Why/when is __declspec( dllimport ) not needed?

Question

In a project using a server.dll and a client.exe, I have dllexported a server symbol from the server dll, and not dllimported it into the client exe.

Still, the application links, and starts, without any problem. Is dllimport not needed, then???

Details:

I have this 'server' dll:

// server.h
#ifdef SERVER_EXPORTS
  #define SERVER_API __declspec(dllexport)
#else
  #define SERVER_API // =====> not using dllimport!
#endif
class  SERVER_API CServer {
   static long s;
   public:
   CServer();
};

// server.cpp
CServer::CServer(){}

long CServer::s;

and this client executable:

#include <server.h>
int main() {
   CServer s;
}

The server command line:

cl.exe /Od  /D "WIN32" /D "_DEBUG" /D "_WINDOWS" /D "_USRDLL" 
 /D "SERVER_EXPORTS" /D "_UNICODE" /D "UNICODE" /D "_WINDLL" 
 /Gm /EHsc /RTC1 /MDd /Yu"stdafx.h" 
 /Fp"Debug\server.pch" /Fo"Debug\\" /Fd"Debug\vc80.pdb" 
 /W3 /nologo /c /Wp64 /ZI /TP /errorReport:prompt

cl.exe /OUT:"U:\libs\Debug\server.dll" /INCREMENTAL:NO /NOLOGO /DLL 
/MANIFEST /MANIFESTFILE:"Debug\server.dll.intermediate.manifest" 
/DEBUG /PDB:"u:\libs\Debug\server.pdb" 
/SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS /MACHINE:X86 /ERRORREPORT:PROMPT 
kernel32.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib winspool.lib comdlg32.lib advapi32.lib 
shell32.lib ole32.lib oleaut32.lib uuid.lib odbc32.lib odbccp32.lib

Client command line:

cl.exe /Od /I "..\server" 
 /D "WIN32" /D "_DEBUG" /D "_CONSOLE" /D "_UNICODE" /D "UNICODE" 
 /Gm /EHsc /RTC1 /MDd /Fo"Debug\\" /Fd"Debug\vc80.pdb" /W3 /c /Wp64 /ZI /TP 
 .\client.cpp

cl.exe /OUT:"U:\libs\Debug\Debug\client.exe" /INCREMENTAL 
/LIBPATH:"U:\libs\Debug" 
/MANIFEST /MANIFESTFILE:"Debug\client.exe.intermediate.manifest" 
/DEBUG /PDB:"u:\libs\debug\debug\client.pdb" 
/SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE /MACHINE:X86 
server.lib kernel32.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib winspool.lib comdlg32.lib 
advapi32.lib shell32.lib ole32.lib oleaut32.lib uuid.lib odbc32.lib odbccp32.lib

Answer 1

__declspec(dllimport) is a client-side MSVC attribute that can be specified for imported code and data.

It isn't required for code. It is an optimization; a client-side compiler hint that a function call isn't direct but imported. The imported function pointer for a function named foo() will be __imp_foo. Without the hint, a thunk is created to load the address in __imp_foo and jump to it. With the hint the thunk is skipped and an indirect call through the IAT¹ entry is generated i.e. the thunk is inlined. It is a time optimization, not space.

It's required for data that's imported from a DLL.

This blog post has the details.

^{1: Import Address Table of a program}