This project is based on HDF.PInvoke for .NET Framework and aims to bring it to .NET Standard 2.0+. The first supported version is HDF5 1.10.5 for Windows (x86, x64), Linux (x64) and MacOS (x64).
HDF.PInvoke.1.10 is a collection of PInvoke signatures for the HDF5 C-API. It's practically code-free, which means we can blame all the bugs on Microsoft or The HDF Group 😄
It is not a high-level .NET interface for HDF5. "It's the GCD
of .NET bindings for HDF5, not the LCM." 
To install the latest version, run the following command in the Package Manager Console:
dotnet add package HDF.PInvoke.1.10
The HDF.PInvoke.dll managed assembly depends on the following native libraries:
- HDF5 core API,
hdf5.dll/libhdf5.so/libhdf5.dylib - HDF5 high-level APIs,
hdf5_hl.dll/libhdf5_hl.so/libhdf5_hl.dylib - The C-runtime of the Visual Studio version used to build the former (
msvcr140.dll) for Visual Studio 2015 / 2017
All native dependencies, built with thread-safety enabled, are included in the NuGet packages, except the Visual Studio C-runtime, which is available from Microsoft as Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2017. In the unlikely event that they aren't already installed on your system, go get 'em!)
When you include HDF.PInvoke.1.10 in your project via NuGet (via the <PackageReference> element in the .csproj file), the native libraries are resolved automatially by the runtime. The dependencies are located within the runtimes folder in a structure following this convention.
However, if you clone this repository and add a new project with a <ProjectReference> element pointing to HDF.PInvoke.1.10.csproj, there is no easy way yet to resolve depending native libraries (see dotnet/sdk#765). With the upcoming release of .NET Core 3.0, there will be some improvements, which enable the implementation of custom resolution logic for native libraries using the new NativeResolveEvent.
In the meantime, the file Directory.Build.targets in this repository is responsible for copying the correct libraries to the project's output folder. When you are on Linux, the *.so files are copied. When you are on Windows and the <PlatformTarget> properties is not set to x86, the 64-bit DLL's are copied. The targets file is automatically included in projects that are located within any subfolder and use the new .csproj format.
Before build, two things need to be prepared:
- Initialization of the HDF.PInvoke submodule via
git submodule update --init --recursive --quiet - Population the
runtimesfolder, i.e. download of platform specific versions of thehdf5andhdf_hlfiles (see also: Building the Native Libraries).
Since the second step consists of more than a single line of code, it is recommended to call the Powershell Core script, which does all the work for you: ./init_solution.ps1
You can then build the actual library and NuGet package with:
dotnet build ./src/HDF.PInvoke.1.10/HDF.PInvoke.1.10.csproj -c Release
The output is written to the artifacts folder, where the bin, obj and packages folders are located.
The unit tests can be executed with:
dotnet test ./test/UnitTests/UnitTests.csproj
The native libraries are built using the native-CI branch. Each build produces a .zip file containig the platform specific files. The following settings are used for building:
| Option | Value |
|---|---|
| CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE | Release |
| BUILD_SHARED_LIBS | ON |
| ALLOW_UNSUPPORTED | ON |
| HDF5_BUILD_HL_LIB | ON |
| HDF5_ENABLE_THREADSAFE | ON |
| HDF5_ALLOW_EXTERNAL_SUPPORT | ON (TGZ) |
| HDF5_ENABLE_Z_LIB_SUPPORT | ON |
| HDF5_ENABLE_SZIP_SUPPORT | ON |
| HDF5_ENABLE_SZIP_ENCODING | ON |
See build.ps1 for detailed build steps.
HDF.PInvoke is part of HDF5. It is subject to the same terms and conditions as HDF5. Please review COPYING or https://support.hdfgroup.org/ftp/HDF5/releases/COPYING for the details. If you have any questions, please contact us.
The best way to support HDF.PInvoke.1.10 is to contribute to it either by reporting bugs, writing documentation (e.g., the cookbook), or sending pull requests.
