iOS Runtime Types

NativeScript provides the interop module for working with native C types, pointers, pointer arithmetic and memory.

Using interop ​

Creating a pointer ​

The Pointer type allows you to represent a void*.

Using the constructor ​

To create a new pointer with the given offset, use the constructor:

const interop1 = new interop.Pointer(34)

Creating a pointer by adding an offset from an existing pointer ​

const interop2 = interop1.add(4)

Creating a pointer by removing an offset to an existing pointer ​

const interop3 = interop1.subtract(3)

interop API ​

Pointer.toNumber() ​

pointerInstance.toNumber()

Converts the value of a Pointer instance to a number.

adopt ​

interop.adopt(ptr: Pointer): AdoptedPointer

Makes the specified pointer adopted.

free ​

interop.free(ptr: Pointer): void

Releases the memory of the specified unadopted pointer.

sizeof ​

interop.sizeof(type: any): number

Returns the size of the provided type. The type can be: a class constructor (of Objective-C interface), an instance (wrapper of Objective-C interface), struct constructor, struct instance, reference, protocol, function (for c function), fundamental types

alloc ​

interop.alloc(size: number): AdoptedPointer

Allocates memory size in bytes.

handleof ​

interop.handleof(instance: any): Pointer

A JavaScript object can obtain a reference to the underlying native object. The instance can represent a class constructor (for an Objective-C interface), an instance (wrapper of an Objective-C interface), a struct instance, a reference, a protocol, a function (for C functions), or a block.

bufferFromData ​

interop.bufferFromData(data: NSData): ArrayBuffer

Wraps an NSData instance in an ArrayBuffer.

new Reference(value) ​

Creates a new reference around a JavaScript value. The native representation of the type will be determined during the first time the Reference is used in an operation involving marshalling.

new Reference(type: Type<T>, data: Pointer) ​

Creates a reference from the pointer with a given type.

new Reference(type: Type<T>, value: any) ​

Creates a new reference around a value of a certain type.

new FunctionReference(func: T) ​

Creates a function reference that can be marshalled as a native function pointer. The JavaScript reference must be allocated in memory as long as the native code needs the function.

interop types ​

• "void": Type<void>

• bool: Type<boolean>

• int8: Type<number>

• uint8: Type<number>

• int16: Type<number>

• uint16: Type<number>

• int32: Type<number>

• uint32: Type<number>

• int64: Type<number>

• uint64: Type<number>

• float: Type<number>

• double: Type<number>

• UTF8CString: Type<Reference<number>>

• unichar: Type<string>

• id: Type<any>

• protocol: Type<any>

• "class": Type<any>

• selector: Type<string>

new StructType() ​

Create a new instance of the struct.

new StructType (obj: T) ​

Create a new instance of the struct and initialize it from the fields of the provided object.

equals ​

someStructTypeIntastance.equals(left: T, right: T): boolean

Checks two structs for equality.