C
C#•2h ago
peppy

Use of inline arrays to model arrays of structs

For a native type with the following shape: 
public struct CHRDATA {
    public uint hp;
    public uint mp; // ... hundreds more fields
}
public struct SAVEDATA {
    public CHRDATA chr1;
    public CHRDATA chr2;   
    public CHRDATA chr3; // ... tens more entries
}
public struct CHRDATA {
    public uint hp;
    public uint mp; // ... hundreds more fields
}
public struct SAVEDATA {
    public CHRDATA chr1;
    public CHRDATA chr2;   
    public CHRDATA chr3; // ... tens more entries
}
it occurred to me I could represent the sequential CHRDATAs with an InlineArray as such: 
[InlineArray(80)]
public struct CHRDATA_ARRAY {
    private CHRDATA _c;
}
public struct SAVEDATA {
    public CHRDATA_ARRAY chrs;
}
[InlineArray(80)]
public struct CHRDATA_ARRAY {
    private CHRDATA _c;
}
public struct SAVEDATA {
    public CHRDATA_ARRAY chrs;
}
which raises a few questions, since I'm unfamiliar with the feature: 1) is this legal? can you make InlineArrays of blittable structs, or should usage of InlineArray be restricted to primitives? (i.e. int, float) 2) does chrs[62].hp = 300; in the above case operate on a copy or actually mutate the relevant part of SAVEDATA?
1 Reply
ティナ
ティナ•2h ago
1) try compile and see 2) the indexer returns the ref to CHRDATA https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/language-reference/proposals/csharp-12.0/inline-arrays#when-the-expression-type-is-int
Inline arrays, or fixed sized buffers - C# feature specifications
Inline arrays provide a general-purpose and safe mechanism for declaring inline arrays within C# classes, structs, and interfaces.

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