Swift 2 - UnsafeMutablePointer to object

Question

If I have a method like:

func someMethod(contextPtr: UnsafeMutablePointer<Void>)

how do I get the object from the contextPtr?

func someMethod(contextPtr: UnsafeMutablePointer<Void>){    
    let object:MyObject = contextPtr.memory
}

gives:

'Void' is not convertible to 'MyObject'

What's the secret sauce

---

More detail:

What I'm actually doing here is setting up a global callback function for SCNetworkReachability:

func callback(reachability:SCNetworkReachability, flags: SCNetworkReachabilityFlags, info: UnsafeMutablePointer<Void>) {

    let r:Reachability = info.memory
}

and then adding the callback as follows:

var context = SCNetworkReachabilityContext(version: 0, info: nil, retain: nil, release: nil, copyDescription: nil)
var s = self
withUnsafeMutablePointer(&s) {
    context.info = UnsafeMutablePointer($0)
}
SCNetworkReachabilitySetCallback(reachability, callback, &context)

Answer 1

This should work: pass the object pointer as an opaque unmanaged pointer to the callback:

context.info = UnsafeMutablePointer(Unmanaged.passUnretained(myObject).toOpaque())
SCNetworkReachabilitySetCallback(reachability, callback, &context) 

and retrieve in the callback via:

func callback(reachability:SCNetworkReachability, flags: SCNetworkReachabilityFlags, info: UnsafeMutablePointer<Void>) {

    let myObject = Unmanaged<MyObject>.fromOpaque(COpaquePointer(info)).takeUnretainedValue()

}

Of course this assumes that some strong reference to the object exists as long as the callback is installed, so that the object is not deallocated.

Update: Note that both conversions from object pointer to void pointer and back can be simplified if you are willing to use "unsafe" functions:

context.info = unsafeAddressOf(myObject)
// ...
myObject = unsafeBitCast(info, MyObject.self)

The generated assembly code is – as far as I can see – identical.

Update 2: See also How to cast self to UnsafeMutablePointer<Void> type in swift for more information about the "bridging" and some helper functions which can be used here.

---

Swift 3 update (Xcode 8 beta 6):

var context = SCNetworkReachabilityContext(version: 0, info: nil, retain: nil, release: nil, copyDescription: nil)
context.info = UnsafeMutableRawPointer(Unmanaged.passUnretained(self).toOpaque())

// ...

func callback(reachability:SCNetworkReachability, flags: SCNetworkReachabilityFlags, info: UnsafeMutableRawPointer?) {
    if let info = info {
        let myObject = Unmanaged<MyObject>.fromOpaque(info).takeUnretainedValue()
        // ...
    }
}

Answer 2

struct S {
    var i: Int = 10
}
var first = S()

func foo(contextPtr: UnsafeMutablePointer<Void>){
    let pS = UnsafeMutablePointer<S>(contextPtr)
    pS.memory.i = 100
}
print(first.i) // 10
foo(&first)
print(first.i) // 100

if we need pass as UnsafeMutablePointer self to async function

import XCPlayground
XCPlaygroundPage.currentPage.needsIndefiniteExecution = true

import Foundation
// can be struct, class ...
class C {
    let queue = dispatch_queue_create("test", DISPATCH_QUEUE_CONCURRENT)
    var s: String = ""
    func foo() {
        var c = self
        dispatch_async(queue) { () -> Void in
            f(&c)
        }

    }
}

func f(pV: UnsafeMutablePointer<Void>) {
    let pC = UnsafeMutablePointer<C>(pV)
    sleep(1)
    print(pC.memory.s)
}

var c1: C? = C()
c1!.s = "C1"
c1!.foo()        // C1
var c2: C? = C()
c2!.s = "C2"
c2!.foo()        // C2
c1 = nil
c2 = nil
print("test")