linux-packaging-mono/docs/sources/mono-api-object.html

<h1>Object API</h1>

	<p>The object API deals with all the operations shared by
	<a href="#objects">objects</a>, <a href="#valuetypes">value
	types</a>, <a href="#arrays">arrays</a>.

	<p>The object API has methods for accessing <a
	href="#fields">fields</a>, <a
	href="#properties">properties</a>, <a href="mono-api-methods.html">methods</a>, <a
	href="#events">events</a>, <a href="#delegates">delegates</a>.
	


	<p>There are some advanced uses that are useful to document
	here dealing with <a href="#remote">remote fields</a>.
	
<h2>Synopsis</h2>

<div class="mapi-header">
#include &lt;metadata/object.h&gt;

typedef struct MonoVTable MonoVTable;
typedef struct _MonoThreadsSync MonoThreadsSync;

typedef struct {
	MonoVTable *vtable;
	MonoThreadsSync *synchronisation;
} MonoObject;

typedef struct {
	guint32 length;
	guint32 lower_bound;
} MonoArrayBounds;

typedef struct {
	MonoObject obj;
	/* bounds is NULL for szarrays */
	MonoArrayBounds *bounds;
	/* total number of elements of the array */
	guint32 max_length; 
	/* we use double to ensure proper alignment on platforms that need it */
	double vector [MONO_ZERO_LEN_ARRAY];
} MonoArray;

@API_IDX@
</div>

	<p>`MonoObject` is the base definition for all managed objects
	in the Mono runtime, it represents the <a
	href="http://www.mono-project.com/monodoc/T:System.Object">System.Object</a>
	managed type.

	<p>All objects that derive from <a
	href="http://www.mono-project.com/monodoc/T:System.Object">System.Object</a>
	do have this base definition.  Derived objects are declared
	following the pattern where the parent class is the first
	field of a structure definition, for example:

	<div class="mapi-code">
typedef struct {
	MonoObject parent;
	int my_new_field;
} MyNewObject</div>

<a name="objects"></a>
<h2>Core Object Methods</h2>

<h4><a name="api:mono_object_new">mono_object_new</a></h4>

	<p>For example, if you wanted to create an object of type
	System.Version, you would use a piece of code like this:

<div class="mapi-code">
MonoClass *version_class;
MonoObject *result;

/* Get the class from mscorlib */
version_class = mono_class_from_name (mono_get_corlib (),
	"System", "Version");

/* Create an object of that class */
result = mono_object_new (mono_domain_get (), version_class);
</div>

<h4><a name="api:mono_object_new_alloc_specific">mono_object_new_alloc_specific</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_object_new_fast">mono_object_new_fast</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_object_new_from_token">mono_object_new_from_token</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_object_new_specific">mono_object_new_specific</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_object_clone">mono_object_clone</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_object_get_class">mono_object_get_class</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_object_get_domain">mono_object_get_domain</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_object_get_virtual_method">mono_object_get_virtual_method</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_object_isinst_mbyref">mono_object_isinst_mbyref</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_object_isinst">mono_object_isinst</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_object_unbox">mono_object_unbox</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_object_castclass_mbyref">mono_object_castclass_mbyref</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_object_get_size">mono_object_get_size</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_object_hash">mono_object_hash</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_object_to_string">mono_object_to_string</a></h4>

<a name="valuetypes"></a>
<h2>Value Types</h2>

<h4><a name="api:mono_value_box">mono_value_box</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_value_copy">mono_value_copy</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_value_copy_array">mono_value_copy_array</a></h4>

<a name="arrays"></a>
<h2>Array Methods</h2>

	<p>Use the <tt>mono_array_new_*</tt> methods to create arrays
	of a given type.

	<p>For example, the following code creates an array with two
	elements of type <tt>System.Byte</tt>, and sets the values
	0xca and 0xfe on it:
	
	<pre class="mapi-code">
MonoArray *CreateByteArray (MonoDomain *domain)
{
    MonoArray *data;

    data = mono_array_new (domain, mono_get_byte_class (), 2);
    mono_array_set (data, guint8, 0, 0xca);
    mono_array_set (data, guint8, 0, 0xfe);

    return data;
}
	</pre>

<h3>Creating Arrays</h3>

<h4><a name="api:mono_array_new">mono_array_new</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_array_new_full">mono_array_new_full</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_array_new_specific">mono_array_new_specific</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_array_class_get">mono_array_class_get</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_array_clone">mono_array_clone</a></h4>

<h3>Using Arrays</h3>

	<p>Arrays are represented by the `MonoArray` data type and are
	instances of `MonoObject`.   While you can use the `bounds`
	and `max_length` fields of the type, the actual storage
	(represented by `vector`) is not very useful.   Instead you
	should use one of the accesor methods described below to
	fetch or set the values in the array.

	<p>When setting values in an array, you should
	use <a href="api:mono_array_set">mono_array_set</a> for
	setting elements in an array that contains value types, and
	<a
	href="api:mono_array_setref">mono_array_setref</a> for arrays
	that contain reference types. 
	
	<p>The <a href="api:mono_array_get">mono_array_get</a>,
	<a href="api:mono_array_set">mono_array_set</a> and <a
	href="api:mono_array_setref">mono_array_setref</a> are C
	macros that wrap the underlying array access.   
	
<h4><a name="api:mono_array_get">mono_array_get</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_array_length">mono_array_length</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_array_set">mono_array_set</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_array_setref">mono_array_setref</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_array_addr">mono_array_addr</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_array_addr_with_size">mono_array_addr_with_size</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_array_element_size">mono_array_element_size</a></h4>

<a name="fields"></a>
<h2>Fields</h2>

<h4><a name="api:mono_field_from_token">mono_field_from_token</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_field_get_flags">mono_field_get_flags</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_field_get_name">mono_field_get_name</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_field_get_parent">mono_field_get_parent</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_field_get_type">mono_field_get_type</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_field_get_value">mono_field_get_value</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_field_get_value_object">mono_field_get_value_object</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_field_set_value">mono_field_set_value</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_field_static_get_value">mono_field_static_get_value</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_field_static_set_value">mono_field_static_set_value</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_field_get_object">mono_field_get_object</a></h4>

<a name="properties"></a>
<h2>Properties</h2>

<h4><a name="api:mono_property_get_object">mono_property_get_object</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_property_get_flags">mono_property_get_flags</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_property_get_get_method">mono_property_get_get_method</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_property_get_name">mono_property_get_name</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_property_get_parent">mono_property_get_parent</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_property_get_set_method">mono_property_get_set_method</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_property_get_value">mono_property_get_value</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_property_set_value">mono_property_set_value</a></h4>

<a name="events"></a>
<h2>Events</h2>

<h4><a name="api:mono_event_get_object">mono_event_get_object</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_event_get_add_method">mono_event_get_add_method</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_event_get_flags">mono_event_get_flags</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_event_get_name">mono_event_get_name</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_event_get_parent">mono_event_get_parent</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_event_get_raise_method">mono_event_get_raise_method</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_event_get_remove_method">mono_event_get_remove_method</a></h4>

<a name="remote"></a>
<h2>Remote Fields</h2>
<h4><a name="api:mono_load_remote_field">mono_load_remote_field</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_load_remote_field_new">mono_load_remote_field_new</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_store_remote_field">mono_store_remote_field</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_store_remote_field_new">mono_store_remote_field_new</a></h4>

<a name="delegates"></a>
<h2>Delegates</h2>
<h4><a name="api:mono_get_delegate_begin_invoke">mono_get_delegate_begin_invoke</a></h4>
<h4><a name="api:mono_get_delegate_end_invoke">mono_get_delegate_end_invoke</a></h4>