• Johnson Jones (15/15) Aug 09 2017 I routinely get this error when I forget to add a module that I
• Rainer Schuetze (11/31) Aug 09 2017 The symbol reference to the ModuleInfo is usually caused by an import.

Johnson Jones <JJ Dynomite.com> writes:

I routinely get this error when I forget to add a module that I 
import to the project. It throughs me for a loop because the 
error doesn't really make sense for what is actually wrong(or 
does it?):


  Error 42: Symbol Undefined _D9DLLImport12__ModuleInfoZ 
(DLLImport.__ModuleInfo)

Adding DLLImport.d to the project solves the problem.

I guess this is due to the fact that the module does not have a 
library backing and the __ModuleInfo function isn't generated for 
it so it doesn't exist anywhere? (Just guessing)

Is there any way Visual D can help with this? Either watch out 
for the error(I guess this is a dmd problem) and rename it or add 
a hint about adding it to the project or somehow detect the 
modules and add them silently to the command line or even auto 
add them to the project?

Rainer Schuetze <r.sagitario gmx.de> writes:

On 09.08.2017 23:24, Johnson Jones wrote:
 I routinely get this error when I forget to add a module that I import 
 to the project. It throughs me for a loop because the error doesn't 
 really make sense for what is actually wrong(or does it?):
 
 
   Error 42: Symbol Undefined _D9DLLImport12__ModuleInfoZ 
 (DLLImport.__ModuleInfo)
 
 Adding DLLImport.d to the project solves the problem.
 
 I guess this is due to the fact that the module does not have a library 
 backing and the __ModuleInfo function isn't generated for it so it 
 doesn't exist anywhere? (Just guessing)

The symbol reference to the ModuleInfo is usually caused by an import. 
It is added to the ModuleInfo of the importing module to ensure properly 
ordered execution of (shared) static constructors. Only modules that 
have "static this()" or that import modules that have it are affected.

 
 Is there any way Visual D can help with this? Either watch out for the 
 error(I guess this is a dmd problem) and rename it or add a hint about 
 adding it to the project or somehow detect the modules and add them 
 silently to the command line or even auto add them to the project?
 
 

Visual D already helps a bit by demangling the symbol and adding it to 
the error message (the part in parenthesis is not emitted by the linker).

I don't think silently trying to add modules to the command line is a 
good idea (follow-up errors can cause even more confusion). Making 
suggestions regarding missing symbols could be helpful, though. dmd 
already does that on Posix systems if no "main" is defined.