Why can't I return a char* string from C++ to C# in a Release build?

Question

I\'m attempting to call the following trivial C function from C#:

SIMPLEDLL_API const char* ReturnString()
{
    return \"Returning a static string!\";
}
         


        

Answer 1

It's also possible to do that with a custom Marshaler:

class ConstCharPtrMarshaler : ICustomMarshaler
{
    public object MarshalNativeToManaged(IntPtr pNativeData)
    {
        return Marshal.PtrToStringAnsi(pNativeData);
    }

    public IntPtr MarshalManagedToNative(object ManagedObj)
    {
        return IntPtr.Zero;
    }

    public void CleanUpNativeData(IntPtr pNativeData)
    {
    }

    public void CleanUpManagedData(object ManagedObj)
    {
    }

    public int GetNativeDataSize()
    {
        return IntPtr.Size;
    }

    static readonly ConstCharPtrMarshaler instance = new ConstCharPtrMarshaler();

    public static ICustomMarshaler GetInstance(string cookie)
    {
        return instance;
    }
}

And use it like this:

[DllImport("SimpleDll")]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.CustomMarshaler, MarshalTypeRef = typeof(ConstCharPtrMarshaler))]
public static extern string ReturnString();