encode data to byte[]. in this case, IDataStructure is a marker interface only that is inherited by structs.

gistfile1.cs

        internal static byte[] EncodeToBytes(this IDataStructure data)
        {
            // get the unmanaged size of the data in bytes being marshalled.
            var size = Marshal.SizeOf(data);

            // allocate unmanaged memory of size bytes.
            var ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(size);

            // marshall the data from managed to unmanaged memory.
            // passing true as the last parameter allows all unmanaged
            // memory allocations to be released during this operation
            // as appropriate.  See MSDN documentation.
            Marshal.StructureToPtr(data, ptr, true);

            // allocate a managed byte[] to be returned to the caller.
            var array = new byte[size];

            // copy the unmanaged memory into a managed byte array.
            Marshal.Copy(ptr, array, 0, size);

            // release the unmanaged memory.
            Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);

            // return the managed byte[].
            return array;
        }