TCHAR

The TCHAR data type is a Win32 character string that can be used to describe ANSI, DBCS, or Unicode strings. For ANSI and DBCS platforms, TCHAR is defined as follows:

typedef char          TCHAR;  
  

For Unicode platforms, TCHAR is defined as synonymous with the WCHAR type.

Remarks

MAPI clients can use the TCHAR data type to represent a string of either the WCHAR or char type. Be sure to define the symbolic constant UNICODE and limit the platform where necessary. MAPI will interpret the platform information and internally translate TCHAR to the appropriate string. The MAPI property type, PT_TSTRING, works the same way as the TCHAR data type. When the platform supports Unicode, properties of type PT_TSTRING are assigned the type PT_UNICODE at compile time. When the platform does not support Unicode, these properties are assigned the type PT_STRING8.

For more information on this functionality, see Character Sets and List of Property Types.