What is the benefit of using raw_native_types?

Question

I've encountered the raw_native_types in a tlb import statement and I'm unclear of what the benefit of this attribute is. I've read the MSDN description for this (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8etzzkb6%28v=vs.71%29.aspx#_predir_raw_native_types) but it hasn't helped clearing it up for me. Can someone help explain it to me?

Thanks.

Answer 1

The intention defines the benefit. If one really doesn't want to use _bstr_t or _variant_t because, who knows, one abominates them (not that uncommon), or one doesn't trust the compiler to actually do a good job at keeping them alive, or one already uses other smart wrappers, or one really likes to explicitly call SysFreeString and VariantClear, then one specifies raw_native_types.