Hello TensorFlow Windows C API

A small example of how to run TensorFlow C API on Windows.

P.S. Code from examples can work on other platforms.

Example

• Hello TF
• Creat Tensor
• Run session
• Load graph
• Interface
• Tensor Info
• Graph Info

Build example

mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -G "Visual Studio 15 2017 Win64" # or other versions Visual Studio
cmake --build . --config Debug

Remarks

• The tensorflow.dll in the repository is compiled in x64 mode. Make sure that project target 64-bit platforms.
• Make sure that the tensorflow.dll is in Output Directory (by default, this is Debug\Release under your project's folder) or either in the directory contained by the %PATH% environment variable.

Get tensorflow.dll

For CPU, you can download the tensorflow.dll and tensorflow.lib from https://github.com/Neargye/tensorflow/releases.

Or build dll which version you need from the sources, with CPU or GPU support.

Create .lib file from .dll

Open the Visual Studio Command Prompt, you find its shortcut in "Start"->"Programs"->"Microsoft Visual Studio"->"Tools". Now run the dumpbin command to get a list of all exported functions of your dll:

dumpbin /exports yourpath/tensorflow.dll

This will print quite a bit of text to the console. However we are only interested in the functions:

    ordinal hint RVA      name

          1    0 028D4AB8 ?DEVICE_CPU@tensorflow@@3QEBDEB
          2    1 028D4AC0 ?DEVICE_GPU@tensorflow@@3QEBDEB
          3    2 028D4AC8 ?DEVICE_SYCL@tensorflow@@3QEBDEB
          4    3 028E1380 ?kDatasetGraphKey@GraphDatasetBase@tensorflow@@2QBDB
          5    4 028E1390 ?kDatasetGraphOutputNodeKey@GraphDatasetBase@tensorflow@@2QBDB
          6    5 03242488 ?tracing_engine_@Tracing@port@tensorflow@@0U?$atomic@PEAVEngine@Tracing@port@tensorflow@@@std@@A
          7    6 001996C0 TFE_ContextAddFunction
          8    7 00199710 TFE_ContextAddFunctionDef
          9    8 001997D0 TFE_ContextAsyncClearError
         10    9 001997E0 TFE_ContextAsyncWait
         11    A 00199830 TFE_ContextClearCaches
...

Now copy all those function names (only the names!) and paste them into a new textfile. Name the nextfile tensorflow.def and put the line “EXPORTS” at its top. My tensorflow.def file looks like this:

EXPORTS
?DEVICE_CPU@tensorflow@@3QEBDEB
?DEVICE_GPU@tensorflow@@3QEBDEB
?DEVICE_SYCL@tensorflow@@3QEBDEB
?kDatasetGraphKey@GraphDatasetBase@tensorflow@@2QBDB
?kDatasetGraphOutputNodeKey@GraphDatasetBase@tensorflow@@2QBDB
?tracing_engine_@Tracing@port@tensorflow@@0U?$atomic@PEAVEngine@Tracing@port@tensorflow@@@std@@A
TFE_ContextAddFunction
TFE_ContextAddFunctionDef
TFE_ContextAsyncClearError
TFE_ContextAsyncWait
TFE_ContextClearCaches
...

Now from that definition file, we can finally create the .lib file. We use the “lib” tool for this, so run this command in your Visual Studio Command Prompt:

lib /def:yourpath/tensorflow.def /OUT:yourpath/tensorflow.lib /MACHINE:X64

/MACHINE:X64 - fow x64 build, and /MACHINE:X86 for x32 build.

Link tensorflow.dll

CMakeLists.txt

link_directories(yourpath/to/tensorflow) # path to tensorflow.dll and tensorflow.lib
... # other
target_link_libraries(<target> <PRIVATE|PUBLIC|INTERFACE> tensorflow)

Visual Studio

"Project"->"Properties"->Configuration Properties"->"Linker"->"Additional Dependencies" and add path to your tensorflow.lib as a next line.

Make sure that the tensorflow.dll is in Output Directory (by default, this is Debug\Release under your project's folder) or either in the directory contained by the %PATH% environment variable.

Licensed under the Unlicense