C# unsafe value type array to byte array conversions

Question

I use an extension method to convert float arrays into byte arrays:

public static unsafe byte[] ToByteArray(this float[] floatArray, int count)
{
    int arr         


        

Answer 1

Well - if you still interested in that hack - check out this modified code - it works like a charm and costs ~0 time, but it may not work in future since it's a hack allowing to gain full access to the whole process address space without trust requirements and unsafe marks.

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit)]
    struct ArrayConvert
    {
        public static byte[] GetBytes(float[] floats)
        {
            ArrayConvert ar = new ArrayConvert();
            ar.floats = floats;
            ar.length.val = floats.Length * 4;
            return ar.bytes;
        }
        public static float[] GetFloats(byte[] bytes)
        {
            ArrayConvert ar = new ArrayConvert();
            ar.bytes = bytes;
            ar.length.val = bytes.Length / 4;
            return ar.floats;
        }

        public static byte[] GetTop4BytesFrom(object obj)
        {
            ArrayConvert ar = new ArrayConvert();
            ar.obj = obj;
            return new byte[]
            {
                ar.top4bytes.b0,
                ar.top4bytes.b1,
                ar.top4bytes.b2,
                ar.top4bytes.b3
            };
        }
        public static byte[] GetBytesFrom(object obj, int size)
        {
            ArrayConvert ar = new ArrayConvert();
            ar.obj = obj;
            ar.length.val = size;
            return ar.bytes;
        }

        class ArrayLength
        {
            public int val;
        }
        class Top4Bytes
        {
            public byte b0;
            public byte b1;
            public byte b2;
            public byte b3;
        }

        [FieldOffset(0)]
        private Byte[] bytes;
        [FieldOffset(0)]
        private object obj;
        [FieldOffset(0)]
        private float[] floats;

        [FieldOffset(0)]
        private ArrayLength length;

        [FieldOffset(0)]
        private Top4Bytes top4bytes;
    }