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Marshalling struct array of dynamic size?

Is it possible to Marshal an struct array of dynamic size like so? I'm trying to send data over a network and instead of, in this example, sending 5 different packets containing one testStruct each (which I'm able to do just fine and it works) I would like to group those packets for efficiency into one packet of sendTestStruct containing an array of 5 testStructs.
public struct sendTestStruct
{
public int numberOfStructs;
public testStruct[] structs;
}
public struct testStruct
{
public float float1, float2;
public int int1, int2;
public byte byte1, byte2;
}
sendTestStruct send = new();
send.structs = new testStruct[5];
send.numberOfStructs = 5;
for (var i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
testStruct numbers = new();
numbers.float1 = Random.Range(0f, 10f);
numbers.float2 = Random.Range(0f, 10f);
numbers.int1 = Random.Range(0, 10);
numbers.int2 = Random.Range(0, 10);
numbers.byte1 = (byte)Random.Range(0, 10);
numbers.byte2 = (byte)Random.Range(0, 10);
send.structs[i] = numbers;
}
IntPtr ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(Marshal.SizeOf(send));
Marshal.StructureToPtr(send, ptr, false);
sendTestStruct newstruct = Marshal.PtrToStructure<sendTestStruct>(ptr);
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
But I get an error
Structure field of type testStruct[] can't be marshalled as LPArray
Is there a way to do this?
The error happens when trying to do
sendTestStruct newstruct = Marshal.PtrToStructure(ptr);

Marshaling Struct Array with Strings Between c# and c++. Strings are empty

I am having the most difficult time marshaling this struct between C# and C++.
What makes it very hard to troubleshoot is that SOMETIMES the strings are populated with data (wtf), but most of the time they are not.
I've tried sending over an Array of structs as well as a IntPtr, but the results are similar, the strings in the struct are almost always empty and I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong in the marshaling. The code is posted below. Any help would be appreciated.
Edit***
Turns out the problem was on the C++ side and all the marshaling stuff was correct. Thanks for the tip Hans. ***
C++:
#pragma pack (push, 1)
typedef struct
{
char FirmwareVers[FS_MAX_FIRMWARE_VER];
char SerialNum[FS_MAX_SERIAL_NUM];
char HardwareVers[FS_MAX_HW_VER];
ULONG StatusFlags;
int LMIndex;
} FS_LMON_STATUS, *PFS_LMON_STATUS;
DllExport int _stdcall FS_GetLMs(PFS_LMON_STATUS pLaunchMonInfo, int MaxLaunchMons, int *pNumLaunchMons)
{
int Cnt;
FS_LMON_STATUS LMStatus;
if(!g_IsInitalized)
return FS_NOT_INITALIZED;
*pNumLaunchMons = 0;
if(MaxLaunchMons == 0)
return FS_ERROR;
for(Cnt = 0; Cnt < MAX_LM_CONNECTIONS; Cnt++)
{
if(g_CreatedClasses.pLMList->GetLMStatus(Cnt, &LMStatus) != FS_SUCCESS)
continue;
if(LMStatus.LMIndex != INVALID_LM_INDEX)
{
memcpy(pLaunchMonInfo, &LMStatus, sizeof(LMStatus));
pLaunchMonInfo++;
(*pNumLaunchMons)++;
MaxLaunchMons--;
if(MaxLaunchMons == 0)
{
return FS_SUCCESS;
}
}
}
return FS_SUCCESS;
}
C#:
[DllImport("FSADLL", SetLastError = false)]
private static extern int FS_GetLMs([Out] IntPtr pLaunchMonInfo, int MaxLaunchMons, ref int pNumLaunchMons);
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, Pack = 1, CharSet = CharSet.Ansi)] //, Size = 38)]
public struct FS_LMON_STATUS
{
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = FS_MAX_FIRMWARE_VER)] //10 bytes
public string FirmwareVers;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = FS_MAX_SERIAL_NUM)] // 15 bytes
public string SerialNum;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = FS_MAX_HW_VER)] // 5 bytes
public string HardwareVers;
public uint StatusFlags; //4 bytes
public int LMIndex; // identifies which index //4 bytes
}
const int max_launch_monitors = 8;
FS_LMON_STATUS[] dev_info = new FS_LMON_STATUS[max_launch_monitors];
int num_launch_monitors = 0;
IntPtr pAddr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(max_launch_monitors * Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(FS_LMON_STATUS)));
Marshal.StructureToPtr(dev_info, pAddr, false);
int result = FS_GetLMs(pAddr, max_launch_monitors, ref num_launch_monitors);
UnityEngine.Debug.Log("Result of FS_GetLMs: " + result);
FS_LMON_STATUS[] device_info = new FS_LMON_STATUS[max_launch_monitors];
//Marshal.Copy(pAddr, device_info, (int)0, num_launch_monitors * (int)Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(FS_LMON_STATUS)));
//Marshal.ReadIntPtr(pAddr, 0);
//device_info = (FS_LMON_STATUS[]) Marshal.PtrToStructure(Marshal.AllocHGlobal(max_launch_monitors * Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(FS_LMON_STATUS[]))), typeof(FS_LMON_STATUS[]));
if (num_launch_monitors > 0)
UnityEngine.Debug.Log("GC2 Device Found.");
else // If there is no devices found, remove the previous device from the holder variable
GC2Device = null;
for (int i = 0; i < num_launch_monitors; i++)
{
device_info[i] = (FS_LMON_STATUS)Marshal.PtrToStructure(pAddr, typeof(FS_LMON_STATUS));
pAddr = new IntPtr(Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(FS_LMON_STATUS)) + pAddr.ToInt64());
}
//*** There will only ever be 1 device in the list until the old SDK is fixed ***
for (int lm_index = 0; lm_index < num_launch_monitors; lm_index++)
{
if (device_info[lm_index].StatusFlags != LM_STATUS_DISCONNECTED)
{
UnityEngine.Debug.Log("device_info.SerialNum: " + device_info[lm_index].SerialNum);
//assign each LM to a LM data structure
LaunchMonitor logical_device = new LaunchMonitor(inst);
logical_device.mLaunchMonitorType = LaunchMonitorType.LAUNCH_MONITOR_TYPE_GC2;
logical_device.mConnectionType = ConnectionType.USB_CONNECTION;
IntPtr pnt = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(Marshal.SizeOf(device_info[lm_index]));
Marshal.StructureToPtr(device_info[lm_index], pnt, false);
//Marshal.Copy(device_info[lm_index], dv_info, 0, (uint)Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(FS_LMON_STATUS)));
logical_device.mConnectionToken = pnt;
//GC2Devices.Add(logical_device);
logical_device.Serial = logical_device.GetSerialNumber();
GC2Device = logical_device;
}
}

Turns out the problem was on the C++ side and all the marshaling stuff was correct. Thanks for the tip Hans.

C# - Cast a byte array to an array of struct and vice-versa (reverse)

I would like to save a Color[] to a file. To do so, I found that saving a byte array to a file using "System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes" should be very efficient.
I would like to cast my Color[] (array of struct) to a byte array into a safe way considering:
Potential problem of little endian / big endian (I think it is impossible to happen but want to be sure)
Having 2 differents pointer to the same memory which point to different type. Does the garbage collection will know what to do - moving objects - deleting a pointer ???
If it is possible, it would be nice to have a generic way to cast array of byte to array of any struct (T struct) and vice-versa.
If not possible, why ?
Thanks,
Eric
I think that those 2 solutions make a copy that I would like to avoid and also they both uses Marshal.PtrToStructure which is specific to structure and not to array of structure:
Reading a C/C++ data structure in C# from a byte array
How to convert a structure to a byte array in C#?

Since .NET Core 2.1, yes we can! Enter MemoryMarshal.
We will treat our Color[] as a ReadOnlySpan<Color>. We reinterpret that as a ReadOnlySpan<byte>. Finally, since WriteAllBytes has no span-based overload, we use a FileStream to write the span to disk.
var byteSpan = MemoryMarshal.AsBytes(colorArray.AsSpan());
fileStream.Write(byteSpan);
As an interesting side note, you can also experiment with the [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit)] as an attribute on your fields. It allows you to specify overlapping fields, effectively allowing the concept of a union.
Here is a blog post on MSDN that illustrates this. It shows the following code:
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit)]
public struct MyUnion
{
[FieldOffset(0)]
public UInt16 myInt;
[FieldOffset(0)]
public Byte byte1;
[FieldOffset(1)]
public Byte byte2;
}
In this example, the UInt16 field overlaps with the two Byte fields.
This seems to be strongly related to what you are trying to do. It gets you very close, except for the part of writing all the bytes (especially of multiple Color objects) efficiently. :)

Regarding Array Type Conversion
C# as a language intentionally makes the process of flattening objects or arrays into byte arrays difficult because this approach goes against the principals of .NET strong typing. The conventional alternatives include several serialization tools which are generally seen a safer and more robust, or manual serialization coding such as BinaryWriter.
Having two variables of different types point to the same object in memory can only be performed if the types of the variables can be cast, implicitly or explicitly. Casting from an array of one element type to another is no trivial task: it would have to convert the internal members that keep track of things such as array length, etc.
A simple way to write and read Color[] to file
void WriteColorsToFile(string path, Color[] colors)
{
BinaryWriter writer = new BinaryWriter(File.OpenWrite(path));
writer.Write(colors.Length);
foreach(Color color in colors)
{
writer.Write(color.ToArgb());
}
writer.Close();
}
Color[] ReadColorsFromFile(string path)
{
BinaryReader reader = new BinaryReader(File.OpenRead(path));
int length = reader.ReadInt32();
Colors[] result = new Colors[length];
for(int n=0; n<length; n++)
{
result[n] = Color.FromArgb(reader.ReadInt32());
}
reader.Close();
}

You could use pointers if you really want to copy each byte and not have a copy but the same object, similar to this:
var structPtr = (byte*)&yourStruct;
var size = sizeof(YourType);
var memory = new byte[size];
fixed(byte* memoryPtr = memory)
{
for(int i = 0; i < size; i++)
{
*(memoryPtr + i) = *structPtr++;
}
}
File.WriteAllBytes(path, memory);
I just tested this and after adding the fixed block and some minor corrections it looks like it is working correctly.
This is what I used to test it:
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
var a = new s { i = 1, j = 2 };
var sPtr = (byte*)&a;
var size = sizeof(s);
var mem = new byte[size];
fixed (byte* memPtr = mem)
{
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)
{
*(memPtr + i) = *sPtr++;
}
}
File.WriteAllBytes("A:\\file.txt", mem);
}
struct s
{
internal int i;
internal int j;
}
The result is the following:
(I manually resolved the hex bytes in the second line, only the first line was produced by the program)

public struct MyX
{
public int IntValue;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValArray, SizeConst = 3, ArraySubType = UnmanagedType.U1)]
public byte[] Array;
MyX(int i, int b)
{
IntValue = b;
Array = new byte[3];
}
public MyX ToStruct(byte []ar)
{
byte[] data = ar;//= { 1, 0, 0, 0, 9, 8, 7 }; // IntValue = 1, Array = {9,8,7}
IntPtr ptPoit = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(data.Length);
Marshal.Copy(data, 0, ptPoit, data.Length);
MyX x = (MyX)Marshal.PtrToStructure(ptPoit, typeof(MyX));
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptPoit);
return x;
}
public byte[] ToBytes()
{
Byte[] bytes = new Byte[Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(MyX))];
GCHandle pinStructure = GCHandle.Alloc(this, GCHandleType.Pinned);
try
{
Marshal.Copy(pinStructure.AddrOfPinnedObject(), bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
return bytes;
}
finally
{
pinStructure.Free();
}
}
}
void function()
{
byte[] data = { 1, 0, 0, 0, 9, 8, 7 }; // IntValue = 1, Array = {9,8,7}
IntPtr ptPoit = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(data.Length);
Marshal.Copy(data, 0, ptPoit, data.Length);
var x = (MyX)Marshal.PtrToStructure(ptPoit, typeof(MyX));
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptPoit);
var MYstruc = x.ToStruct(data);
Console.WriteLine("x.IntValue = {0}", x.IntValue);
Console.WriteLine("x.Array = ({0}, {1}, {2})", x.Array[0], x.Array[1], x.Array[2]);
}

Working code for reference (take care, I did not need the alpha channel in my case):
// ************************************************************************
// If someday Microsoft make Color serializable ...
//public static void SaveColors(Color[] colors, string path)
//{
// BinaryFormatter bf = new BinaryFormatter();
// MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
// bf.Serialize(ms, colors);
// byte[] bytes = ms.ToArray();
// File.WriteAllBytes(path, bytes);
//}
// If someday Microsoft make Color serializable ...
//public static Colors[] LoadColors(string path)
//{
// Byte[] bytes = File.ReadAllBytes(path);
// BinaryFormatter bf = new BinaryFormatter();
// MemoryStream ms2 = new MemoryStream(bytes);
// return (Colors[])bf.Deserialize(ms2);
//}
// ******************************************************************
public static void SaveColorsToFile(Color[] colors, string path)
{
var formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
int count = colors.Length;
using (var stream = File.OpenWrite(path))
{
formatter.Serialize(stream, count);
for (int index = 0; index < count; index++)
{
formatter.Serialize(stream, colors[index].R);
formatter.Serialize(stream, colors[index].G);
formatter.Serialize(stream, colors[index].B);
}
}
}
// ******************************************************************
public static Color[] LoadColorsFromFile(string path)
{
var formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
Color[] colors;
using (var stream = File.OpenRead(path))
{
int count = (int)formatter.Deserialize(stream);
colors = new Color[count];
for (int index = 0; index < count; index++)
{
byte r = (byte)formatter.Deserialize(stream);
byte g = (byte)formatter.Deserialize(stream);
byte b = (byte)formatter.Deserialize(stream);
colors[index] = Color.FromRgb(r, g, b);
}
}
return colors;
}
// ******************************************************************

How to convert an array of value struct to bytes?

I have a System.Array of value struct types, something like this:
public value struct Position
{
int timestamp;
float x;
float y;
}
Position[] positions = new Position[1000 * 1000];
After I initialize the array with values, how can I get a byte[] of it's content, without serializing one item at a time?
In C++/CLI I would use a pin_ptr to get the pointer to the array content and I would copy the data from there. Can I do something like this in C#?
EDIT: I need to write the raw data to disk, as if it were a C struct, without any kind of serialization.
I tagged this question as C# for broader exposure, but actually I'm trying to serialize the data from IronPython, so this means I can't use any unsafe C# functionality.

Maybe this will help:
[Serializable()]
public struct Position
{
int timestamp;
float x;
float y;
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var positions = new Position[1000 * 1000];
GetBytes(positions);
}
private static byte[] GetBytes(object obj)
{
using (var memoryStream = new System.IO.MemoryStream())
{
var binaryFormatter = new System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter();
binaryFormatter.Serialize(memoryStream, obj);
return memoryStream.ToArray();
}
}

Here's a method that doesn't require unsafe code:
[Updated to remove the for loop and perform the copy in a single pass]
private static byte[] StructureToByteArray(Position[] posArray)
{
if (posArray == null || posArray.Length == 0)
{
return new byte[0];
}
var lenOfObject = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(Position));
var len = lenOfObject * posArray.Length;
var arr = new byte[len];
var handle = GCHandle.Alloc(posArray, GCHandleType.Pinned);
try
{
var ptr = handle.AddrOfPinnedObject();
Marshal.Copy(ptr, arr, 0, len);
}
finally
{
handle.Free();
}
return arr;
}

I believe this is the equivalent to the C++/CLI pin_ptr using unsafe C# code:
public static unsafe byte[] GetBytes(Position[] positions)
{
byte[] result = new byte[positions.Length * Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(Position))];
fixed (Position* ptr = &positions[0])
{
Marshal.Copy((IntPtr)ptr, result, 0, result.Length);
}
return result;
}

Marshal.PtrToStructure (and back again) and generic solution for endianness swapping

I have a system where a remote agent sends serialized structures (from an embedded C system) for me to read and store via IP/UDP. In some cases I need to send back the same structure types. I thought I had a nice setup using Marshal.PtrToStructure (receive) and Marshal.StructureToPtr (send). However, a small gotcha is that the network big endian integers need to be converted to my x86 little endian format to be used locally. When I'm sending them off again, big endian is the way to go.
Here are the functions in question:
private static T BytesToStruct<T>(ref byte[] rawData) where T: struct
{
T result = default(T);
GCHandle handle = GCHandle.Alloc(rawData, GCHandleType.Pinned);
try
{
IntPtr rawDataPtr = handle.AddrOfPinnedObject();
result = (T)Marshal.PtrToStructure(rawDataPtr, typeof(T));
}
finally
{
handle.Free();
}
return result;
}
private static byte[] StructToBytes<T>(T data) where T: struct
{
byte[] rawData = new byte[Marshal.SizeOf(data)];
GCHandle handle = GCHandle.Alloc(rawData, GCHandleType.Pinned);
try
{
IntPtr rawDataPtr = handle.AddrOfPinnedObject();
Marshal.StructureToPtr(data, rawDataPtr, false);
}
finally
{
handle.Free();
}
return rawData;
}
And a quick example structure that might be used like this:
byte[] data = this.sock.Receive(ref this.ipep);
Request request = BytesToStruct<Request>(ref data);
Where the structure in question looks like:
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Ansi, Pack = 1)]
private struct Request
{
public byte type;
public short sequence;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValArray, SizeConst = 5)]
public byte[] address;
}
What (generic) way can I swap the endianness when marshalling the structures? My need is such that the locally stored 'request.sequence' in this example should be little-endian for displaying to the user. I don't want to have to swap the endianness in a structure-specific way since it's a generic problem.
My first thought was to use Reflection, but I'm not very familiar with that feature. Also, I hoped that there would be a better solution out there that somebody could point me towards. Thanks in advance :)

Reflection does seem like the only real way to accomplish what you're after.
I've put together some code below. It creates an attribute called EndianAttribute that can be applied at the field level on a struct. I've included the definition for this attribute and it's associated enum, as well as the modifications to your code necessary to use it.
As a side note, you did not need to define rawData as a ref parameter.
Note that this does require the use of C# 3.0/.NET 3.5, since I'm using LINQ and anonymous types in the function doing the work. It would not be difficult to rewrite the function without these features, though.
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Field)]
public class EndianAttribute : Attribute
{
public Endianness Endianness { get; private set; }
public EndianAttribute(Endianness endianness)
{
this.Endianness = endianness;
}
}
public enum Endianness
{
BigEndian,
LittleEndian
}
private static void RespectEndianness(Type type, byte[] data)
{
var fields = type.GetFields().Where(f => f.IsDefined(typeof(EndianAttribute), false))
.Select(f => new
{
Field = f,
Attribute = (EndianAttribute)f.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(EndianAttribute), false)[0],
Offset = Marshal.OffsetOf(type, f.Name).ToInt32()
}).ToList();
foreach (var field in fields)
{
if ((field.Attribute.Endianness == Endianness.BigEndian && BitConverter.IsLittleEndian) ||
(field.Attribute.Endianness == Endianness.LittleEndian && !BitConverter.IsLittleEndian))
{
Array.Reverse(data, field.Offset, Marshal.SizeOf(field.Field.FieldType));
}
}
}
private static T BytesToStruct<T>(byte[] rawData) where T : struct
{
T result = default(T);
RespectEndianness(typeof(T), rawData);
GCHandle handle = GCHandle.Alloc(rawData, GCHandleType.Pinned);
try
{
IntPtr rawDataPtr = handle.AddrOfPinnedObject();
result = (T)Marshal.PtrToStructure(rawDataPtr, typeof(T));
}
finally
{
handle.Free();
}
return result;
}
private static byte[] StructToBytes<T>(T data) where T : struct
{
byte[] rawData = new byte[Marshal.SizeOf(data)];
GCHandle handle = GCHandle.Alloc(rawData, GCHandleType.Pinned);
try
{
IntPtr rawDataPtr = handle.AddrOfPinnedObject();
Marshal.StructureToPtr(data, rawDataPtr, false);
}
finally
{
handle.Free();
}
RespectEndianness(typeof(T), rawData);
return rawData;
}

For those of us without Linq, a replacement RespectEndianness():
private static void RespectEndianness(Type type, byte[] data) {
foreach (FieldInfo f in type.GetFields()) {
if (f.IsDefined(typeof(EndianAttribute), false)) {
EndianAttribute att = (EndianAttribute)f.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(EndianAttribute), false)[0];
int offset = Marshal.OffsetOf(type, f.Name).ToInt32();
if ((att.Endianness == Endianness.BigEndian && BitConverter.IsLittleEndian) ||
(att.Endianness == Endianness.LittleEndian && !BitConverter.IsLittleEndian)) {
Array.Reverse(data, offset, Marshal.SizeOf(f.FieldType));
}
}
}
}

Here's my variation - it handles nested structs and arrays, with the assumption that arrays are of a fixed size, eg marked with a [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValArray, SizeConst = N)] attribute.
public static class Serializer
{
public static byte[] GetBytes<T>(T structure, bool respectEndianness = true) where T : struct
{
var size = Marshal.SizeOf(structure); //or Marshal.SizeOf<T>(); in .net 4.5.1
var bytes = new byte[size];
var ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(size);
Marshal.StructureToPtr(structure, ptr, true);
Marshal.Copy(ptr, bytes, 0, size);
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
if (respectEndianness) RespectEndianness(typeof(T), bytes);
return bytes;
}
public static T FromBytes<T>(byte[] bytes, bool respectEndianness = true) where T : struct
{
var structure = new T();
if (respectEndianness) RespectEndianness(typeof(T), bytes);
int size = Marshal.SizeOf(structure); //or Marshal.SizeOf<T>(); in .net 4.5.1
IntPtr ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(size);
Marshal.Copy(bytes, 0, ptr, size);
structure = (T)Marshal.PtrToStructure(ptr, structure.GetType());
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
return structure;
}
private static void RespectEndianness(Type type, byte[] data, int offSet = 0)
{
var fields = type.GetFields()
.Select(f => new
{
Field = f,
Offset = Marshal.OffsetOf(type, f.Name).ToInt32(),
}).ToList();
foreach (var field in fields)
{
if (field.Field.FieldType.IsArray)
{
//handle arrays, assuming fixed length
var attr = field.Field.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(MarshalAsAttribute), false).FirstOrDefault();
var marshalAsAttribute = attr as MarshalAsAttribute;
if (marshalAsAttribute == null || marshalAsAttribute.SizeConst == 0)
throw new NotSupportedException(
"Array fields must be decorated with a MarshalAsAttribute with SizeConst specified.");
var arrayLength = marshalAsAttribute.SizeConst;
var elementType = field.Field.FieldType.GetElementType();
var elementSize = Marshal.SizeOf(elementType);
var arrayOffset = field.Offset + offSet;
for (int i = arrayOffset; i < arrayOffset + elementSize * arrayLength; i += elementSize) {
RespectEndianness(elementType, data, i);
}
}
else if (!field.Field.FieldType.IsPrimitive) //or !field.Field.FiledType.GetFields().Length == 0
{
//handle nested structs
RespectEndianness(field.Field.FieldType, data, field.Offset);
}
else
{
//handle primitive types
Array.Reverse(data, offSet + field.Offset, Marshal.SizeOf(field.Field.FieldType));
}
}
}
}

This question was awesome and helped me a lot! I needed to expand on the endian changer though as it doesn't seem to handle arrays or structs within structs.
public struct mytest
{
public int myint;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValArray, SizeConst = 10)]
public int[] ptime;
}
public static void SwapIt(Type type, byte[] recvbyte, int offset)
{
foreach (System.Reflection.FieldInfo fi in type.GetFields())
{
int index = Marshal.OffsetOf(type, fi.Name).ToInt32() + offset;
if (fi.FieldType == typeof(int))
{
Array.Reverse(recvbyte, index, sizeof(int));
}
else if (fi.FieldType == typeof(float))
{
Array.Reverse(recvbyte, index, sizeof(float));
}
else if (fi.FieldType == typeof(double))
{
Array.Reverse(recvbyte, index, sizeof(double));
}
else
{
// Maybe we have an array
if (fi.FieldType.IsArray)
{
// Check for MarshalAs attribute to get array size
object[] ca = fi.GetCustomAttributes(false);
if (ca.Count() > 0 && ca[0] is MarshalAsAttribute)
{
int size = ((MarshalAsAttribute)ca[0]).SizeConst;
// Need to use GetElementType to see that int[] is made of ints
if (fi.FieldType.GetElementType() == typeof(int))
{
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)
{
Array.Reverse(recvbyte, index + (i * sizeof(int)), sizeof(int));
}
}
else if (fi.FieldType.GetElementType() == typeof(float))
{
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)
{
Array.Reverse(recvbyte, index + (i * sizeof(float)), sizeof(float));
}
}
else if (fi.FieldType.GetElementType() == typeof(double))
{
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)
{
Array.Reverse(recvbyte, index + (i * sizeof(double)), sizeof(double));
}
}
else
{
// An array of something else?
Type t = fi.FieldType.GetElementType();
int s = Marshal.SizeOf(t);
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)
{
SwapIt(t, recvbyte, index + (i * s));
}
}
}
}
else
{
SwapIt(fi.FieldType, recvbyte, index);
}
}
}
}
Note this code was only tested on structs made of int, float, double. Will probably mess up if you have a string in there!