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copied!<p>Using a native C++ class directly from C# is technically possible, but it's not trivial, and it's rarely even a good idea. For starters, you have to know the names to use to import from the DLL, which will be the names after C++ name-mangling. You also can't directly access things like <code>vector</code> from C#.</p> <p>There are basically two good options:</p> <p>The first is to write a DLL with a C interface that uses only types that can be marshalled into CLR types. You may use pointers along with the <code>IntPtr</code> type, but you can't really dereference those pointers. You can pretty much just store them in your C# code and then pass them back to the native DLL when needed. And you can also use simple <code>struct</code> types as long as you don't need deep copy to work on them. This option involves using P/Invoke.</p> <p>The second option is to write a mixed-mode C++/CLI assembly that implements all the logic that needs to access your native code. This assembly can directly access classes and data from your C# code and also directly access your native code, although you should be forewarned that there are annoying breaks where you can't mix the two. For example, a <code>ref class</code> in C++/CLI can't have a <code>shared_ptr</code> member. However, it can have a raw C++ pointer as a member. A (mixed-mode) native class can also have access to a CLR handle type and make calls into the C# code through this. This option involves using C++ Interop.</p> <p>It's worth noting that you could also go the other way with C++ Interop. You could have your C# code access a mixed-mode C++/CLI assembly that provides a .NET interface to some native code. However, you will still have to do some translation in this case so it's not hugely better than the first option.</p> <p>A full tutorial on C++ Interop would be rather lengthy. I suggest you read up <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2x8kf7zx%28v=vs.80%29.aspx" rel="nofollow">here</a> and do some further investigation of C++ Interop on Google.</p>

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