Allow managed code in hosted environment to call back unmanaged code - c++

Question

I have C++ code that hosts a clr in order to make use of Managed.dll, written in c#.
This .net has a method like the following that allows code to register for notification of events:
public void Register(IMyListener listener);
The interface looks something like this
public interface IMyListener
{
void Notify(string details);
}
I'd like to do stuff in the C++ part of the program, triggered by the events in the .net world. I would not even mind creating another managed dll for the sole purpose of making Managed.dll more C++-friendly, if that is necessary.
What are my options here? The only one I am sure I could implement is this:
Write another managed dll that listens for those events, queues them and lets the C++ code access the queue via polling
This would of course change from an 'interrupt' style to a 'polling' style with all its advantages and disadvantages and the need to provide for queuing. Can we do without polling? Could I somehow call managed code and provide it a function pointer into the C++ world as the argument?
Update
Thanks to stijn's answer and comments I hope I moved a bit in the right direction, but I guess the main problem still open is how to pass a fn pointer from unmanaged land into the clr hosted environment.
Say I have an "int fn(int)" type of function pointer that I want to pass to the managed world, here are the relevant parts:
Managed code (C++/CLI)
typedef int (__stdcall *native_fun)( int );
String^ MyListener::Register(native_fun & callback)
{
return "MyListener::Register(native_fun callback) called callback(9): " + callback(9);
}
Unmanaged code
typedef int (__stdcall *native_fun)( int );
extern "C" static int __stdcall NativeFun(int i)
{
wprintf(L"Callback arrived in native fun land: %d\n", i);
return i * 3;
}
void callCLR()
{
// Setup CLR hosting environment
...
// prepare call into CLR
variant_t vtEmpty;
variant_t vtRetValue;
variant_t vtFnPtrArg((native_fun) &NativeFun);
SAFEARRAY *psaMethodArgs = SafeArrayCreateVector(VT_VARIANT, 0, 1);
LONG index = 0;
SafeArrayPutElement(psaMethodArgs, &index, &vtFnPtrArg);
...
hr = spType->InvokeMember_3(bstrMethodName, static_cast<BindingFlags>(
BindingFlags_InvokeMethod | BindingFlags_Static | BindingFlags_Public),
NULL, vtEmpty, psaMethodArgs, &vtRetValue);
if (FAILED(hr))
wprintf(L"Failed to invoke function: 0x%08lx\n", hr);
The spType->InvokeMember_3 call will lead to a 0x80131512 result.
Something seems to be wrong with the way I pass the pointer to NativeFun over to the managed world, or how my functions are defined. When using a String^ param instead of the fn ptr, I can call the CLR function successfully.

Answer 1

You can write a seperate dll in C++/CLI and implement the interface there, and forward the logic to C++. From my experience with mixing managed/unmanaged I can say using an intermediate C++/CLI step is the way to go. No fiddling with DllImport and functions only, but a solid bridge between both worlds. It just takes some getting used to the syntax and marshalling, but once you have that it's practically effortless. If you need to hold C++ objects in the managed class, best way is to use something like clr_scoped_ptr.
Code would look like this:
//header
#using <Managed.dll>
//forward declare some native class
class NativeCppClass;
public ref class MyListener : public IMylIstener
{
public:
MyListener();
//note cli classes automatically implement IDisposable,
//which will call this destructor when disposed,
//so used it as a normal C++ destructor and do cleanup here
~MyListener();
virtual void Notify( String^ details );
private:
clr_scoped_ptr< NativeCppClass > impl;
}
//source
#include "Header.h"
#include <NativeCppClass.h>
//here's how I marshall strings both ways
namespace
{
inline String^ marshal( const std::string& i )
{
return gcnew String( i.data() );
}
inline std::string marshal( String^ i )
{
if( i == nullptr )
return std::string();
char* str2 = (char*) (void*) Marshal::StringToHGlobalAnsi( i );
std::string sRet( str2 );
Marshal::FreeHGlobal( IntPtr( str2 ) );
return sRet;
}
}
MyListener::MyListener() :
impl( new NativeCppClass() )
{
}
MyListener::~MyListener()
{
}
void MyListener::Notify( String^ details )
{
//handle event here
impl->SomeCppFunctionTakingStdString( marshal( details ) );
}
update
Here's a simple solution to call callbacks in C++ from the managed world:
pubic ref class CallbackWrapper
{
public:
typedef int (*native_fun)( int );
CallbackWrapper( native_fun fun ) : fun( fun ) {}
void Call() { fun(); }
CallbackWrapper^ Create( ... ) { return gcnew CallbackWrapper( ... ); }
private:
native_fun fun;
}
you can also wrap this in an Action if you want.
Another way is using GetDelegateForFunctionPointer, for example as in this SO question

Answer 2

If someone still needs a better way for this , you can simply pass c++ function to CLR using intptr_t in variant and long in managed , then use Marshall and delegate to invoke your native function , super easy and works like charm.
if you need a code snippet , let me know.