I have a string object which is passed between managed (C++/cli) and unmanaged (C++) environments.
const WCHAR *unique() const { return L"Hellow World" ; }
String^ csCol = gcnew String(unique());
String^ csColOut = csCol;
Now I want to do append "__a" to csCol which I do as:
csCol = csCol + "__a"
However it seems to be giving an error: "The pointer passed in as a String must not be in the bottom 64K of the process's address space". Can someone please help me understand as to where am I going wrong.
Related
I'm trying to call a native Windows API from managed C++/CLI. One of the arguments is a void**. The idea is that the function will allocate a memory structure and return a void pointer to the caller, which should be passed back to the API on the next call. So I need to allocate storage for a pointer on the managed side and pass a reference to the C API. I can't figure out how to do this.
I've tried declaring a void * in the caller and passing a reference via various operators: &, internal_ptr<>, pin_ptr<>. I did the same with an IntPtr. I get errors saying the compiler can't convert this to a void**.
Here's one attempt using IntPtr and pin_ptr. I get the following compile error on line 28 (the line that declares the pin_ptr):
E0144 a value of type "interior_ptr<System::IntPtr>" cannot be used to initialize an entity of type "cli::pin_ptr<void *>"
#include <msclr\marshal.h>
using namespace msclr::interop;
using namespace System;
namespace CLRStorage
{
public ref class CompoundFile
{
private:
String ^ pathname;
IntPtr pRootStorage;
public:
CompoundFile CompoundFile::Create(String^ path)
{
STGOPTIONS stgOptions;
stgOptions.usVersion = 1;
stgOptions.reserved = 0;
stgOptions.ulSectorSize = 4096;
stgOptions.pwcsTemplateFile = NULL;
auto cf = gcnew CompoundFile();
cf->pathname = path;
marshal_context^ context = gcnew marshal_context();
pin_ptr<void*> ppRootStorage = &cf->pRootStorage;
StgCreateStorageEx(
context->marshal_as<WCHAR*>(path),
STGM_READWRITE & STGM_CREATE,
STGFMT_DOCFILE,
0,
&stgOptions,
NULL,
IID_IStorage,
ppRootStorage);
}
};
}
IntPtr can be converted to and from void*, but it isn't the same type.
Since the parameter is out-only, the simple solution is just to use a temporary:
void* pRootStorage;
StgCreateStorageEx(
context->marshal_as<WCHAR*>(path),
STGM_READWRITE & STGM_CREATE,
STGFMT_DOCFILE,
0,
&stgOptions,
NULL,
IID_IStorage,
&pRootStorage);
cf->pRootStorage = IntPtr(pRootStorage);
This will actually be a tiny bit faster as well, because no pinning is needed.
You also have a separate problem with bad member function syntax. You want
static CompoundFile^ Create(String^ path)
instead of
CompoundFile CompoundFile::Create(String^ path)
and don't forget to
return cf;
Then, marshal_context is not a ref class, so this line is wrong:
marshal_context^ context = gcnew marshal_context();
Instead use
marshal_context context;
and since it is not a pointer,
context.marshal_as<WCHAR*>(path)
I have a C++ COM local server and C# client. The server code:
// MyStruct as define in the _i.h file
typedef /* [uuid] */ DECLSPEC_UUID("...") struct MyStruct
{
SAFEARRAY * FormatData;
LONG aLong;
BOOL aBool;
} MyStruct;
// Server method being invoked
STDMETHODIMP CMyClass::Foo(MyStruct* StreamInfo, int* result)
{
long Length;
BYTE* Data;
GetData(Length, Data);
PackBytes(Length, Data, &(StreamInfo->FormatData));
}
PackBytes converts the BYTE array to SAFEARRAY. It is taken from this stackoverflow question. It sets the boundary & dimension of the SAFEARRAY.
The client code:
MyStruct myStruct;
int rc = obj.Foo(out myStruct);
Where MyStruct is imported from the COM assembly. it appears as
public struct MyStruct
{
public Array FormatData;
int aLong;
int aBool;
}
After running Foo appears the error "SafeArray cannot be marshaled to this array type because it has either nonzero lower bounds or more than one dimension" with additional remark "Make sure your array has the required number of dimensions".
When debugging the server code it seems Data is properly populated in FormatData: as can be seen in screen-shot below. cElements equals Length and the 18 data pieces are equal to the ones in Data.
Hard-coding Length = 1 did not help. Removing the PackByets call made the error disappear (other fields were passed ok). How can this be fixed?
The PackBytes method that you have referenced constructs a SAFEARRAY with lower bound of 1. Constructing it with a lower bound of zero may fix the problem:
SAFEARRAYBOUND bound{ count, 0 };
I have the below code in c++/CLI and observing hang while converting the .net string to char * using StringToCoTaskMemAnsi
const char* CDICashInStringStore::CDIGetStringVal( void )
{
unsigned int identifier = (unsigned int)_id;
debug(" cashincdistores--routing call to .Net for CDI String %d", identifier);
NCR::APTRA::INDCDataAccess::IStringValue^ stringValueProvider = (NCR::APTRA::INDCDataAccess::IStringValue^)GetStringProvider()->GetProvider();
String^ strValue = stringValueProvider->GetStringValue(identifier);
debug(" cashincdistores-- going to call StringToCoTaskMemAnsi);
IntPtr iPtr = Marshal::StringToCoTaskMemAnsi(strValue);
debug(" cashincdistores-- StringToCoTaskMemAnsi called);
// use a local (retVal is not needed)
const char * ansiStr = strdup((const char *) iPtr.ToPointer());
Marshal::FreeCoTaskMem(iPtr);
debug(" cashincdistores--got results %d %s",identifier,ansiStr);
// The returned memory will be free() 'ed by the user
return ansiStr;
}
In our logging I can see "cashincdistores-- going to call StringToCoTaskMemAnsi" and suspecting there is a hang after calling the 'StringToCoTaskMemAnsi' method.
Does there is a chance of hang in 'StringToCoTaskMemAnsi' marshalling method. what could cause the hang ?
Why are you using COM in the first place? You don't need any COM in that code.
Disclaimer: You should probably not be returning a const char * someone else will have to free from your function. That's a very easy way to produce memory leaks or multiple free errors.
Ignoring the disclaimer above, you have a couple possibilities:
First way:
#include <msclr/marshal.h>
msclr::interop::marshal_context context;
const char* strValueAsCString = context.marshal_as<const char*>(strValue);
// Probably bad
const char* ansiStr = strdup(strValueAsCString);
The strValueAsCString pointer will remain valid as long as context is in scope.
Another way:
#include <string>
#include <msclr/marshal_cppstd.h>
std::string strValueAsStdString = msclr::interop::marshal_as<std::string>(strValue);
// Probably bad
const char* ansiStr = strdup(strValueAsStdString.c_str());
Here, the std::string manages the lifetime of the string.
See Overview of Marshaling for reference.
I haven't seen C++ code in more than 10 years and now I'm in the need of developing a very small DLL to use the Ping class (System::Net::NetworkInformation) to make a ping to some remoteAddress.
The argument where I'm receiving the remoteAddress is a FREObject which then needs to be transformed into a const uint8_t *. The previous is mandatory and I can't change anything from it. The remoteAddress has to be received as a FREObject and later be transformed in a const uint8_t *.
The problem I'm having is that I have to pass a String^ to the Ping class and not a const uint8_t * and I have no clue of how to convert my const uint8_t * to a String^. Do you have any ideas?
Next is part of my code:
// argv[ARG_IP_ADDRESS_ARGUMENT holds the remoteAddress value.
uint32_t nativeCharArrayLength = 0;
const uint8_t * nativeCharArray = NULL;
FREResult status = FREGetObjectAsUTF8(argv[ARG_IP_ADDRESS_ARGUMENT], &nativeCharArrayLength, &nativeCharArray);
Basically the FREGetObjectAsUTF8 function fills the nativeCharArray array with the value of argv[ARG_IP_ADDRESS_ARGUMENT] and returns the array's length in nativeCharArrayLength. Also, the string uses UTF-8 encoding terminates with the null character.
My next problem would be to convert a String^ back to a const uint8_t *. If you can help with this as well I would really appreciate it.
As I said before, non of this is changeable and I have no idea of how to change nativeCharArray to a String^. Any advice will help.
PS: Also, the purpose of this DLL is to use it as an ANE (Air Native Extension) for my Adobe Air app.
You'll need UTF8Encoding to convert the bytes to characters. It has methods that take pointers, you'll want to take advantage of that. You first need to count the number of characters in the converted string, then allocate an array to store the converted characters, then you can turn it into System::String. Like this:
auto converter = gcnew System::Text::UTF8Encoding;
auto chars = converter->GetCharCount((Byte*)nativeCharArray, nativeCharArrayLength-1);
auto buffer = gcnew array<Char>(chars);
pin_ptr<Char> pbuffer = &buffer[0];
converter->GetChars((Byte*)nativeCharArray, nativeCharArrayLength-1, pbuffer, chars);
String^ result = gcnew String(buffer);
Note that the -1 on nativeCharArrayLength compensates for the zero terminator being included in the value.
I am trying to convert a handle string to a normal string. I though the method I was using was working, but when I look in the debugger it appears that half of my string has been chopped off on the line that creates the chars variable. Any idea why and what the proper way to convert a handle string to a normal string woudl be?
std::string convert(String^ s) {
const char* chars = (const char*)(System::Runtime::InteropServices::Marshal::
StringToHGlobalAnsi(s)).ToPointer();
string myNewString = std::string(chars);
return myNewString;
}
It's probably the debugger that's cutting off the display of the string. You didn't mention how long a string you're using, but the debugger can't display infinite length, so it has to cut it off at some point.
To verify this, try printing myNewString to the console, or to the debugger via Debug::WriteLine or OutputDebugString.
However, there is a significant issue in your code: After allocating memory with StringToHGlobalAnsi, you must free it using FreeHGlobal.
If you want to continue using StringToHGlobalAnsi, I'd fix it up like this:
std::string convert(String^ s) {
IntPtr ptr = Marshal::StringToHGlobalAnsi(s);
string myNewString = std::string((const char*)ptr.ToPointer());
Marshal::FreeHGlobal(ptr);
return myNewString;
}
However, it's probably easier to use the marshal_as methods. This will take care of everything for you.
std::string output = marshal_as<std::string>(managedString);