Passing a managed reference to a method taking unmanaged pointer - c++

Question

Is it possible to make this work?
template<class T>
fun(T * t) { t->someMemberFunc(); }
... somewhere in the code:
ManagedType ^ managedP = gcnew ManagedType();
UnmanagedType * unmanagedP = new UnmanagedType();
fun(managedP);

Answer 1

You can't take the address of a managed object. The garbage collector can move it around in memory, invalidating the pointer value at any time. At a minimum you would have to pin the object first. Short from me not being able to come up with a valid syntax, pinning just to make a method call cannot be desirable. You'll need to declare the argument as a tracking handle:
template<typename T>
void fun(T^ t) { t->method(); }

Answer 2

This may be unrelated to your question, but GCHandle and gcroot may be useful; they allow you to get an unmanaged object encapsulating the handle to a managed object inside:
// hold_object_reference.cpp
// compile with: /clr
#include "gcroot.h"
using namespace System;
#pragma managed
class StringWrapper {
private:
gcroot<String ^ > x;
public:
StringWrapper() {
String ^ str = gcnew String("ManagedString");
x = str;
}
void PrintString() {
String ^ targetStr = x;
Console::WriteLine("StringWrapper::x == {0}", targetStr);
}
};
#pragma unmanaged
int main() {
StringWrapper s;
s.PrintString();
}
-----------------
Imports System
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Threading
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
Imports System.Security.Permissions
Public Delegate Function CallBack(ByVal handle As Integer, ByVal param As IntPtr) As Boolean
Module LibWrap
' passing managed object as LPARAM
' BOOL EnumWindows(WNDENUMPROC lpEnumFunc, LPARAM lParam);
<DllImport("user32.dll")> _
Function EnumWindows(ByVal cb As CallBack, ByVal param As IntPtr) As Boolean
End Function
End Module 'LibWrap
Module App
Sub Main()
Run()
End Sub
<SecurityPermission(SecurityAction.Demand, UnmanagedCode:=true)> _
Sub Run()
Dim tw As TextWriter = System.Console.Out
Dim gch As GCHandle = GCHandle.Alloc(tw)
Dim cewp As CallBack
cewp = AddressOf CaptureEnumWindowsProc
' platform invoke will prevent delegate to be garbage collected
' before call ends
LibWrap.EnumWindows(cewp, GCHandle.ToIntPtr(gch))
gch.Free()
End Sub
Function CaptureEnumWindowsProc(ByVal handle As Integer, ByVal param As IntPtr) As Boolean
Dim gch As GCHandle = GCHandle.FromIntPtr(param)
Dim tw As TextWriter = CType(gch.Target, TextWriter)
tw.WriteLine(handle)
Return True
End Function
End Module