GCHandle Structure
Provides a way to access a managed object from unmanaged memory.
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
The GCHandle type exposes the following members.
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
![]() ![]() | IsAllocated | Gets a value indicating whether the handle is allocated. |
![]() ![]() | Target | Gets or sets the object this handle represents. |
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
![]() ![]() | AddrOfPinnedObject | Retrieves the address of an object in a Pinned handle. |
![]() ![]() ![]() | Alloc(Object) | Allocates a Normal handle for the specified object. |
![]() ![]() ![]() | Alloc(Object, GCHandleType) | Allocates a handle of the specified type for the specified object. |
![]() ![]() | Equals | Determines whether the specified GCHandle object is equal to the current GCHandle object. (Overrides ValueType::Equals(Object).) In XNA Framework, this member is overridden by Equals(Object). |
![]() ![]() | Finalize | Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before it is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.) |
![]() ![]() | Free | Releases a GCHandle. |
![]() ![]() | FromIntPtr | Returns a new GCHandle object created from a handle to a managed object. |
![]() ![]() | GetHashCode | Returns an identifier for the current GCHandle object. (Overrides ValueType::GetHashCode().) In XNA Framework, this member is overridden by GetHashCode(). |
![]() ![]() | GetType | Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.) |
![]() ![]() | MemberwiseClone | Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.) |
![]() ![]() | ToIntPtr | Returns the internal integer representation of a GCHandle object. |
![]() ![]() | ToString | Returns the fully qualified type name of this instance. (Inherited from ValueType.) In XNA Framework 3.0, this member is inherited from Object::ToString(). |
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
![]() ![]() | Equality | Returns a value indicating whether two GCHandle objects are equal. |
![]() ![]() ![]() | Explicit(GCHandle to IntPtr) | A GCHandle is stored using an internal integer representation. |
![]() ![]() ![]() | Explicit(IntPtr to GCHandle) | A GCHandle is stored using an internal integer representation. |
![]() ![]() | Inequality | Returns a value indicating whether two GCHandle objects are not equal. |
The GCHandle structure is used with the GCHandleType enumeration to create a handle corresponding to any managed object. This handle can be one of four types: Weak, WeakTrackResurrection, Normal, or Pinned. When the handle has been allocated, you can use it to prevent the managed object from being collected by the garbage collector when an unmanaged client holds the only reference. Without such a handle, the object can be collected by the garbage collector before completing its work on behalf of the unmanaged client.
You can also use GCHandle to create a pinned object that returns a memory address to prevent the garbage collector from moving the object in memory.
When the handle goes out of scope you must explicitly release it by calling the Free method; otherwise, memory leaks may occur. When you free a pinned handle, the associated object will be unpinned and will become eligible for garbage collection, if there are no other references to it.
The following example shows an App class that creates a handle to a managed object using the GCHandle.Alloc method, which prevents the managed object from being collected. A call to the EnumWindows method passes a delegate and a managed object (both declared as managed types, but not shown), and casts the handle to an IntPtr. The unmanaged function passes the type back to the caller as a parameter of the callback function.
Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2
The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.
