clix.hpp

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- //
// clix.h
//
// Marshals strings between .NET and C++ using C++/CLI (Visual C++ 2005 and later only).
// Faster and cleaner than the System::Interop method because it uses garbage collected memory.
// Use at your own leisure. No warranties whatsoever provided.
//
// Original code by Markus Ewald (http://www.nuclex.org/articles/marshaling-strings-in-cxx-cli)
// Updated version including several improvements suggested by Neil Hunt
//
// Licensed under the IBM CPL (free of charge, closed source commercial use is okay)
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- //
#pragma once

#include <string>
#include <vcclr.h>

// CLI extensions namespace
namespace clix {

  enum Encoding {

    E_ANSI,

    E_UTF8,

    E_UTF16, E_UNICODE = E_UTF16

  };

  // Ignore this if you're just scanning the headers for informations!
  /* All this template stuff might seem like overkill, but it is well thought out and enables
     you to use a readable and convenient call while still keeping the highest possible code
     efficiency due to compile-time evaluation of the required conversion path.
  */
  namespace detail {

    // Get C++ string type for specified encoding
    template<Encoding encoding> struct StringTypeSelector;
    template<> struct StringTypeSelector<E_ANSI> { typedef std::string Type; };
    template<> struct StringTypeSelector<E_UTF8> { typedef std::string Type; };
    template<> struct StringTypeSelector<E_UTF16> { typedef std::wstring Type; };

    // Compile-time selection depending on whether a string is managed
    template<typename StringType> struct IfManaged {
      struct Select {
        template<typename TrueType, typename FalseType>
        struct Either { typedef FalseType Type; };
      };
      enum { Result = false };
    };
    template<> struct IfManaged<System::String ^> {
      struct Select {
        template<typename TrueType, typename FalseType>
        struct Either { typedef TrueType Type; };
      };
      enum { Result = true };
    };

    // Direction of the marshaling process
    enum MarshalingDirection {
      CxxFromNet,
      NetFromCxx
    };

    // The actual marshaling code
    template<MarshalingDirection direction> struct StringMarshaler;

    // Marshals to .NET from C++ strings
    template<> struct StringMarshaler<NetFromCxx> {

      template<Encoding encoding, typename SourceType>
      static System::String ^marshal(const SourceType &string) {
        // Constructs a std::[w]string in case someone gave us a char * to choke on
        return marshalCxxString<encoding, SourceType>(string);
      }

      template<Encoding encoding, typename SourceType>
      static System::String ^marshalCxxString(
        const typename StringTypeSelector<encoding>::Type &cxxString
      ) {
        typedef typename StringTypeSelector<encoding>::Type SourceStringType;
        size_t byteCount = cxxString.length() * sizeof(SourceStringType::value_type);

        // Empty strings would cause trouble accessing the array below
        if(byteCount == 0) {
          return System::String::Empty;
        }

        // Copy the C++ string contents into a managed array of bytes
        array<unsigned char> ^bytes = gcnew array<unsigned char>(byteCount);
        { pin_ptr<unsigned char> pinnedBytes = &bytes[0];
          memcpy(pinnedBytes, cxxString.c_str(), byteCount);
        }

        // Now let one of .NET's encoding classes do the rest
        return decode<encoding>(bytes);
      }

      private:
        // Converts a byte array based on the selected encoding
        template<Encoding encoding> static System::String ^decode(array<unsigned char> ^bytes);
        template<> static System::String ^decode<E_ANSI>(array<unsigned char> ^bytes) {
          return System::Text::Encoding::Default->GetString(bytes);
        }
        template<> static System::String ^decode<E_UTF8>(array<unsigned char> ^bytes) {
          return System::Text::Encoding::UTF8->GetString(bytes);
        }
        template<> static System::String ^decode<E_UTF16>(array<unsigned char> ^bytes) {
          return System::Text::Encoding::Unicode->GetString(bytes);
        }
    };

    // Marshals to C++ strings from .NET
    template<> struct StringMarshaler<CxxFromNet> {

      template<Encoding encoding, typename SourceType>
      static typename detail::StringTypeSelector<encoding>::Type marshal(
        System::String ^string
      ) {
        typedef typename StringTypeSelector<encoding>::Type StringType;

        // Empty strings would cause a problem when accessing the empty managed array
        if(string->Length == 0) {
          return StringType();
        }

        // First, we use .NET's encoding classes to convert the string into a byte array
        array<unsigned char> ^bytes = encode<encoding>(string);

        // Then we construct our native string from that byte array
        pin_ptr<unsigned char> pinnedBytes(&bytes[0]);
        return StringType(
          reinterpret_cast<StringType::value_type *>(static_cast<unsigned char *>(pinnedBytes)),
          bytes->Length / sizeof(StringType::value_type)
        );
      }

      template<> static std::wstring marshal<E_UTF16, System::String ^>(
        System::String ^string
      ) {
        // We can directly accesss the characters in the managed string
        pin_ptr<const wchar_t> pinnedChars(::PtrToStringChars(string));
        return std::wstring(pinnedChars, string->Length);
      }

      private:
        // Converts a string based on the selected encoding
        template<Encoding encoding> static array<unsigned char> ^encode(System::String ^string);
        template<> static array<unsigned char> ^encode<E_ANSI>(System::String ^string) {
          return System::Text::Encoding::Default->GetBytes(string);
        }
        template<> static array<unsigned char> ^encode<E_UTF8>(System::String ^string) {
          return System::Text::Encoding::UTF8->GetBytes(string);
        }
        template<> static array<unsigned char> ^encode<E_UTF16>(System::String ^string) {
          return System::Text::Encoding::Unicode->GetBytes(string);
        }

    };

  } // namespace detail

  // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- //
  // clix::marshalString()
  // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- //
  template<Encoding encoding, typename SourceType>
  typename detail::IfManaged<SourceType>::Select::Either<
    typename detail::StringTypeSelector<encoding>::Type,
    System::String ^
  >::Type marshalString(SourceType string) {

    // Pass on the call to our nifty template routines
    return detail::StringMarshaler<
      detail::IfManaged<SourceType>::Result ? detail::CxxFromNet : detail::NetFromCxx
    >::marshal<encoding, SourceType>(string);

  }

} // namespace clix