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.NET Forum / .NET Framework / Interop / June 2005

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How to get pointer to array back to C++ from c#

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Bruce Parker - 04 Jun 2005 22:41 GMT
Here is a code fragment from some C++ code:

Header File 1 declaration (this is supplied by a third party vendor:

class User;
DLL_API User* pickUser( Global* g,  User** users, int numUsers );

The documentation states that "The 'users' are a list of User pointers"

I have a C++ class that wraps this api as follows:

DLL_API long MyPickUser(long g,  long** users , int numUsers)
{
       
    return( (long) ::pickUser( (Global* ) g,  (User** ) users, numUsers));
}

In my CSharp class I have set up the following:

[DllImport("MyWrapper.dll", CharSet=CharSet.Auto)]
        private static extern int MyPickUser(int g, ref int[] users, int numUsers);

internal int PickUser(ref int[] users,int numUsers)
{
   int ret;
   try
   {
   ret = MyPickUser(miGlobal, ref users,numUsers);
   return ret;
   }
   catch (Exception ex)
   {
    HandleError(ex,"PickUser");
    return 0;
   }
}

public int PickUser()
{
  int[] iUsers;

  iUsers = new int[1];
  //The UserId is a pointer to a User obtained from a previous call to the
C++ module.
  iUsers[0] = Users.Item(0).UserId;

  int usr = PickUser(ref iUsers,1);
      return usr;
}

From what I can tell the third party dll is not getting the array of users
and is returning a 0 (there indicator an error occurred).  How do you do this
correctly?
"Peter Huang" [MSFT] - 06 Jun 2005 06:27 GMT
Hi

Based on my research, so far .NET framework does not support marshal a
dynamically C Style array to C++ byref.
So far we can do it as follows to do the job.
[C#]
        [DllImport(@"..\..\..\CPPDLL\Debug\CPPDLL.dll")]
        private static extern int MyPickUser(int g, ref IntPtr users, int
numUsers);
        [STAThread]
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            int[] us = new int[2]{10,20};
            int sz =us.Length*Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(int));
            IntPtr unManagedIntArray=Marshal.AllocCoTaskMem(sz);
            Marshal.Copy(us,0,unManagedIntArray,2);
            MyPickUser(2,ref unManagedIntArray,2);
            Marshal.Copy(unManagedIntArray,us,0,2);
            Console.WriteLine("After Changed");
            foreach( int i in us)
                Console.WriteLine(i);
            Marshal.FreeCoTaskMem(unManagedIntArray);
        }

[C++]
CPPDLL_API long MyPickUser(long g,  long** users , int numUsers)
{
    printf("Before change:\n");
    for(int i=0;i<numUsers;i++)
    {
        printf("%d \n",(*users)[i]);
        (*users)[i] *=2;//change the value
    }
    return 42;
}

Best regards,

Peter Huang
Microsoft Online Partner Support

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Bruce Parker - 07 Jun 2005 04:25 GMT
Thanks for the answer.  The one thing I didn't mention was I am doing this
with the .NET Compact framework and it appears marshalling as you suggested
is not supported.  Is there an alternative way for the Compact framework?

> Hi
>
[quoted text clipped - 39 lines]
> Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
"Peter Huang" [MSFT] - 07 Jun 2005 08:02 GMT
Hi

So far I am researching the issue, and I will update you with new
information ASAP.

Best regards,

Peter Huang
Microsoft Online Partner Support

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"Peter Huang" [MSFT] - 08 Jun 2005 09:01 GMT
Hi

I think you may try to P/Invoke into LocalAlloc/LocalFree to do the memory
alloc and free on the unmanaged heap to replace the
Marshal.AllocCoTaskMem/FreeCoTaskMem.

Here is a link or your reference.
Creating a P/Invoke Library
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnnetcomp/h
tml/PInvokeLib.asp

Also since we do many unmanaged API call, you may consider to use Managed
C++ to wrap the call.

Best regards,

Peter Huang
Microsoft Online Partner Support

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Bruce Parker - 08 Jun 2005 14:46 GMT
I will try this.  The link is also useful for some other things I am looking
to do.

Thanks

> Hi
>
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
"Peter Huang" [MSFT] - 09 Jun 2005 03:10 GMT
Hi

Thanks for your quickly reply!
However, if you still have any concern, please feel free to post here.

Best regards,

Peter Huang
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Signature

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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.


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