Blittable Types - Interoperability Overview

Interoperability Overview

Interoperability can be bidirectional sharing of data and methods between unmanaged code and managed .NET code. .NET provides two ways of interoperating between the two: COM Interop and P/Invoke. Though the methodology is different, in both cases marshalling (conversion between representations of data, formats for calling functions and formats for returning values) must take place. COM Interop deals with this conversion between managed code and COM objects, whereas P/Invoke handles interactions between managed code and Win32 code. The concept of blittable and non-blittable data types applies to both—specifically to the problem of converting data between managed and unmanaged memory. This marshalling is performed by the interop marshaller, which is invoked automatically by the CLR when needed.