[xXTyMeador73Xx]

Im having trouble using Std::Strings's with the windows API because it wants you to use its stupid built in datatypes (LPCSTR, LPSTR). my question is this. how do i either, A: use Std::Strings instead of LPSTR in the windows API, or B: how do i append a string literal or another LPSTR onto an LPSTR?

[GunnerInc]

Quote

stupid built in datatypes

What is so stupid about passing a string pointer to a function? All a pointer is, is the address of the first character of a string. How to apoend a string to another string?

What API are you trying to use?

[ishkabible]

for LPCSTR(constant character pointer) you can use the c_str() method.

WindowsFunction(str.c_str());

for LSTR you will need to create a new string

char* new_c_str = new char[str.size() + 1]
new_c_str[str.size()] = '\0';
std::copy(str.begin(), str.end(), new_c_str); //copy the string over
WindowsFunction(new_c_str);
//...what ever you need to do with new_c_str
delete new_c_str(ALWAYS needs to be done) 

[Bench]

If you need a writable character buffer to use with a C-like API, you can use a std::vector<char> whose underlying representation is guaranteed to be contiguous (i.e. an array)

std::vector<char> buffer(100);
SomeCharArrayFunction( &buffer[0], buffer.size() );
std::string str( &buffer[0] ); 

(If you're using a C++11 implementation, you can use std::vector<>::data() to gain access to the array buffer instead of that ugly &[0] syntax)

std::vector<char> buffer(100);
SomeCharArrayFunction( buffer.data(), buffer.size() );
std::string str( buffer.data() ); 

for string manipulation, you're probably still better off swapping in and out of std::stringstream or std::string

[ishkabible]

bench: that's a good solution!

here it is for null terminated strings

std::vector<char> data(str.begin(), str.end());
data.push_back('\0');
SomeCharArrayFunction(data.data());

[xXTyMeador73Xx]

none of these do me any good. as i stated before. im using the windows API which requires me to use their built in data types with their functions. (IE LPSTR instead of std::string. i CANNOT USE std::string with ANY windows API functions. how do i append to a LPSTR? this is what i am asking.)

[jimblumberg]

You may want to find out what a LPSTR actually is by looking at the documentation at MSDN. This is a pointer to an array of characters. So to append to this array you will probably need to use something like strcat().

Jim

This post has been edited by jimblumberg: 13 June 2012 - 10:18 PM

[Bench]

xXTyMeador73Xx, on 14 June 2012 - 05:52 AM, said:

i CANNOT USE std::string with ANY windows API functions.

What code have you tried? and what errors are you getting?

[ishkabible]

we showed you how std::string can be used where C strings are expected; so you *can* use C++ strings with the windows API functions.