[MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/151kt790.aspx]
The Visual C++ linker now supports the delayed loading of DLLs. This relieves you of the need to use the Windows SDK functions LoadLibrary and GetProcAddress
to implement DLL delayed loading.
Before Visual C++ 6.0, the only way to load a DLL at run time was by using LoadLibrary and GetProcAddress; the operating system would load the DLL when the executable or DLL using it was loaded.
Beginning with Visual C++ 6.0, when statically linking with a DLL, the linker provides options to delay load the DLL until the program calls a function in that DLL.
An application can delay load a DLL using the /DELAYLOAD (Delay Load Import) linker option with a helper function (default implementation provided by Visual C++). The helper function will load the DLL at run time by calling LoadLibrary and GetProcAddress for you.
You should consider delay loading a DLL if:
-
Your program may not call a function in the DLL.
-
A function in the DLL may not get called until late in your program's execution.
The delayed loading of a DLL can be specified during the build of either a .EXE or .DLL project. A .DLL project that delays the loading of one or more DLLs should not itself call a delay-loaded entry point in Dllmain.