Using 32 bit library from 64 bit project - .NET

Question

Our application is all 64 bit. We got ADODB provider to 3rd party database (nexusdb). It's 32 bit and consists of .NET library (which we reference just fine) and I beleive C .dll which is 32 bit. So, when we compile in 32 bit it works, in 64 it complains that it can't find C .dll.

How can we solve this issue without compiling our code to 32 bit?

EDIT:

3rd party DLL's as follow: ADONET.dll - this is .NET native DLL that I reference and it references just fine. ADONETProvider.dll - this is non-.NET 32 bit DLL that I just keep in bin/ folder.

I DO NOT want to compile my project for x86 because I reference many other projects and they all 64.

I want to make sure that ADONET.dll somehow called in "32 bit mode"

Answer 1

You have to use some kind of surrogate process and IPC to access a 32 bit dll from a 64bit process.

Some time ago I wrote the LegacyWrapper project that hides this behind a simple API call. You may want to see the corresponding blog post for technical details.

Edit: Since Version 2.1, LegacyWrapper also supports loading 64bit DLLs from a 32bit process.