Reading a C/C++ data structure in C# from a byte array

Question

What would be the best way to fill a C# struct from a byte[] array where the data was from a C/C++ struct? The C struct would look something like this (my C is very rusty):

typedef OldStuff {
    CHAR Name[8];
    UInt32 User;
    CHAR Location[8];
    UInt32 TimeStamp;
    UInt32 Sequence;
    CHAR Tracking[16];
    CHAR Filler[12];
}

And would fill something like this:

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit, Size = 56, Pack = 1)]
public struct NewStuff
{
    [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = 8)]
    [FieldOffset(0)]
    public string Name;

    [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)]
    [FieldOffset(8)]
    public uint User;

    [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = 8)]
    [FieldOffset(12)]
    public string Location;

    [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)]
    [FieldOffset(20)]
    public uint TimeStamp;

    [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)]
    [FieldOffset(24)]
    public uint Sequence;

    [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = 16)]
    [FieldOffset(28)]
    public string Tracking;
}

What is best way to copy OldStuff to NewStuff, if OldStuff was passed as byte[] array?

I'm currently doing something like the following, but it feels kind of clunky.

GCHandle handle;
NewStuff MyStuff;

int BufferSize = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(NewStuff));
byte[] buff = new byte[BufferSize];

Array.Copy(SomeByteArray, 0, buff, 0, BufferSize);

handle = GCHandle.Alloc(buff, GCHandleType.Pinned);

MyStuff = (NewStuff)Marshal.PtrToStructure(handle.AddrOfPinnedObject(),
    typeof(NewStuff));

handle.Free();

Is there better way to accomplish this?

Answer 1

If you have a byte[] you should be able to use the BinaryReader class and set values on NewStuff using the available ReadX methods.

Answer 2

Would using the BinaryReader class offer any performance gains over pinning the memory and using Marshal.PtrStructure?

Answer 3

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

That would be:

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

Generic version:

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

...

Answer 4

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

Answer 5

FYI, If your program runs on various machines you might need to handle little vs big endian.