How to call C# made DLL?

[E1M1]

C#

namespace test
{
    public class test
    {
        public static string testreturn()
        {
            return "this is a test return string";
        }
    }
}

au3

$call = DllCall("test.dll","str","testreturn")
MsgBox(0,0,@error)

msgbox displays 3. any ideas what to do?

Edited July 3, 2010 by E1M1

[Richard Robertson]

It won't ever work like that because the .Net framework doesn't compile native dlls.

AutoIt cannot load .Net dlls right now. I've been working on a way to do so but it's not easy or simple.

[Fubarable]

If you know some C, you could probably use MS Visual Studio write a small C utility program to create a DLL that can then make calls to the .NET DLL.

[Richard Robertson]

Yes, a 3rd party middle man is required currently. However it will be limited to specific calls unless you can come up with some easy to use but fully accessible system.

[E1M1]

maybe make C++ dll that receive whole DllCall() as string, then executes it by autoit rules, and then return array. I heard about plugins for au3 maybe these could help.