Start Application within a DLL - c++

Question

So I want to create a Dll that contains an application. My code:
BOOL APIENTRY DllMain( HANDLE hModule,
DWORD ul_reason_for_call,
LPVOID lpReserved
)
{
switch(ul_reason_for_call)
{
case DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH:
StartApp();
break;
}
return TRUE;
}
And the StartApp function:
void StartApp()
{
//some declartions
iPtr->Start();
}
The thing is that the function Start() is running in a continuous loop (sth like while(true)) and I think that's the problem cause the dll never gets to break and return true. I tried to run it in a different thread but this isn't working.
So my question is what can I do to use the dll?
Is there a problem if DllMain doesnt finish and doesn't return TRUE?

Answer 1

Yes, there is a problem is DllMain doesn't return, as the documentation states:
When a DLL entry-point function is called because a process is loading, the function returns TRUE to indicate success. For processes using load-time linking, a return value of FALSE causes the process initialization to fail and the process terminates. For processes using run-time linking, a return value of FALSE causes the LoadLibrary or LoadLibraryEx function to return NULL, indicating failure. (The system immediately calls your entry-point function with DLL_PROCESS_DETACH and unloads the DLL.) The return value of the entry-point function is disregarded when the function is called for any other reason.
Source.
You may create a wrapper function for the StartApp function, and expose it via your dll. After that you can call the exported StartApp function from your executable (after you loaded the dll). Make sure you call it from a different thread as it will block.