Bit fields in C#

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

By using an enum you can do this, but will look awkward.

[Flags]
public enum PESHeaderFlags
{
    IsCopy = 1, // implied that if not present, then it is an original
    IsCopyrighted = 2,
    IsDataAligned = 4,
    Priority = 8,
    ScramblingControlType1 = 0,
    ScramblingControlType2 = 16,
    ScramblingControlType3 = 32,
    ScramblingControlType4 = 16+32,
    ScramblingControlFlags = ScramblingControlType1 | ScramblingControlType2 | ... ype4
    etc.
}

You want StructLayoutAttribute

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit, Size=1, CharSet=CharSet.Ansi)]
public struct Foo 
{ [FieldOffset(0)]public byte original_or_copy; 
  [FieldOffset(0)]public byte copyright;
  [FieldOffset(0)]public byte data_alignment_indicator; 
  [FieldOffset(0)]public byte PES_priority; 
  [FieldOffset(0)]public byte PES_scrambling_control; 
  [FieldOffset(0)]public byte reserved; 
}

This is really a union but you can use it as a bitfield--you just have to be conscious of where in the byte the bits for each field are supposed to be. Utility functions and/or constants to AND against can help.

const byte _original_or_copy = 1;
const byte _copyright        = 2;

//bool ooo = foo.original_or_copy();
static bool original_or_copy(this Foo foo) 
{ return  (foo.original_or_copy & _original_or_copy)  == original_or_copy;
}    

There is also LayoutKind.Sequential which will allow you to do it the C way.