[Mono-dev] PtrToStructure, FreeHGlobal, then access to the structure

[Andy Hume]

Thanks Robert.  Makes sense in hindsight, that the managed struct is a copy
of the native source (the native struct being copied onto the managed
struct's memory IIUC)!  Thus one bug report only (#417256 in Win32
Printing).

Andy



Robert Jordan wrote:
> 
> Andy Hume wrote:
>> In the class library I see a few pieces of code like the following.  Am I
>> correct in thinking that code like this is bad?
> 
> Only if the .Name ptr is pointing to a memory block inside the
> struct's area. So it depends on the specification of the
> struct being marshaled.
> 
>>    info = Marshal.PtrToStructure (ptr, ...);
>>    Marshal.FreeHGlobal (ptr);
>>    // now we access the structure 
>>    int id = info.Id;
>>    string name = Marshal.PtrToStringUni (info.Name);
>> 
>> Since the structure might contain only blittable types then the structure
>> reference may simply be to the native memory and not to a managed copy? 
>> So
>> accessing a field there is accessing free'd memory...
> 
> IntPtrs are blittable.
> 
> Robert
> 
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> 
> 

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