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

This example here is only applicable to pure blittable types, e.g., types that can be memcpy'd directly in C.

Example - well known 64-bit struct

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]  
public struct Voxel
{
    public ushort m_id;
    public byte m_red, m_green, m_blue, m_alpha, m_matid, m_custom;
}

Defined exactly like this, the struct will be automatically packed as 64-bit.

Now we can create volume of voxels:

Voxel[,,] voxels = new Voxel[16,16,16];

And save them all to a byte array:

int size = voxels.Length * 8; // Well known size: 64 bits
byte[] saved = new byte[size];
GCHandle h = GCHandle.Alloc(voxels, GCHandleType.Pinned);
Marshal.Copy(h.AddrOfPinnedObject(), saved, 0, size);
h.Free();
// now feel free to save 'saved' to a File / memory stream.

However, since the OP wants to know how to convert the struct itself, our Voxel struct can have following method ToBytes:

byte[] bytes = new byte[8]; // Well known size: 64 bits
GCHandle h = GCHandle.Alloc(this, GCHandleType.Pinned);
Marshal.Copy(hh.AddrOfPinnedObject(), bytes, 0, 8);
h.Free();