c# ReadOnlyMemory from pointer - asp.net-core

Question

Hi there I have a c native library that is returning me json as char*. What I would like to do in c# is to use this pointer and write it straight to the
this.ControllerContext.HttpContext.Response.BodyWriter;
I'm able to create ReadOnlySpan from the ptr but as far as I can tell PipeWriter only accepts ReadOnlyMemory<byte> which does not have a constructor from IntPtr. Is there a way to create ReadOnlyMemory<byte> from IntPtr or some other way to writer my string from native library withou copying it one extra time?

Answer 1

This answer provides a solution that does not need to copy the entire buffer:
Marshalling pointer to array P/Invoke
TL;DR: Take UnmanagedMemoryManager from Pipelines.Sockets.Unofficial by Marc Gravell.
int* ptr = ...
int len = ...
var memory = new UnmanagedMemoryManager<int>(ptr, len).Memory;
Unfortunately, you still need to allocate the MemoryManager (it must be a class, not a struct).

Answer 2

Thank you for your answers but none of them was without extra copy. I was finally figure it out so in case somebody struggle with it, here is the solution.
So the only way I as able to achieve this is like.
await Response.StartAsync(HttpContext.RequestAborted);
var dest = Response.BodyWriter.GetMemory((int)jsonLen).Pin();
unsafe { memcpy(dest.Pointer), srcPtr, srcLen); }
Response.BodyWriter.Advance(srcLen);
await Response.BodyWriter.FlushAsync(HttpContext.RequestAborted);

Answer 3

Maybe use something like this?
public class Utility
{
public System.ReadOnlyMemory<T> ConvertToReadOnlyMemory(System.ReadOnlySpan<T> input) {
var tmp = new System.Memory<T>();
input.CopyTo(tmp.Span);
return (System.ReadOnlyMemory<T>)tmp;
}
}
However, I think this will involve completely copying the stream into heap storage, which is probably not what you want...

Answer 4

I glad if this could speed up and match to what you wants.
namespace Helper
{
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
public static class CStringMapper
{
// convert unmanaged c string to managed c# string
public string toCSharpString(char* unmanaged_c_string)
{
return Marshal.PtrToStringAnsi((IntPtr)unmanaged_c_string);
}
// Free unmanaged c pointer
public void free(char* unmanaged_c_string)
{
Marshal.FreeHGlobal((IntPtr)unmanaged_c_string);
}
}
}
Usage:
using Helper;
/* generate your unmanaged c string here */
try
{
// eg. char* OO7c = cLibFunc();
string cSharpString = CStringMapper.toCSharpString(OO7c);
}
finally
{
// Make sure to freeing the pointer
CStringMapper.free(OO7c);
}