Just what is an IntPtr exactly?

Question

Through using IntelliSense and looking at other people's code, I have come across this IntPtr type; every time it has needed to be used I have simply put null or IntPtr.Zero and found most functions to work. What exactly is it and when/why is it used?

Answer 1

MSDN tells us:

The IntPtr type is designed to be an integer whose size is platform-specific. That is, an instance of this type is expected to be 32-bits on 32-bit hardware and operating systems, and 64-bits on 64-bit hardware and operating systems.

The IntPtr type can be used by languages that support pointers, and as a common means of referring to data between languages that do and do not support pointers.

IntPtr objects can also be used to hold handles. For example, instances of IntPtr are used extensively in the System.IO.FileStream class to hold file handles.

The IntPtr type is CLS-compliant, while the UIntPtr type is not. Only the IntPtr type is used in the common language runtime. The UIntPtr type is provided mostly to maintain architectural symmetry with the IntPtr type.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.intptr(VS.71).aspx

Answer 2

A direct interpretation

An IntPtr is an integer which is the same size as a pointer.

You can use IntPtr to store a pointer value in a non-pointer type. This feature is important in .NET since using pointers is highly error prone and therefore illegal in most contexts. By allowing the pointer value to be stored in a "safe" data type, plumbing between unsafe code segments may be implemented in safer high-level code -- or even in a .NET language that doesn't directly support pointers.

The size of IntPtr is platform-specific, but this detail rarely needs to be considered, since the system will automatically use the correct size.

The name "IntPtr" is confusing -- something like Handle might have been more appropriate. My initial guess was that "IntPtr" was a pointer to an integer. The MSDN documentation of IntPtr goes into somewhat cryptic detail without ever providing much insight about the meaning of the name.

An alternative perspective

An IntPtr is a pointer with two limitations:

1. It cannot be directly dereferenced
2. It doesn't know the type of the data that it points to.

In other words, an IntPtr is just like a void* -- but with the extra feature that it can (but shouldn't) be used for basic pointer arithmetic.

In order to dereference an IntPtr, you can either cast it to a true pointer (an operation which can only be performed in "unsafe" contexts) or you can pass it to a helper routine such as those provided by the InteropServices.Marshal class. Using the Marshal class gives the illusion of safety since it doesn't require you to be in an explicit "unsafe" context. However, it doesn't remove the risk of crashing which is inherent in using pointers.

Answer 3

Here's an example:

I'm writing a C# program that interfaces with a high speed camera. The camera has its own driver that acquires images and loads them into the computer's memory for me automatically.

So when I'm ready to bring the latest image into my program to work with, the camera driver provides me with an IntPtr to where to image is ALREADY stored in physical memory, so I don't have to waste time/resources creating another block of memory to store an image that's in memory already. The IntPtr just shows me where the image already is.

Answer 4

Well this is the MSDN page that deals with IntPtr.

The first line reads:

A platform-specific type that is used to represent a pointer or a handle.

As to what a pointer or handle is the page goes on to state:

The IntPtr type can be used by languages that support pointers, and as a common means of referring to data between languages that do and do not support pointers.

IntPtr objects can also be used to hold handles. For example, instances of IntPtr are used extensively in the System.IO.FileStream class to hold file handles.

A pointer is a reference to an area of memory that holds some data you are interested in.

A handle can be an identifier for an object and is passed between methods/classes when both sides need to access that object.

Answer 5

It's a "native (platform-specific) size integer." It's internally represented as void* but exposed as an integer. You can use it whenever you need to store an unmanaged pointer and don't want to use unsafe code. IntPtr.Zero is effectively NULL (a null pointer).

Answer 6

It's a value type large enough to store a memory address as used in native or unsafe code, but not directly usable as a memory address in safe managed code.

You can use IntPtr.Size to find out whether you're running in a 32-bit or 64-bit process, as it will be 4 or 8 bytes respectively.