C++ and Grasshopper passing native variables from one component to another

Rhino Developer
#1

Hi,

I am wrapping some native C++ library variables to C#.
Before I had one C# component where I had everything working fine calling CLI wrapped variables and solver. But now I want to distribute my code into multiple components.

The thing is that I disposed some variables by placing them into brackets so that jointElementMatsSet and ele_link_tnl2 are deleted. I could also call Dispose method.
The small bit of code is here:

{
  var jointElementMatsSet = new OpenSees.Materials.Uniaxials.UniaxialMaterialWrapper[] { Axial_perimeter_long_leftMat, Shear_1_perimeter_long_leftMat, rigidmattagMat, FreemattagMat, FreemattagMat, FreemattagMat };
  var ele_link_tnl2 = new OpenSees.Elements.TwoNodeLinkWrapper(2, 3, 16, 1601, dirIds2, jointElementMatsSet, new OpenSees.VectorWrapper(new double[] { 1, 0, 0 }), new OpenSees.VectorWrapper(new double[] { 0, 0, 1 }), new OpenSees.VectorWrapper(0), new OpenSees.VectorWrapper(0), 0, 0);
  theDomain.AddElement(ele_link_tnl2);
}

But now since I want to distribute different classes into different components I have a question:
Can I create one variable in one component and dispose it in another one?
More simply: when two components are connected and second component receives the variable, is it duplicated or it points to the same memory location?

b
b.png1398×1014 123 KB

#2

I don’t see why not. Objects that inherit from IDisposable are usually holding onto a C++ pointer via an IntPtr object. So it’s just a matter of disposing, which involved deleting the C++ object.

– Dale

#3

Does it mean that in grasshopper when you pass data from one component to another parameters are not duplicated and are referenced to the same address in memory?

#4

This is dependent on what you are passing and on what components are involved. But if this is all your own stuff, then the reference (e.g. pointer) is passed.

– Dale

1 Like