Safely Calling Win32 APIs from C# — A Practical P/Invoke Guide (DllImport / LibraryImport / CsWin32) (archived 2026-07-27)

A practical rundown of what to watch for when calling Win32 APIs and native DLLs from C# via P/Invoke. Covers the differences between DllImport and LibraryImport, automatic signature generation with CsWin32, string marshalling pitfalls, handle lifetime management with SafeHandle, SetLastError and error handling, StructLayout for structs, callback lifetime management, 32/64-bit differences, and how to choose among C++/CLI and COM, with working examples. Archived version of https://comcomponent.com/en/blog/pinvoke-safe-guide/, as published on 2026-07-27. The live article is maintained and may change after this date. First published 2026-07-04.