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annex provides a simple and lightweight way to dynamically load shared libraries. To use annex:

1. Define a plugin interface using virtual functions

#include <annex/annex.hpp>
struct my_plugin_interface
{
    virtual void do_something(std::string const& x) const = 0;
    virtual void do_something_else() const = 0;
};

2. Define one or more implementations and expose them using a macro

#include "my_plugin_interface.hpp"
struct my_plugin : my_plugin_interface
{
    void do_something(std::string const&x) const
    {
        // ...
    }
    void do_something_else() const
    {
        // ...
    }
};
ANNEX_IMPLEMENT_PLUGIN(my_plugin)

3. Load and use the plugin using the annex::plugin<> template

#include "my_plugin_interface.hpp"
int main(int argc, char ** argv)
{
    // load the plugin
    annex::plugin<my_plugin_interface> plugin("my_plugin.dll");
    // use the plugin
    plugin->do_something("some string");
    plugin->do_something_else();
    return 0;
}