title: Depend on DLL without header file, worked in Visual Studio 2005
body: <p>I have a legacy project that used to be build in Visual C++ 2005 Express, and it depends on a certain third party DLL. As far as I can tell it doesn't come with a lib or header file. </p>
  
  <p>The project compiles fine in Visual C++ 2005, here is a screenshot showing the DLL visible and browsable in the object explorer. The code can also use it without <code>#include</code> or anything like that, which is pretty weird.</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/RQ8HL.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/RQ8HL.png" alt="2005 original"></a></p>
  
  <p>Importing the project into Visual Studio 2019 works as well, the code can still use the DLL and it is listed under both the dependencies and the references:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/g70ox.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/g70ox.png" alt="2019 imported"></a></p>
  
  <p>I now want to achieve the same thing in a new project, but I cannot figure out how to register the DLL as a dependency. Things I found online and tried:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><em>"Just include the header or lib file"</em> doesn't work, I don't have one</li>
  <li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/a/31710797/5517612">LoadLibrary() and GetProcAddress()</a> are awfully contrived and don't seem necessary because it's clearly possible without.</li>
  <li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/a/16127548/5517612">Create your own lib file</a> doesn't work either, <code>dumpbin</code> doesn't show any symbols for my DLL: <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/EbszP.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer">image</a></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>How do I register the DLL as a dependency? And where does Visual C++ 2005 get the list of methods in the DLL from is the first place?</p>