Translating to C++ from Visual Basic

Visual Basic handles pointers implicitly. In C++, your application is responsible for performing any necessary pointer arithmetic.

By default, Visual Basic passes parameters by reference (as pointers). Parameters that are meant to be passed by value only are specified by the keyword ByVal. For example, a ByVal Integer parameter in Visual Basic is equivalent to an short parameter in C++, whereas a ByRef Integer parameter in Visual Basic is equivalent to an short* parameter.

A parameter that is declared As String in Visual Basic is declared as a pointer to a BSTR in C++. Setting a string pointer to NULL in C++ is equivalent to setting the string to the vbNullString constant in Visual Basic. Passing a zero-length string ("") to a function designed to receive NULL does not work, as this passes a pointer to a zero-length string instead of a zero pointer.

C++ and Visual Basic differ slightly in how they represent properties. In C++, properties are represented as a set of accessor functions, one that sets the property value and one that retrieves the property value. In Visual Basic, properties are represented as a single item that can be used to retrieve or set the property value.