Differences of pointers between unmanaged C++ and managed C++ - windows

Question

As the unmanaged C++ is feel free to locate to different object.
Such as the pointer to an array
int pt[50];
int* pointer = pt;
We can directly use *pointer to get the first value of the element in the array.
Thus, we can also use *(pointer++) in order to point to the second element.
However, if it is possible to directly use ^(pointer+5) to get the sixth element of the array?
The example is as follow.
array<int>^ pt = gcnew array<int>(50);
int^ pointer = pt;
How can I use the pointer as a medium to access different element in the array?

Answer 1

here is a slightly different approach that may be of use ...
It uses interior pointer arithmetic (to traverse an array).
Hope this helps.
using namespace System;
ref class Buf
{
// ...
};
int main()
{
array<Buf^>^ array_of_buf = gcnew array<Buf^>(10);
// Create a Buf object for each array position
for each (Buf^ bref in array_of_buf)
{
bref = gcnew Buf();
}
// create an interior pointer to elements of the array
interior_ptr<Buf^> ptr_buf;
// loop over the array with the interior pointer
// using pointer arithmetic on the interior pointer
for (ptr_buf = &array_of_buf[0]; ptr_buf <= &array_of_buf[9]; ptr_buf++)
{
// dereference the interior pointer with *
Buf^ buf = *ptr_buf;
// use the Buf class
}
}
reference: C++/CLi the visual c++ language for .net (pg 99)
here is another example from: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/y0fh545k.aspx
// interior_ptr.cpp
// compile with: /clr
using namespace System;
ref class MyClass {
public:
int data;
};
int main() {
MyClass ^ h_MyClass = gcnew MyClass;
h_MyClass->data = 1;
Console::WriteLine(h_MyClass->data);
interior_ptr<int> p = &(h_MyClass->data);
*p = 2;
Console::WriteLine(h_MyClass->data);
// alternatively
interior_ptr<MyClass ^> p2 = &h_MyClass;
(*p2)->data = 3;
Console::WriteLine((*p2)->data);
}