Quickest way from BSTR to char * (no mfc)

BSTR bstrText("Sample");
char lpText[256];
strcpy(lpText, (LPSTR)_bstr_t(bstrText));

1. VarI1FromStr
This function converts variant data types to char from BSTR.

2. VarBstrFromI1
This function converts variant data types to BSTR from char.

// I hope this solves your problem.

oop, _bstr_t bstrText("Sample") instead of BSTR bstrText("Sample")

Ok, that's great, but I think I need code samples.  I've found heaps of little bits that almost do the job, but failures are really annoying me.

What I've noticed is that there are about a billion ways to do this, and I want to find the easiest and most efficient way of doing this.  

A little more detail please?

m_USerID is defined as

TCHAR m_UserID [ 256 ];

Are you sure that you have to convert BSTR -> _bstr_t -> TCHAR?  isn't there a quicker way?  

Eg.
BSTR -> TCHAR

Use the ALT string conversion macros.

Somewhere in your function, before the conversion you will need the line:

USES_CONVERSION;    // this macro expands up to variable
                    // definitions

Then, to convert to a BSTR from a char use:

strBSTR = A2OLE(strChar);

and to convert back use

strChar = OLE2A(strBSTR);

check out http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/devprods/vs6/visualc/vcmfc/_atl_string_conversion_macros.htm for a full discussion.

LPWSTR ToWideString(LPCTSTR lpszSource)
{
#ifndef _UNICODE
  int len;
  LPWSTR lpwszResult = NULL;
  len = MultiByteToWideChar(CP_ACP,0,lpszSourceString,-1,NULL,0);
  lpwszResult = new WCHAR[len+1];
  MultiByteToWideChar(CP_ACP,0,lpszSourceString,-1,lpwszResult,len);
  return lpwResult;
#else
  LPWSTR lpwszResult = new WCHAR[_wcslen(lpszSource)+1];
  _wcscpy(lpwszResult,lpszSource);
  return lpszSource;
#endif
}

LPCTSTR ToTString(LPWSTR lpwszSource)
{
#ifndef _UNICODE
  int lenBytes;
  LPTSTR lpszResult = NULL;
  lenBytes = WideCharToMultiByte(CP_ACP,0,lpwszSource,-1,NULL,0,NULL,NULL);
  lpszResult = new TCHAR[(lenBytes/sizeof(TCHAR))+1];
  WideCharToMultiByte(CP_ACP,0,lpwszSource,-1,lpszResult,lenBytes,NULL,NULL);
  return lpszResult;
#else
  LPWSTR lpwszResult = new WCHAR[_wcslen(lpszSource)+1];
  _wcscpy(lpwszResult,lpszSource);
  return lpszSource;
#endif
}

BSTR ToBSTR(LPCTSTR lpszSource)
{
  LPWSTR lpwszSource = ToWideChar(lpszSource);
  BSTR bstrRes = SysAllocString(lpwszSource);
  delete[] lpwszSource;
  return bstrRes;
}

I hope those work, i didn't try them yet.
Note that you can use ToTString also with a BSTR argument, there is no need for something like BSTRToTString!

As mentioned before, the _bstr_t is the simplest form to use:

STDMETHODIMP CTest::Test(BSTR istr, BSTR *ostr)
{
    _bstr_t bs(istr);

    const char* s = static_cast<const char*>(bs);

    _bstr_t os(s);

    *ostr = os.copy();

    return S_OK;
}

inetmatt Date: 06/14/2001 12:44AM PST
>> Are you sure that you have to convert BSTR -> _bstr_t -> TCHAR?  isn't there a quicker way?  

>> there is no need for something like BSTRToTString!
As long as you are using BSTR's not containing '\0' characters, i forgot; but i guess that's not the case here ...

If you need it even faster and you don't worry about codepage problems and localization (can be dangerous), you can also convert a TCHAR string to a WCHAR string like this:

LPWSTR lpwszResult = new WCHAR[_tcslen(lpszSource)+1];
int i = 0;
for(int i=0;(lpwszResult[i]=lpszSource[i])!='\0';i++) {};

But you're going to run into problems when it happens that the BSTR really contains unicode characters ...
Converting the WCHAR* to a BSTR can then be done using SysAllocString.

> id(3)] HRESULT Test_String([in] BSTR* szInString, [out, retval] BSTR *szRetval);

on an aside this should be (note I removed the * from the [in] parameter)

id(3)] HRESULT Test_String([in] BSTR szInString, [out, retval] BSTR *szRetval);

as to conversions - if you are on NT only then use unicode at all times then you can treat a BSTR as WCHAR for most of the time (but you cannot treat WCHAR as BSTRs) and will require no conversions - so the quickest conversion is no conversion - else if you have to use ansi then use the ATL macros - howver make sure you use the right ones

eg A2OLE does not create BSTR that can be used in COM calls as it is the same as A2W you need to use A2BSTR however you need to be very careful

bad

pMyObj->MyFunc(A2BSTR("data")); // this will leak

good

BSTR bstrData=A2BSTR("data");
pMyObj->MyFunc(bstrData);
::SysFreeString(bstrData);

this is why you will see people use wrapper classes such as CComBSTR and _bstr_t as it save on the typing - however the above is quicker as it does not have to create the CComBSTR (or _bstr_t) object. however even the wrapper classes have bugs due to their dependancies on the ATL classes see KB Q241857

I dont thik u can get easier than

#include <comutil.h>

using namespace _com_util
{
BSTR ConvertStringToBSTR(const char* pSrc) throw(_com_error);

     // Convert BSTR to char *
     //
char* __stdcall ConvertBSTRToString(BSTR pSrc) throw(_com_error);
}

these two utility functions work a treat

good luck

....

InetMatt,

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Thanks

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