Question

I have this unsafe code that I need to make safe so it can execute. I know about the fixed block, but I don’t know how to implement it:

    private static unsafe void PrintHex(byte* data, uint len)
    {
        uint ctr;
        string sep;

        if (len > 64)
        {
            len = 64;
        }

        for (ctr = 0; ctr < len; ctr++)
        {
            if (((ctr & 7) == 0) && (ctr != 0))
            {
                sep = "\n";
            }
            else
            {
                sep = "";
            }
            Console.Error.WriteLine("{0}{1:X}", sep, data[ctr]);
        }

        Console.Error.WriteLine("\n\n");

    }

Answer 1

It’s the responsibility of the calling code to ‘fix’ or ‘pin’ the pointer before calling your method, as in this example from the MSDN page for fixed:

class Point
{ 
    public int x, y; 
}

class FixedTest 
{
    // Unsafe method: takes a pointer to an int.
    unsafe static void SquarePtrParam (int* p) 
    {
        *p *= *p;
    }

    unsafe static void Main() 
    {
        Point pt = new Point();
        pt.x = 5;
        pt.y = 6;

        // Pin pt in place:
        fixed (int* p = &pt.x) 
        {
            SquarePtrParam(p);
        }

        // pt now unpinned
        Console.WriteLine ("{0} {1}", pt.x, pt.y);
    }
}

The fixed statement sets a pointer to a managed variable and “pins”
that variable during the execution of statement. Without fixed,
pointers to movable managed variables would be of little use since
garbage collection could relocate the variables unpredictably. The C#
compiler only lets you assign a pointer to a managed variable in a
fixed statement.