Bit fields in C#

Question

I have a structure which I need to populate and write to disk (several actually).

An example is:

byte-6     bit0 - original_or_copy   bit1 - copyright   bit2 - data_alignment_indicator   bit3 - PES_priority   bit4-bit5 - PES_scrambling control.   bit6-bit7 - reserved   

In C I might do something like the following:

struct PESHeader  {     unsigned reserved:2;     unsigned scrambling_control:2;     unsigned priority:1;     unsigned data_alignment_indicator:1;     unsigned copyright:1;     unsigned original_or_copy:1; }; 

Is there any way to do this in C# that would enable me to access the bits using the struct dereferencing dot operator?

For a couple of structures, I can just do bit shifting wrapped in an accessor function.

I have loads of structures to handle in this way, so I'm looking for something that's easier to read and quicker to write.

Answer 1

I'd probably knock together something using attributes, then a conversion class to convert suitably attributed structures to the bitfield primitives. Something like...

using System;  namespace BitfieldTest {     [global::System.AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Field, AllowMultiple = false)]     sealed class BitfieldLengthAttribute : Attribute     {         uint length;          public BitfieldLengthAttribute(uint length)         {             this.length = length;         }          public uint Length { get { return length; } }     }      static class PrimitiveConversion     {         public static long ToLong<T>(T t) where T : struct         {             long r = 0;             int offset = 0;              // For every field suitably attributed with a BitfieldLength             foreach (System.Reflection.FieldInfo f in t.GetType().GetFields())             {                 object[] attrs = f.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(BitfieldLengthAttribute), false);                 if (attrs.Length == 1)                 {                     uint fieldLength  = ((BitfieldLengthAttribute)attrs[0]).Length;                      // Calculate a bitmask of the desired length                     long mask = 0;                     for (int i = 0; i < fieldLength; i++)                         mask |= 1 << i;                      r |= ((UInt32)f.GetValue(t) & mask) << offset;                      offset += (int)fieldLength;                 }             }              return r;         }     }      struct PESHeader     {         [BitfieldLength(2)]         public uint reserved;         [BitfieldLength(2)]         public uint scrambling_control;         [BitfieldLength(1)]         public uint priority;         [BitfieldLength(1)]         public uint data_alignment_indicator;         [BitfieldLength(1)]         public uint copyright;         [BitfieldLength(1)]         public uint original_or_copy;     };      public class MainClass     {         public static void Main(string[] args)         {             PESHeader p = new PESHeader();              p.reserved = 3;             p.scrambling_control = 2;             p.data_alignment_indicator = 1;              long l = PrimitiveConversion.ToLong(p);               for (int i = 63; i >= 0; i--)             {                 Console.Write( ((l & (1l << i)) > 0) ? "1" : "0");             }              Console.WriteLine();              return;         }     } } 

Which produces the expected ...000101011. Of course, it needs more error checking and a slightly saner typing, but the concept is (I think) sound, reusable, and lets you knock out easily maintained structures by the dozen.

adamw