Question

Many Windows API, such as GetModuleFileName, etc… write output to char* buffer. But it is more convenient to use std::string. Is there a way to have them write to std::string (or std::wstring)’s buffer directly?

Sorry for my poor English. I’m not a native English speaker. -_-

Taworn T.

Answer 1

If you’re using C++0x, then the following is guaranteed to work:

std::string s;
s.resize(max_length);
size_t actual_length = SomeApiCall(&s[0], max_length);
s.resize(actual_length);

Before C++0x the std::string contents is not guaranteed to be consecutive in memory, so the code is not reliable in theory; in practice it works for popular STL implementations.