs)

Most of the software in PICS makes use of shared program code that Microsoft calls dynamic link libraries (or DLLs). These are actually a special kind of program with no real main body, just a collection of subroutines (and possibly data) that are shared by more than one program. Because of this, the subroutines shared by different program can take up much less memory since only a single copy is loaded to be shared by all programs.

By and large, the DLLs used by PICS were created by EVI, except for those distributed with Windows itself, and those that came with third party products (like the C compiler, the FORTRAN compiler, and DataViews, to name a few). The table below lists each of the DLLs distributed with PICS and gives a brief description of the routines it contains. The linked library names will take you to an alphabetical list of functions contained within the library.

DLL File Name Description
evi32 EVI's generic, proprietary utility functions (such as our standard 'About" dialog box handler).
evColor EVI's color management utility functions. These functions support extension of the PicsColor database to include the standard internet color set and the current user's Window color set (it even tracks changes to the Windows colors as they occur).
eviCntrl EVI's custom status bar and meter controls
evDIBAPI EVI's device-independent bitmap utility functions, based on Microsoft's DIBAPI sample code.
evFileSync Generalized file synchronization functions
evIpcApi Inter-Process Communication (IPC) Application Programming Interface (API)
eviShell Routines to run external programs
evPics32 Generic PICS shared functions
evRecall Not currently used, this will be the home of a centralized set of archive retrieval functions, if we ever have the time and money to write them.
evSdbApi Static DataBase API
evSdbCacheX Static DataBase Cache access functions
evSite Customer Site specific routines (like point name sorting, selection, etc.)
evSiteCtrl Customer Site specific controls
evTMApi PICS Task Monitor API
picsapi Simplified PICS API for 3rd party applications
SFTTR32 SofTel 32bit Tree Control, enhanced by EVI.

Each of the DLLs listed above may exist in two forms, the name shown above (with ".DLL" appended, of course) and the name above with a 'D' (upper or lower case) appended. The names with the 'D' appended are debugging versions of the DLLs and are included in case EVI is called upon to diagnose problems on-site. Having the debugging DLLs pre-installed minimizes the number of modifications necessary to run tests on an existing machine. The PICS software also make use of the 3rd party DLLs listed in the table below.

DLL File Name Description
msvcrt40.dll Microsoft Visual C Runtime 4.0 (release)
msvcr40d.dll Microsoft Visual C Runtime 4.0 (debug)
msfrt40.dll Microsoft FORTRAN 4.0 Runtime
msvcrt20.dll Microsoft Visual C Runtime 2.0
msvcirt.dll  
msvcirtd.dll  
msvcp60.dll  
msvcp60d.dll  
dvnames.dll DataViews DLLs. These files typically include a version number appended to the end of the file name.
dvtools.dll
dvwin.dll