C#

This has suddenly become a real ‘would like to have’ feature in the project I’m currently working on.  I know this isn’t possible in standard C#, but I’m trying to find a hammer with the right weight and shape to beat this into some semblance of working.  What I would like to achieve is something like this, in the commented line:

public class PersonForm
{
    System.Windows.Forms.TextBox textRate = new TextBox();
    public void BuildPerson(Person person)
    {
        Person pers = new Person();
        pers.HourlyRate = textRate.Text.Length == 0 ? (double?) null : double.Parse(textRate.Text);
        // SetPropertyFromText(pers.HourlyRate, textRate.Text)
    }
}

private void GridViewClear() {

  for (int i = GridView.Rows.Count; i > 0; i--)
  {
    GridView.DeleteRow(i - 1);
  }
}

struct vector
{
    uint elem_count;
    uint size;
    int (*cmp)(const void *, const void *);
    void *table;
};
 
typedef struct vector VECTOR;
 
#define CTABLE VECTOR
#define CSTATS VECTOR
 
struct cstream
{
    int mode;
    int byte_count;
    uchar *buff;
    int buff_len;
    int buff_pos;
    int bit_pos;
    bool growable;
    bool prepared;
    CTABLE *table[2];
    CSTATS *stats[3];
    uchar last_mode;
    int last_mode_offset;
};

[UnmanagedFunctionPointer(CallingConvention.Winapi)  ]
        unsafe public delegate int cmp(IntPtr a, IntPtr b);
 
        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, Pack = 1)]
        unsafe public struct VECTOR
        {
            public uint elem_count;
            public uint size;
            public uint elem_size;
            [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.FunctionPtr)]
            public cmp cp; //C-func: public int (*cmp)(const void *, const void *);
            public IntPtr table;
        }
 
        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, Pack = 1)]
        unsafe public struct CSTREAM
        {
            public int mode;
            public int byte_count;
            public IntPtr buff;
            public int buff_len;
            public int buff_pos;
            public int bit_pos;
            public bool growable;
            public bool prepared;
            public VECTOR[2]; // CTABLE *table[TTABLE_COUNT];
            public VECTOR[3]; // CSTATS *stats[STATS_COUNT];
            public byte last_mode;
            public int last_mode_offset;
        }
 
        [DllImport("compr.dll")]
        public static extern IntPtr screate(); // this function in C dll returns pointer to struct
 
        [DllImport("compr.dll")]
        public static extern IntPtr tcreate(); // this function in C dll returns pointer to struct; 

MyClass.VECTOR stext = new MyClass.VECTOR();
IntPtr st = MyClass.screate();
stext = (MyClass.VECTOR)Marshal.PtrToStructure(st, typeof(MyClass.VECTOR));