So, this is my first new dev project on my shiny new Windows 7 64bit machine (having come from a 32bit Vista box). As it happens, I want to use the Microsoft Data Visualization Components, which are only available as a set of 32bit DLLs compiled sometime in 2006.
OK, all good so far – loaded ‘em up, referenced them, threw a TreeMap control on my form, compiled fine and then ran it, and… Bang!
Got a message;
Could not load type ‘Microsoft.Research.CommunityTechnologies.Treemap.NodeColor’ from assembly ‘TreemapGenerator, Version=1.0.1.38, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=3f6121a52ebf7c82′ because it contains an object field at offset 0 that is incorrectly aligned or overlapped by a non-object field.
Turns out the problem is that I’m referencing a 32bit component from a 64bit application, and that there is a union of objects on a 32bit boundary, not a 64bit one. Think that’s right, but anyhoo, the cure is obvious in hindsight – my application needs to be compiled as 32bit.
As this is my first foray into development on a 64bit machine I didn’t actually know where to set this! Found it eventually, though; on the Project Properties form, go to the Build tab and set “Platform Target” to “x64”. I’ll need to remember to make a conscious decision in the future whether a new app is supposed to be 32 or 64 bit!
