[ACCEPTED]-Reading a C/C++ data structure in C# from a byte array-marshalling

Accepted answer
Score: 125

From what I can see in that context, you 5 don't need to copy SomeByteArray into a buffer. You simply 4 need to get the handle from SomeByteArray, pin it, copy 3 the IntPtr data using PtrToStructure and then release. No need 2 for a copy.

That would be:

NewStuff ByteArrayToNewStuff(byte[] bytes)
{
    GCHandle handle = GCHandle.Alloc(bytes, GCHandleType.Pinned);
    try
    {
        NewStuff stuff = (NewStuff)Marshal.PtrToStructure(handle.AddrOfPinnedObject(), typeof(NewStuff));
    }
    finally
    {
        handle.Free();
    }
    return stuff;
}

Generic version:

T ByteArrayToStructure<T>(byte[] bytes) where T: struct 
{
    T stuff;
    GCHandle handle = GCHandle.Alloc(bytes, GCHandleType.Pinned);
    try
    {
        stuff = (T)Marshal.PtrToStructure(handle.AddrOfPinnedObject(), typeof(T));
    }
    finally
    {
        handle.Free();
    }
    return stuff;
}

Simpler 1 version (requires unsafe switch):

unsafe T ByteArrayToStructure<T>(byte[] bytes) where T : struct
{
    fixed (byte* ptr = &bytes[0])
    {
        return (T)Marshal.PtrToStructure((IntPtr)ptr, typeof(T));
    }
}
Score: 15

Here is an exception safe version of the 1 accepted answer:

public static T ByteArrayToStructure<T>(byte[] bytes) where T : struct
{
    var handle = GCHandle.Alloc(bytes, GCHandleType.Pinned);
    try {
        return (T) Marshal.PtrToStructure(handle.AddrOfPinnedObject(), typeof(T));
    }
    finally {
        handle.Free();
    }
}
Score: 7

Watch out for packing issues. In the example 4 you gave all fields are at the obvious offsets 3 because everything is on 4 byte boundaries 2 but this will not always be the case. Visual 1 C++ packs on 8 byte boundaries by default.

Score: 4
object ByteArrayToStructure(byte[] bytearray, object structureObj, int position)
{
    int length = Marshal.SizeOf(structureObj);
    IntPtr ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(length);
    Marshal.Copy(bytearray, 0, ptr, length);
    structureObj = Marshal.PtrToStructure(Marshal.UnsafeAddrOfPinnedArrayElement(bytearray, position), structureObj.GetType());
    Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
    return structureObj;
}   

Have this

0

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