MemoryMappedFile Class

Definition

public ref class MemoryMappedFile : IDisposable

public class MemoryMappedFile : IDisposable

type MemoryMappedFile = class
    interface IDisposable

Public Class MemoryMappedFile
Implements IDisposable

Inheritance

Object

MemoryMappedFile

Implements

IDisposable

Examples

The following example creates a memory-mapped view of a part of an extremely large file and manipulates a portion of it.

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.IO.MemoryMappedFiles;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        long offset = 0x10000000; // 256 megabytes
        long length = 0x20000000; // 512 megabytes

        // Create the memory-mapped file.
        using (var mmf = MemoryMappedFile.CreateFromFile(@"c:\ExtremelyLargeImage.data", FileMode.Open,"ImgA"))
        {
            // Create a random access view, from the 256th megabyte (the offset)
            // to the 768th megabyte (the offset plus length).
            using (var accessor = mmf.CreateViewAccessor(offset, length))
            {
                int colorSize = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(MyColor));
                MyColor color;

                // Make changes to the view.
                for (long i = 0; i < length; i += colorSize)
                {
                    accessor.Read(i, out color);
                    color.Brighten(10);
                    accessor.Write(i, ref color);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

public struct MyColor
{
    public short Red;
    public short Green;
    public short Blue;
    public short Alpha;

    // Make the view brighter.
    public void Brighten(short value)
    {
        Red = (short)Math.Min(short.MaxValue, (int)Red + value);
        Green = (short)Math.Min(short.MaxValue, (int)Green + value);
        Blue = (short)Math.Min(short.MaxValue, (int)Blue + value);
        Alpha = (short)Math.Min(short.MaxValue, (int)Alpha + value);
    }
}

Imports System.IO
Imports System.IO.MemoryMappedFiles
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices

Class Program

    Sub Main()
        Dim offset As Long = &H10000000 ' 256 megabytes
        Dim length As Long = &H20000000 ' 512 megabytes

        ' Create the memory-mapped file.
        Using mmf = MemoryMappedFile.CreateFromFile("c:\ExtremelyLargeImage.data", FileMode.Open, "ImgA")
            ' Create a random access view, from the 256th megabyte (the offset)
            ' to the 768th megabyte (the offset plus length).
            Using accessor = mmf.CreateViewAccessor(offset, length)
                Dim colorSize As Integer = Marshal.SizeOf(GetType(MyColor))
                Dim color As MyColor
                Dim i As Long = 0

                ' Make changes to the view.
                Do While (i < length)
                    accessor.Read(i, color)
                    color.Brighten(10)
                    accessor.Write(i, color)
                    i += colorSize
                Loop
            End Using
        End Using
    End Sub
End Class

Public Structure MyColor
    Public Red As Short
    Public Green As Short
    Public Blue As Short
    Public Alpha As Short

    ' Make the view brighter.
    Public Sub Brighten(ByVal value As Short)
        Red = CType(Math.Min(Short.MaxValue, (CType(Red, Integer) + value)), Short)
        Green = CType(Math.Min(Short.MaxValue, (CType(Green, Integer) + value)), Short)
        Blue = CType(Math.Min(Short.MaxValue, (CType(Blue, Integer) + value)), Short)
        Alpha = CType(Math.Min(Short.MaxValue, (CType(Alpha, Integer) + value)), Short)
    End Sub
End Structure

Remarks

A memory-mapped file maps the contents of a file to an application's logical address space. Memory-mapped files enable programmers to work with extremely large files because memory can be managed concurrently, and they allow complete, random access to a file without the need for seeking. Memory-mapped files can also be shared across multiple processes.

The CreateFromFile methods create a memory-mapped file from a specified path or a FileStream of an existing file on disk. Changes are automatically propagated to disk when the file is unmapped.

The CreateNew methods create a memory-mapped file that is not mapped to an existing file on disk; and are suitable for creating shared memory for interprocess communication (IPC).

A memory-mapped file can be associated with an optional name that allows the memory-mapped file to be shared with other processes.

You can create multiple views of the memory-mapped file, including views of parts of the file. You can map the same part of a file to more than one address to create concurrent memory. For two views to remain concurrent, they have to be created from the same memory-mapped file. Creating two file mappings of the same file with two views does not provide concurrency.

Properties

Methods

Applies to

See also

• Memory-Mapped Files