I know this has already been answered, but here is an example for the people who are trying to use SQL Server Types in a vb project:
Imports System
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
Namespace SqlServerTypes
Public Class Utilities
<DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet:=CharSet.Auto, SetLastError:=True)>
Public Shared Function LoadLibrary(ByVal libname As String) As IntPtr
End Function
Public Shared Sub LoadNativeAssemblies(ByVal rootApplicationPath As String)
Dim nativeBinaryPath = If(IntPtr.Size > 4, Path.Combine(rootApplicationPath, "SqlServerTypes\x64\"), Path.Combine(rootApplicationPath, "SqlServerTypes\x86\"))
LoadNativeAssembly(nativeBinaryPath, "msvcr120.dll")
LoadNativeAssembly(nativeBinaryPath, "SqlServerSpatial140.dll")
End Sub
Private Shared Sub LoadNativeAssembly(ByVal nativeBinaryPath As String, ByVal assemblyName As String)
Dim path = System.IO.Path.Combine(nativeBinaryPath, assemblyName)
Dim ptr = LoadLibrary(path)
If ptr = IntPtr.Zero Then
Throw New Exception(String.Format("Error loading {0} (ErrorCode: {1})", assemblyName, Marshal.GetLastWin32Error()))
End If
End Sub
End Class
End Namespace