Question

Want to do this:
(EDIT: bad sample code, ignore and skip below)

struct RECORD {
    char[] name = new char[16];
    int dt1;
}
struct BLOCK {
    char[] version = new char[4];
    int  field1;
    int  field2;
    RECORD[] records = new RECORD[15];
    char[] filler1 = new char[24];
}

But being unable to declare array sizes in struct, how do I reconfigure this?

EDIT: The reason for the layout is I’m using BinaryReader to read a file written with C structs. Using BinaryReader, and a C# struct union (FieldOffset(0)), I’m wanting to load the header as a byte array, then read it as it was intended originally.

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
unsafe struct headerLayout
{
    [FieldOffset(0)]
    char[] version = new char[4];
    int fileOsn;
    int fileDsn;
    // and other fields, some with arrays of simple types
}

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit)]
struct headerUnion                  // 2048 bytes in header
{
    [FieldOffset(0)]
    public byte[] headerBytes;      // for BinaryReader
    [FieldOffset(0)]
    public headerLayout header;     // for field recognition
}

Answer 1

I wouldn’t use that pattern in the first place. This kind of memory mapping may be appropriate in c, but not in a high level language like C#.

I’d just write a call to the binary reader for each member I want to read. This means you can use classes and write them in a clean high level way.

It also takes care of endian issues. Whereas memory mapping will break when used on different endian systems.

Related question: Casting a byte array to a managed structure

---

So your code would look similar to the following (add access modifiers etc.):

class Record
{
    char[] name;
    int dt1;
}
class Block {
    char[] version;
    int  field1;
    int  field2;
    RECORD[] records;
    char[] filler1;
}

class MyReader
{
    BinaryReader Reader;

    Block ReadBlock()
    {
        Block block=new Block();
        block.version=Reader.ReadChars(4);
        block.field1=Reader.ReadInt32();
        block.field2=Reader.ReadInt32();
        block.records=new Record[15];
        for(int i=0;i<block.records.Length;i++)
            block.records[i]=ReadRecord();
        block.filler1=Reader.ReadChars(24);
        return block;
    }

    Record ReadRecord()
    {
        ...
    }

    public MyReader(BinaryReader reader)
    {
        Reader=reader;
    }
}