FixedAddressValueTypeAttribute Constructor

public:
 FixedAddressValueTypeAttribute();

public FixedAddressValueTypeAttribute ();

Public Sub New ()

Examples

The following example illustrates the use of the FixedAddressValueTypeAttribute attribute to pin a static field in memory. It defines an Age structure and initializes two classes that have static fields of type Age. The second class applies FixedAddressValueTypeAttribute to pin the field's address. A number of memory allocations are made before and after these two objects are instantiated and the garbage collector is invoked. The output from the example shows that although the address of the first Age field has changed after garbage collection, the address of the field to which FixedAddressValueTypeAttribute is applied has not.

using System;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;

public struct Age {
   public int years;
   public int months;
}

public class FreeClass
{
   public static Age FreeAge;
   
   public static unsafe IntPtr AddressOfFreeAge()
   { 
      fixed (Age* pointer = &FreeAge) 
      { return (IntPtr) pointer; } 
   }
}

public class FixedClass
{
   [FixedAddressValueType]
   public static Age FixedAge;
   
   public static unsafe IntPtr AddressOfFixedAge()
   { 
      fixed (Age* pointer = &FixedAge) 
      { return (IntPtr) pointer; } 
   }   
}

public class Example
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      AllocateMemory();
      
      // Get addresses of static Age fields.
      IntPtr freePtr1 = FreeClass.AddressOfFreeAge();
      AllocateMemory();
      
      IntPtr fixedPtr1 = FixedClass.AddressOfFixedAge();
      AllocateMemory();

      // Garbage collection.
      GC.Collect();
      GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
      
      // Get addresses of static Age fields after garbage collection.
      IntPtr freePtr2 = FreeClass.AddressOfFreeAge();
      IntPtr fixedPtr2 = FixedClass.AddressOfFixedAge();
        
      // Display addresses before and after garbage collection
      Console.WriteLine("Normal static: {0} -> {1}", freePtr1, freePtr2);
      Console.WriteLine("Pinned static:  {0} -> {1}", fixedPtr1, fixedPtr2);  
   }

   // Allocate memory for 100,000 objects.
   static public void AllocateMemory()
   {
      for (int ctr = 0; ctr <= 100000; ctr++)
      {
         object o = new object();      
      }
   }
}
// The example displays output similar to the following:
//       Normal static: 19932420 -> 19863704
//       Pinned static:  19985508 -> 19985508

Applies to