BUG: LoadString Returns Wrong Number of Chars for DBCS Strings

• Microsoft Win32 Application Programming Interface (API) included with Microsoft Windows 95
• Microsoft Win32 Software Development Kit (SDK) version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

Under the Japanese version of Windows 95, the LoadString API returns an incorrect number of single-byte characters when loading a string that meets both of these conditions:

• The string contains at least one DBCS character.
• The string resource contains more than cchBuffer bytes.

CAUSE

The LoadString API returns the number of single-byte characters into the buffer. However, when it loads a DBCS string that is longer than the given maximum size, LoadString returns an incorrect value. LoadString loads cchBuffer characters and returns the length in bytes. LoadString should load cchBuffer bytes, not characters. The return value will be equal to or greater than cchBuffer. The resulting string copied into the buffer is not properly null terminated.

In Windows NT (Unicode), the API returns the number of characters. In Windows 95 (ANSI version), the API returns the number of bytes. Likewise, the cchBuffer parameter is characters for Windows NT and bytes for Windows 95.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.