Passing a string in Process::Start

Question

I run successfully:

Process::Start("C:\\Users\\Demetres\\Desktop\\JoypadCodesApplication.exe");

from a Windows Forms application (visual c++) and as expected, I got 2 programs running simultaneously. My questions is:

Can I pass a string -indicating the file name- to the Process::Start method? I tried:

std::string str="C:\\Users\\Demetres\\Desktop\\JoypadCodesApplication.exe";
Process::Start("%s", str);

but failed. Is this possible?

EDIT:

Answer 1

I think you actually need to marshal to a System::String^ for passing an argument. You can even marshal directly from a std::string to a System::String^.

///marshal_as<type>(to_marshal)
///marshal_context ctx; ctx.marshal_as<const char *>(to_marshal)
#include <msclr/marshal.h>
#include <msclr/marshal_cppstd.h>
#include <msclr/marshal_atl.h>
using namespace msclr::interop;
using namespace System::Runtime::InteropServices;

Process::Start(marshal_as<String^>(str));

But in this case, you can just use a String^ instead:

String^ str = L"path to file";
Process::Start(str);

When you are working with C++/CLI, you either need to marshal back and forth or use the right data type from the start for how you want to use it.

MSDN: Overview of Marshaling in C++

Answer 2

Process::Start expects a String^ and you are attempting to pass it a std::string. It does not have a variadric version, and does not know what a std::string is. To pass the value from a std::string, you must marshal it:

std::string str("Some Path");
Process::Start(marshal_as<String^>(str));