Unions (or an equivalent) in C# - Sairama's Tip of the Day
Someone needed "union" functionality in C# and Sairama came up with this creative and possible heretical use of Interop Attributes.
[ StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit) ]
public struct UnionTest
{
// Set the offsets to the same position so that both variables occupy
// the same memory address which is essentially C++ union does.
[ FieldOffset(0) ] public char chVal;
[ FieldOffset(0) ] public System.Int16 intVal;
}
class Class1
{
[STAThread]
static void Main(string[] args)
{
UnionTest u = new UnionTest();
// Set via Int and get through Char
u.intVal = 65;
Console.WriteLine("chVal:{0}",u.chVal );
// Set via Char and get through Int
u.chVal = 'B';
Console.WriteLine("intVal:{0}",u.intVal );
}
Disclaimer
The code above shows only features of .NET and in no way suggest/dictates/advises usage. Don't be lame and think this is source code you can actually do something with.
About Scott
Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.
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