Using String Buffers

Functions that return strings contain an input parameter, lpszBuffer, and a size parameter, lpdwBufferLength. Although lpszBuffer can be NULL, lpdwBufferLength must be a valid pointer to a DWORD variable. If the input buffer pointed to by lpszBuffer is NULL or too small to hold the output string, the function fails and GetLastError returns ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER. The variable pointed to by lpdwBufferLength contains a number that represents the number of bytes the function requires to return the requested string, including the null terminator. The application should allocate a buffer of this size, set the variable pointed to by lpdwBufferLength to this value, and resubmit the request. If the buffer size is sufficient to receive the requested string, the string is copied to the output buffer with a null terminator and the function returns a success indication. The variable pointed to by lpdwBufferLength now contains the number of characters stored in the buffer, excluding the null terminator.