accessing classes in a C++ DLL

Is there any way to access a class that is exported by a DLL, or are we 
limited to using only extern C functions (as described by the article 
referred to by the FAQ on the ctypes website: 
http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_id=1604647&forum_id=24606)

any suggestions for how to do this?

I'm thinking we'd have to rewrite the DLL to provide extern C access 
functions which then in turn create and use the classes - would the 
class objects have to stay *in* the DLL?  in our case this should in 
fact be possible as the class provides very few functions and it should 
be possible to have the class created just for the purpose of calling 
those functions.  But what would happen if the class took a long time to 
initialize (and was then efficient for subsequent function calls) and we 
didn't want to have every call to the function pay the penalty of that 
initialization?

I wouldn't think it's possible to get classes out of an 'extern C' DLL, 
but not being too knowledgeable in this area I thought I'd ask.

thanks,
Shi.


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