How to convert a structure to a byte array in C#?

Question

How do I convert a structure to a byte array in C#?

I have defined a structure like this:

public struct CIFSPacket
{
    public uint protocolIdentifi         


        

Answer 1

As the main answer is using CIFSPacket type, which is not (or no longer) available in C#, I wrote correct methods:

    static byte[] getBytes(object str)
    {
        int size = Marshal.SizeOf(str);
        byte[] arr = new byte[size];
        IntPtr ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(size);

        Marshal.StructureToPtr(str, ptr, true);
        Marshal.Copy(ptr, arr, 0, size);
        Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);

        return arr;
    }

    static T fromBytes(byte[] arr)
    {
        T str = default(T);

        int size = Marshal.SizeOf(str);
        IntPtr ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(size);

        Marshal.Copy(arr, 0, ptr, size);

        str = (T)Marshal.PtrToStructure(ptr, str.GetType());
        Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);

        return str;
    }

Tested, they work.