Field InitialValue sets only the 1st byte

[MFernando-MSFT]

Hi,
I'm trying to initialize a field with a byte array using InitialValue, but I'm getting a .data section with only the first byte

.data cil I_00002078 = bytearray (01)

The code I'm using:

var memoryField = new FieldDefinition("name", FieldAttributes.Private | FieldAttributes.Static | FieldAttributes.HasFieldRVA, moduleDefinition.ImportReference(typeof(byte[])));
memoryField.InitialValue = new byte[3] {1, 2, 3};
mainClassType.Fields.Add(memoryField);

I've found this thread https://groups.google.com/g/mono-cecil/c/uhgICc7RGK0/m/GoYekx_T7lwJ, where KnightC got the same issue, but I don't understand how they've fixed it.

Thanks

[jbevain]

You can't directly a byte[] with an initial value like this.

The easiest way to understand is to look at what the compiler is generating in that scenario:

class Foo
{
    public int[] integers = new int[] { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 };
}

Look at the IL that is generated in either ildasm or ILSpy and replicate that :)

[MFernando-MSFT]

It creates a private class with a .field assembly static initonly, and a .data with the bytearray, and then in the construction of my class it uses ldtoken to copy data from one field to the other.

I was able to replicate and work with it by generating IL directly, but I don't know how I would do it from Cecil, as I get the same issue in the .data field when defining the private class.