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How to convert unsigned long * params to ulong[] params

I have an unmanaged code which is a type of:
unsigned long *inputParameters
I need to convert my variable inputparameters to C# type
ulong[] inputParameters
I've tried different types of conversions like
auto inputParams = *((unsigned long*)inputParameters)
&inputParameters
however I am getting this exception:
cannot convert argument from 'unsigned long *' to 'cli::array<unsigned __int64,1> ^'

Any types known in C# as reference types, need to be instantiated by using the gcnew keyword, arrays being no exception. Most value types are marashalled behind the scenes, so you can generally just assign managed to unmanged and vice versa without any casting or trickery. Magic, I know! There are some exception, but the compiler will let you know if there is an issue.
I am assuming that *inputParameters is a pointer list (rather than a pointer to a single value), which means that you should have a variable that contains the number of elements in the list, lets call it nElements. To do the conversion, you can do the following:
//some test data
int nElements = 10;
unsigned long *inputParameters = (unsigned long *)malloc(sizeof(unsigned long) * nElements);
for (int i = 0; i < nElements; i++)
{
*(inputParameters + i) = i * 2;//just arbitrary values
}
//now create a .NET array (lines below directly solve your question)
array<UInt64, 1>^ managedArray = gcnew array<UInt64, 1>(nElements);
for (int i = 0; i < nElements; i++)
{
tempArray[i] = *(inputParameters + i);//this will be marshalled under the hood correctly.
}
//now the array is ready to be consumed by C# code.
Here, array<UInt64, 1>^ is the C++/CLI equivalent of C#'s ulong[]. You can return managedArray to a method call from C# that expects ulong[] as the return type.

c# multidimensional array conversion

I want to convert a multidimensional array of int[,] to an array of ushort[,] and if possible without looping over each dimension.
I found a post where object[,] is converted to double[,] by using Array.Copy. Unfortunately this only works because the objects are allready of type double. Is there any chance to achieve a similar result for converting int to ushort (assuming it always fits)?
var input = new [,]
{
{1,1,1},
{2,2,2},
{3,3,3}
};
var output = new ushort[3, 3];
// Convert
Array.Copy(input, output, input.Length);
The above code compiles, but fails on execution because it can not convert from int to ushort. I know why this happens, I just want to tell .NET that it should just convert.
As I said I know the easiest solution are two loops. I am just curious if there is an alternative.
Conclusion: Unfortunately there is no fast and built-in way to do this. Therefore I recommend the obvious and readable solution of going for the double loop unless you really need lightning speed fast conversion.
for(var i=0; i<input.GetLength(0); i++)
for(var j=0; j<input.GetLength(1); j++)
output[i,j] = (ushort)input[i,j];
However this is not the accepted solution since for my personal interest I was asking for the fastest alternative and that is, as expected, and evil and unsafe pointer conversion.

This will work without any conversion overhead. Also, it's evil, but I'd do it.
static unsafe void FastCopy(int[,] source, ushort[,] destination)
{
//pin the source and destination arrays
fixed (int* pSource = source) fixed (ushort* pDestination = destination)
{
//compute the pointers for the elements just past the arrays
//as termination conditions
var pSourceEnd = pSource + source.Length;
var pDestinationEnd = pDestination + destination.Length;
//setup our iterator variables
var pSourceCurrent = pSource;
var pDestinationCurrent = pDestination;
//loop over each element until you run out of elements in
//either the source or destination
while (pSourceCurrent < pSourceEnd && pDestinationCurrent < pDestinationEnd)
{
//copy the two lowest bytes in each source int to the
//destination ushort
*pDestinationCurrent++ = *(ushort*)pSourceCurrent++;
}
}
}

Well, you can't convert in-place because arrays are low-level structures, so the memory footprint of an int[,] and a ushort[,] would be different. Also, there's not a built-in method to convert a 2-D array, so the simplest option is to loop and fill a new array with the converted values.

You seem to be conflating very different types of "casts". Do not mix reference conversions with type conversions and boxing conversions:
class Foo: IFoo { ... }
var foo = new Foo();
var iFoo = foo; //implicit reference conversion
var i = 1;
var o = (object)i; //boxing
var u = (uint)i; //type conversion
Reference conversions do not change the object at all, they only change the type of the reference pointing at it. Type conversions (for lack of a better term, english is not my native language) give you back an alltogether different object. Boxing and unboxing conversions are special but behavior wise, in the scope of your question, are similar to reference conversions.
That C# has the same syntax for all these semantically very different casts is, in my opnion, unfortunate.
Array.Copy will allow you to copy between arrays of different type when there is a reference type conversion or boxing/unboxing coversion between them. The reason being that you are not really changing the object, just it's reference (the bits that make up the object stay the same and therefore its size too (again, not strictly true with boxing/unboxing)). That is, the following are all valid:
var foos = new Foo[] { null, null, null };
var iFoos = new IFoo[3];
Array.Copy(foos, iFoos, 3); //reference conversion
var ints = new[] { 1, 2, 3 };
var objs = new object[3];
Array.Copy(ints, objs, 3); //boxing conversion
Array.Copy(objs, ints, 3); //unboxing conversion
While the following is not:
var ints = new[] { 1, 2, 3 };
var uints = new uint[3];
Array.Copy(ints, uints, 3); //type conversion. Runtime error.
Worth noting that the following is also not valid:
var objs = new object[] { 1, 2, 3 }; //boxed int[]
var uints = new uint[3];
Array.Copy(objs, uints, 3); // Unboxing conversion. Runtime error. Huh?
Why is that? Isn't there an unboxing conversion from object to uint? Yes there is, but the boxed value is really an int and you can only unbox a boxed value to its real type. Due to the same reason, the following will also give you a runtime error:
obect i = 1;
var u = (uint)i;
So what does that have to do with anything you've asked?
Well, that there is no inbuilt way to convert a n-dimensional array from one type array to another if the conversion is not a simple reference or boxing/unboxing conversion. You either have to flatten the array using Linq or create your own extension method and in either case you will have to iterate the array to perform the conversion because you have to create a new object (potentially with different size, bits, etc.) for each element in the source array.
Obviosuly, performance will be significantly slower than Array.Copy.

How do I marshal a struct that contains a variable-sized array to C#?

How do I marshal this C++ type?
The ABS_DATA structure is used to associate an arbitrarily long data block with the length information. The declared length of the Data array is 1, but the actual length is given by the Length member.
typedef struct abs_data {
ABS_DWORD Length;
ABS_BYTE Data[ABS_VARLEN];
} ABS_DATA;
I tried the following code, but it's not working. The data variable is always empty and I'm sure it has data in there.
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.StructLayoutAttribute(System.Runtime.InteropServices.LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = System.Runtime.InteropServices.CharSet.Ansi)]
public struct abs_data
{
/// ABS_DWORD->unsigned int
public uint Length;
/// ABS_BYTE[1]
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.MarshalAsAttribute(System.Runtime.InteropServices.UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = 1)]
public string Data;
}

Old question, but I recently had to do this myself and all the existing answers are poor, so...
The best solution for marshaling a variable-length array in a struct is to use a custom marshaler. This lets you control the code that the runtime uses to convert between managed and unmanaged data. Unfortunately, custom marshaling is poorly-documented and has a few bizarre limitations. I'll cover those quickly, then go over the solution.
Annoyingly, you can't use custom marshaling on an array element of a struct or class. There's no documented or logical reason for this limitation, and the compiler won't complain, but you'll get an exception at runtime. Also, there's a function that custom marshalers must implement, int GetNativeDataSize(), which is obviously impossible to implement accurately (it doesn't pass you an instance of the object to ask its size, so you can only go off the type, which is of course variable size!) Fortunately, this function doesn't matter. I've never seen it get called, and it the custom marshaler works fine even if it returns a bogus value (one MSDN example has it return -1).
First of all, here's what I think your native prototype might look like (I'm using P/Invoke here, but it works for COM too):
// Unmanaged C/C++ code prototype (guess)
//void DoThing (ABS_DATA *pData);
// Guess at your managed call with the "marshal one-byte ByValArray" version
//[DllImport("libname.dll")] public extern void DoThing (ref abs_data pData);
Here's the naïve version of how you might have used a custom marshaler (which really ought to have worked). I'll get to the marshaler itself in a bit...
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
public struct abs_data
{
// Don't need the length as a separate filed; managed arrays know it.
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.CustomMarshaler, MarshalTypeRef=typeof(ArrayMarshaler<byte>))]
public byte[] Data;
}
// Now you can just pass the struct but it takes arbitrary sizes!
[DllImport("libname.dll")] public extern void DoThing (ref abs_data pData);
Unfortunately, at runtime, you apparently can't marshal arrays inside data structures as anything except SafeArray or ByValArray. SafeArrays are counted, but they look nothing like the (extremely common) format that you're looking for here. So that won't work. ByValArray, of course, requires that the length be known at compile time, so that doesn't work either (as you ran into). Bizarrely, though, you can use custom marshaling on array parameters, This is annoying because you have to put the MarshalAsAttribute on every parameter that uses this type, instead of just putting it on one field and having that apply everywhere you use the type containing that field, but c'est la vie. It looks like this:
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
public struct abs_data
{
// Don't need the length as a separate filed; managed arrays know it.
// This isn't an array anymore; we pass an array of this instead.
public byte Data;
}
// Now you pass an arbitrary-sized array of the struct
[DllImport("libname.dll")] public extern void DoThing (
// Have to put this huge stupid attribute on every parameter of this type
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.CustomMarshaler, MarshalTypeRef=typeof(ArrayMarshaler<abs_data>))]
// Don't need to use "ref" anymore; arrays are ref types and pass as pointer-to
abs_data[] pData);
In that example, I preserved the abs_data type, in case you want to do something special with it (constructors, static functions, properties, inheritance, whatever). If your array elements consisted of a complex type, you would modify the struct to represent that complex type. However, in this case, abs_data is basically just a renamed byte - it's not even "wrapping" the byte; as far as the native code is concerned it's more like a typedef - so you can just pass an array of bytes and skip the struct entirely:
// Actually, you can just pass an arbitrary-length byte array!
[DllImport("libname.dll")] public extern void DoThing (
// Have to put this huge stupid attribute on every parameter of this type
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.CustomMarshaler, MarshalTypeRef=typeof(ArrayMarshaler<byte>))]
byte[] pData);
OK, so now you can see how to declare the array element type (if needed), and how to pass the array to an unmanaged function. However, we still need that custom marshaler. You should read "Implementing the ICustomMarshaler Interface" but I'll cover this here, with inline comments. Note that I use some shorthand conventions (like Marshal.SizeOf<T>()) that require .NET 4.5.1 or higher.
// The class that does the marshaling. Making it generic is not required, but
// will make it easier to use the same custom marshaler for multiple array types.
public class ArrayMarshaler<T> : ICustomMarshaler
{
// All custom marshalers require a static factory method with this signature.
public static ICustomMarshaler GetInstance (String cookie)
{
return new ArrayMarshaler<T>();
}
// This is the function that builds the managed type - in this case, the managed
// array - from a pointer. You can just return null here if only sending the
// array as an in-parameter.
public Object MarshalNativeToManaged (IntPtr pNativeData)
{
// First, sanity check...
if (IntPtr.Zero == pNativeData) return null;
// Start by reading the size of the array ("Length" from your ABS_DATA struct)
int length = Marshal.ReadInt32(pNativeData);
// Create the managed array that will be returned
T[] array = new T[length];
// For efficiency, only compute the element size once
int elSiz = Marshal.SizeOf<T>();
// Populate the array
for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)
{
array[i] = Marshal.PtrToStructure<T>(pNativeData + sizeof(int) + (elSiz * i));
}
// Alternate method, for arrays of primitive types only:
// Marshal.Copy(pNativeData + sizeof(int), array, 0, length);
return array;
}
// This is the function that marshals your managed array to unmanaged memory.
// If you only ever marshal the array out, not in, you can return IntPtr.Zero
public IntPtr MarshalManagedToNative (Object ManagedObject)
{
if (null == ManagedObject) return IntPtr.Zero;
T[] array = (T[])ManagedObj;
int elSiz = Marshal.SizeOf<T>();
// Get the total size of unmanaged memory that is needed (length + elements)
int size = sizeof(int) + (elSiz * array.Length);
// Allocate unmanaged space. For COM, use Marshal.AllocCoTaskMem instead.
IntPtr ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(size);
// Write the "Length" field first
Marshal.WriteInt32(ptr, array.Length);
// Write the array data
for (int i = 0; i < array.Length; i++)
{ // Newly-allocated space has no existing object, so the last param is false
Marshal.StructureToPtr<T>(array[i], ptr + sizeof(int) + (elSiz * i), false);
}
// If you're only using arrays of primitive types, you could use this instead:
//Marshal.Copy(array, 0, ptr + sizeof(int), array.Length);
return ptr;
}
// This function is called after completing the call that required marshaling to
// unmanaged memory. You should use it to free any unmanaged memory you allocated.
// If you never consume unmanaged memory or other resources, do nothing here.
public void CleanUpNativeData (IntPtr pNativeData)
{
// Free the unmanaged memory. Use Marshal.FreeCoTaskMem if using COM.
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(pNativeData);
}
// If, after marshaling from unmanaged to managed, you have anything that needs
// to be taken care of when you're done with the object, put it here. Garbage
// collection will free the managed object, so I've left this function empty.
public void CleanUpManagedData (Object ManagedObj)
{ }
// This function is a lie. It looks like it should be impossible to get the right
// value - the whole problem is that the size of each array is variable!
// - but in practice the runtime doesn't rely on this and may not even call it.
// The MSDN example returns -1; I'll try to be a little more realistic.
public int GetNativeDataSize ()
{
return sizeof(int) + Marshal.SizeOf<T>();
}
}
Whew, that was long! Well, there you have it. I hope people see this, because there's a lot of bad answers and misunderstanding out there...

It is not possible to marshal structs containing variable-length arrays (but it is possible to marshal variable-length arrays as function parameters). You will have to read your data manually:
IntPtr nativeData = ... ;
var length = Marshal.ReadUInt32 (nativeData) ;
var bytes = new byte[length] ;
Marshal.Copy (new IntPtr ((long)nativeData + 4), bytes, 0, length) ;

If the data being saved isn't a string, you don't have to store it in a string. I usually do not marshal to a string unless the original data type was a char*. Otherwise a byte[] should do.
Try:
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValArray, SizeConst=[whatever your size is]]
byte[] Data;
If you need to convert this to a string later, use:
System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetString(your byte array here).
Obviously, you need to vary the encoding to what you need, though UTF-8 usually is sufficient.
I see the problem now, you have to marshal a VARIABLE length array. The MarshalAs does not allow this and the array will have to be sent by reference.
If the array length is variable, your byte[] needs to be an IntPtr, so you would use,
IntPtr Data;
Instead of
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValArray, SizeConst=[whatever your size is]]
byte[] Data;
You can then use the Marshal class to access the underlying data.
Something like:
uint length = yourABSObject.Length;
byte[] buffer = new byte[length];
Marshal.Copy(buffer, 0, yourABSObject.Data, length);
You may need to clean up your memory when you are finished to avoid a leak, though I suspect the GC will clean it up when yourABSObject goes out of scope. Anyway, here is the cleanup code:
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(yourABSObject.Data);

You are trying to marshal something that is a byte[ABS_VARLEN] as if it were a string of length 1. You'll need to figure out what the ABS_VARLEN constant is and marshal the array as:
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPArray, SizeConst = 1024)]
public byte[] Data;
(The 1024 there is a placeholder; fill in whatever the actual value of ASB_VARLEN is.)

In my opinion, it's simpler and more efficient to pin the array and take its address.
Assuming you need to pass abs_data to myNativeFunction(abs_data*):
public struct abs_data
{
public uint Length;
public IntPtr Data;
}
[DllImport("myDll.dll")]
static extern void myNativeFunction(ref abs_data data);
void CallNativeFunc(byte[] data)
{
GCHandle pin = GCHandle.Alloc(data, GCHandleType.Pinned);
abs_data tmp;
tmp.Length = data.Length;
tmp.Data = pin.AddrOfPinnedObject();
myNativeFunction(ref tmp);
pin.Free();
}

How did the code achieve pass by reference?

Inside main i declared a local int[] array (int[] nums). I did not pass it by reference.
But when i print values of local array i get squared value of each element.
What is the reason for that?
delegate void tsquare(int[] a);
static void Main()
{
int[] nums = { 1, 2, 3 };
tsquare sqr = new tsquare(SomeClass.Square);
sqr(nums);
foreach (int intvals in nums)
{
Console.WriteLine(intvals);
}
}
class SomeClass
{
public static void Square(int[] array)
{
for (int i = 0; i < array.Length; i++)
{
array[i] = array[i] * array[i];
}
}
}
Update:
My appologies to all.What i tought is int[] {Array}is a value type,and the Delegate done
some trick on it.Now from your answer ,i understand Array is Reference type.

There are two concepts here.
Reference types vs. value types
Passing by value vs. passing by reference
Let's tackle the second one first.
Passing something by value means that you give the method its own copy of that value, and it's free to change that value however it wants to, without those changes leaking back into the code that called the method.
For instance, this:
Int32 x = 10;
SomeMethod(x); // pass by value
There's no way x is going to be anything other than 10 after the call returns in this case, since whatever SomeMethod did to its copy of the value, it only did to its own value.
However, passing by reference means that we don't really give the method its own value to play with, rather we give it the location in memory where our own value is located, and thus anything that method does to the value will be reflected back to our code, because in reality, there's only one value in play.
So this:
Int32 x = 10;
SomeMethod(ref x); // pass by reference
In this case, x might hold a different value after SomeMethod returns than it did before it was called.
So that's passing by value vs. passing by reference.
And now to muddle the waters. There's another concept, reference types vs. value types, which many confuses. Your question alludes to you being confused about the issue as well, my apologies if you're not.
A reference type is actually a two-part thing. It's a reference, and it's whatever the reference refers to. Think of a house you know the address of. You writing the address on a piece of paper does not actually put the entire house on that paper, rather you have a "reference" to that particular house on your piece of paper.
A reference type in .NET is the same thing. Somewhere in memory there is an object, which is a set of values, grouped together. The address of this object you store in a variable. This variable is declared to be a type which is a reference type, which allows this two-part deal.
The nice thing about reference types is that you might have many references to the same actual object, so even if you copy the reference around, you still only have one object in memory.
Edit: In respect to the question, an array is a reference type. This means that your variable only holds the address of the actual array, and that array object is located somewhere else in memory.
A value type, however, is one thing, the entire value is part of the "value type", and when you make copies of that, you make distinct copies
Here's an example of value types:
struct SomeType
{
public Int32 Value;
}
SomeType x = new SomeType;
x.Value = 10;
SomeType y = x; // value type, so y is now a copy of x
y.Value = 20; // x.Value is still 10
However, with a reference type, you're not making a copy of the object it refers to, only the reference to it. Think of it like copying the address of that house onto a second piece of paper. You still only have one house.
So, by simply changing the type of SomeType to be a reference type (changing struct to class):
class SomeType
{
public Int32 Value;
}
SomeType x = new SomeType;
x.Value = 10;
SomeType y = x; // reference type, so y now refers to the same object x refers to
y.Value = 20; // now x.Value is also 20, since x and y refer to the same object
And now for the final thing; passing a reference type by value.
Take this method:
public void Test(SomeType t)
{
t.Value = 25;
}
Given our class-version of SomeType above, what we have here is a method that takes a reference type parameter, but it takes it as being passed by value.
What that means is that Test cannot change t to refer to another object altogether, and make that change leak back into the calling code. Think of this as calling a friend, and giving him the address you have on your piece of paper. No matter what your friend is doing to that house, the address you have on your paper won't change.
But, that method is free to modify the contents of the object being referred to. In that house/friend scenario, your friend is free to go and visit that house, and rearrange the furniture. Since there is only one house in play, if you go to that house after he has rearranged it, you'll see his changes.
If you change the method to pass the reference type by reference, not only is that method free to rearrange the contents of the object being referred to, but the method is also free to replace the object with an altogether new object, and have that change reflect back into the calling code. Basically, your friend can tell you back "From now on, use this new address I'll read to you instead of the old one, and forget the old one altogether".

The array reference is passed by value automatically because it is a reference type.
Read:
Reference Types
Value Types

Most of the other answers are correct but I believe the terminology is confusing and warrants explanation. By default, you can say that all parameters in C# are passed by value, meaning the contents of the variable are copied to the method variable. This is intuitive with variables of value types, but the trick is in remembering that variables that are reference types (including arrays) are actually pointers. The memory location the pointer contains is copied to the method when it is passed in.
When you apply the ref modifier, the method gets the actual variable from the caller. For the most part the behavior is the same, but consider the following:
public void DoesNothing(int[] nums)
{
nums = new []{1, 2, 3, 4};
}
In DoesNothing, we instantiate a new int array and assign it to nums. When the method exits, the assignment is not seen by the caller, because the method was manipulating a copy of the reference (pointer) that was passed in.
public void DoesSomething(ref int[] nums)
{
nums = new []{1, 2, 3, 4};
}
With the ref keyword, the method can essentially reach out and affect the original variable itself from the caller.
To achieve what you seemed to originally want, you could create a new array and return it, or use Array.CopyTo() in the caller.

In C#, all parameters are passed by value by default. There are two kinds of types in C#, namely value and reference types.
A variable of reference type when passed as a parameter to a function will still be passed by value; that is if the function changes the object referred to by that variable, after the function completes the variable that was passed in will still refer to the same object (including null) as it did prior to calling the function in the same context.
However, if you use the ref modifier when declaring the function parameter than the function may change the object being referenced by the variable in the caller's context.
For Value types this is more straightforward but it is the same concept. Bear in mind, int[] is a reference type (as are all arrays).
Consider the differences in these functions when passing in some some array of ints:
public static void Square1(int[] array)
{
for (int i = 0; i < array.Length; i++)
{
array[i] = array[i] * array[i];
}
}
public static void Square2(int[] array)
{
array = {10, 20, 30};
for (int i = 0; i < array.Length; i++)
{
array[i] = array[i] * array[i];
}
}
public static void Square3(ref int[] array)
{
array = {10, 20, 30};
for (int i = 0; i < array.Length; i++)
{
array[i] = array[i] * array[i];
}
}

You're not passing it by reference. The array is being passed in by value, but arrays in .NET are reference types, so you're passing in a reference to the array, which is why you're seeing the values squared.

Read the following SO question - it explains the differences between pass-by-value and pass-by-reference. The accepted answer has a link in it to a good article about the topic that should help you understand the difference.
what is different between Passing by value and Passing by reference using C#

Arrays are objects and are passed by reference. Ints are structs and are passed by value (unless you use the ref keyword in your method signature as per the picky guy in the comments) (who was right) (but picky).

Dynamically setting value on array of pointers to integers

I have a multidimentional array of pointers to integer (of unknown rank) being passed into my function as such:
public unsafe static void MyMethod(Array source, ...)
{
//...
}
Multidimensional arrays of pointers are being constructed outside of the method and being passed in. Here's an example:
int*[,,,] testArray = new int*[10,10,5,5];
MyMethod(testArray);
How can I set a value at an runtime-computed index in the array? Array.SetValue(...) works perfectly fine for non-pointer arrays, but refuses to work for my int* array. Using reflector, I see SetValue reduces down to calling InternalSetValue which takes an object for the value but it's marked as extern and I can't see the implementation. I took a shot in the dark and tried passing in boxed pointer, but no luck.

This works:
unsafe static void MyMethod(int** array)
{
array[10] = (int*)0xdeadbeef;
}
private static unsafe void Main()
{
int*[, , ,] array = new int*[10, 10, 10, 10];
fixed (int** ptr = array)
{
MyMethod(ptr);
}
int* x = array[0, 0, 1, 0]; // == 0xdeadbeef
}
Does that help?
Question to the experts: Is it wrong to assume that the array is allocated consecutively in memory?

This doesn't work because it's not possible to box a pointer in .NET, so you can never call the Array.SetValue and pass an int*.
Can you declare MyMethod to accept int*[,,,] instead?
Edit: for further reading, an interesting recent post from Eric Lippert.