using a class defined in a c++ dll in c# code

There is no way to directly use a C++ class in C# code. You can use PInvoke in an indirect fashion to access your type.

The basic pattern is that for every member function in class Foo, create an associated non-member function which calls into the member function.

class Foo {
public:
  int Bar();
};
extern "C" Foo* Foo_Create() { return new Foo(); }
extern "C" int Foo_Bar(Foo* pFoo) { return pFoo->Bar(); }
extern "C" void Foo_Delete(Foo* pFoo) { delete pFoo; }

Now it's a matter of PInvoking these methods into your C# code

[DllImport("Foo.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr Foo_Create();

[DllImport("Foo.dll")]
public static extern int Foo_Bar(IntPtr value);

[DllImport("Foo.dll")]
public static extern void Foo_Delete(IntPtr value);

The downside is you'll have an awkward IntPtr to pass around but it's a somewhat simple matter to create a C# wrapper class around this pointer to create a more usable model.

Even if you don't own this code, you can create another DLL which wraps the original DLL and provides a small PInvoke layer.

Marshal C++ Class and use the PInvoke

C++ Code ,ClassName.h

class __declspec(dllexport) CClassName
{
 public:
    CClassName();
    ~CClassName();
    void function();

};

C++ Code, ClassName.cpp

CClassName::CClassName()
{
}

CClassName::~CClassName()
{
}

void CClassName::function()
{
    std::cout << "Bla bla bla" << std::endl;

}

C++ Code, ClassNameCaller.h file for the caller function

#include "ClassName.h"      

#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif

extern __declspec(dllexport) CClassName* CreateClassName();

extern __declspec(dllexport) void DisposeClassName(CClassName* a_pObject);

extern __declspec(dllexport) void function(CClassName* a_pObject);


#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif

C++ Code, ClassNameCaller.cpp file for the caller function

#include "ClassNameCaller.h"


CClassName* CreateClassName()
{
    return new CClassName();
}

void DisposeClassName(CClassName* a_pObject)
{
    if(a_pObject!= NULL)
    {
        delete a_pObject;
        a_pObject= NULL;
    }
}

void function(CClassName* a_pObject)
{
    if(a_pObject!= NULL)
    {
        a_pObject->function();
    }
}

C# code

[DllImport("ClassNameDll.dll")]
static public extern IntPtr CreateClassName();

[DllImport("ClassNameDll.dll")]
static public extern void DisposeClassName(IntPtr pClassNameObject);

[DllImport("ClassNameDll.dll")]
static public extern void CallFunction(IntPtr pClassNameObject);

//use the functions
IntPtr pClassName = CreateClassName();

CallFunction(pClassName);

DisposeClassName(pClassName);

pClassName = IntPtr.Zero; 

Here is a sample how to call C++ class method from VB - for C# you only have to rewrite the sample program in Step 4.

You may need to write an intermediary DLL (in C++, perhaps) that handles this for you and exposes the interface you need. Your DLL would be in charge of loading the 3rd party DLL, creating an instance of this C++ object, and exposing its member functions as needed via whatever API you design. You would then use P/Invoke to get at your API and cleanly manipulate the object.

Note: For the API of your DLL, try keeping the data types limited to primitives (long, int, char*, etc.) to prevent module boundary issues.