Question and Answer Database
FAQ1757C.txt Converting string type to char*
Category :C/C++ Language Issues
Platform :All
Product :C++Builder 1.x
Question:
I am using a third party library, and some of the functions
return value of type string.
// for example
string GetText();
So to process the returned string I have:
string buf;
buf = GetText();
This works just fine. But I can't do anything with buf.
If I type:
MessageBox(NULL, buf, "Data", NULL);
I get the error message
cann't convert 'string' to 'const char*'
I get the same error message if I:
strcpy(str,buf)
or
strlen(buf);
I can't find anywhere how 'string' is defined. I know it's not an
LPCSTR or LPSTR , and I don't think it meant to be the class
String.
Can you help? and how can I get buf to work with, let's say, the
strcpy();
Answer:
String is a string. That is, an STL string. It doesn't have a
built in const char * operator (LPCTSTR operator). To use it in
such situations you use its c_str function.
string myString("I'm a string");
MessageBox(myString.c_str());
7/2/98 10:32:32 AM
Last Modified: 01-SEP-99