Passing Ruby argument with out keyword to .NET Framework DLL

This article provides an introduction to cross-technology invocation of both static and instance methods which contains argument of type out. Parameter modifier out in C# (.NET) technology is used in a method signature to pass an argument by reference. It is described in details in this article.

Javonet allows you to reference and use modules or packages written in (Java/Kotlin/Groovy/Clojure, C#/VB.NET, Ruby, Perl, Python, JavaScript/TypeScript) like they were created in your technology. If have not yet created your first project check Javonet overview and quick start guides for your technology.

With Javonet you can interact with methods with out parameter modifier from .NET Framework DLL like they were available in Ruby but invocation must be performed through Javonet SDK API. Javonet allows you to pass any Ruby value type as argument to method from .NET Framework DLL. For reference type arguments (instances of other classes) you can create such instance with Javonet and pass the Invocation Context variable referencing that object as argument of method invocation.

Custom .NET Framework DLL with out Ruby argument

With Javonet it is possible to reference any custom .NET Framework DLL and interact with its methods declared on types defined within that module almost the same as with any other Ruby library.

Snippet below represents the sample code from .NET Framework DLL which contains methods with out parameter modifier.

namespace TestClass
{
	public class TestClass
	{
		public TestClass() { }

		public static void OutSampleMethod(out string outStr)
		{
			outStr = "String from OutSampleMethod";
		}
	}
}
public static void OutSampleMethod(out string outStr)
{
	outStr = "String from OutSampleMethod";
}

It is possible to invoke the declared methods from .NET Framework DLL using following Ruby code:

require 'javonet-ruby-sdk'

resources_directory = "."

# use activate only once in your app
Javonet.activate('your-license-key')

# create called runtime context
called_runtime = Javonet.in_memory.clr

# set up variables
library_path = "#{resources_directory}/TestClass.dll"
class_name = 'TestClass.TestClass'

# load custom library
called_runtime.load_library(library_path)

# get type from the runtime
called_runtime_type = called_runtime.get_type(class_name).execute
string_type = called_runtime.get_type('System.String').execute

# create values for outs
out_value_1 = called_runtime.as_out(string_type).execute
out_value_2 = called_runtime.as_out('c', string_type).execute
out_value_3 = called_runtime.as_out('Test string').execute

# invoke type's static method with out values
called_runtime_type.invoke_static_method('OutSampleMethod', out_value_1).execute
called_runtime_type.invoke_static_method('OutSampleMethod', out_value_2).execute
called_runtime_type.invoke_static_method('OutSampleMethod', out_value_3).execute

# get outs' values
result1 = out_value_1.get_ref_value.execute.get_value
result2 = out_value_2.get_ref_value.execute.get_value
result3 = out_value_3.get_ref_value.execute.get_value

# write result to console
puts result1
puts result2
puts result3
namespace TestClass
{
	public class TestClass
	{
		public TestClass() { }

		public static void OutSampleMethod(out string outStr)
		{
			outStr = "String from OutSampleMethod";
		}
	}
}
# use activate only once in your app
Javonet.activate('your-license-key')

# create called runtime context
called_runtime = Javonet.in_memory.clr

# set up variables
library_path = "#{resources_directory}/TestClass.dll"
class_name = 'TestClass.TestClass'

# load custom library
called_runtime.load_library(library_path)

# get type from the runtime
called_runtime_type = called_runtime.get_type(class_name).execute
string_type = called_runtime.get_type('System.String').execute

# create values for outs
out_value_1 = called_runtime.as_out(string_type).execute
out_value_2 = called_runtime.as_out('c', string_type).execute
out_value_3 = called_runtime.as_out('Test string').execute

# invoke type's static method with out values
called_runtime_type.invoke_static_method('OutSampleMethod', out_value_1).execute
called_runtime_type.invoke_static_method('OutSampleMethod', out_value_2).execute
called_runtime_type.invoke_static_method('OutSampleMethod', out_value_3).execute

# get outs' values
result1 = out_value_1.get_ref_value.execute.get_value
result2 = out_value_2.get_ref_value.execute.get_value
result3 = out_value_3.get_ref_value.execute.get_value

# write result to console
puts result1
puts result2
puts result3

This snippet uses in memory runtime bridging to load the .NET Framework DLL and next retrieves reference to specific type.
Next, two reference type arguments are created. An argument that is passed to a out parameter do not have to be initialized before it's passed to a method. Three ways of initialization are presented in create values for out section of the snippet.
Fist way (outValue1) is initializing using asOut() method with specifying type of argument.
Second way (outValue2) is initializing using asOut() method with specifying value and type of argument.
Third way (outValue3) is initializing using asOut() method with specifying value of argument.

All these values can be passed to OutSampleMethod(out string outStr) method using invokeStaticMethod(...).execute() invocation.

Each reference type argument is get as regular Ruby value using getRefValue() and can be used for further processing.

The same operation can be performed remotely by just changing the new Runtime Context invocation from in memory to tcp that will create and interact with your .NET Framework DLL objects on any remote node, container or service that hosts Javonet Code Gateway. This way you can preserve the same logic in your application and instantly switch between monolithic and microservices architecture without the need to implement the integration layer based on web services or other remote invocation methods.

Read more about use cases and software architecture scenarios where Javonet runtime bridging technology can support your development process.