C++: how to handle LPWSTR as output in Win32 applications

Question

I have used mciSendStringW() in my programs to play audios

One of the parameter in this function takes LPWSTR as an output. I know it is a pointer to something string-like, wide-character.

Here is my try but it throws build error:

   LPWSTR returnedString;  
     
   mciSendStringW(..., &returnedString, 1024, ...);  

Note that the third parameter takes a something number, the string length, this means returnedString must be an array-like.

so I have tried this:

   wchar_t returnedString[1024];  

But still didnt work. It simply throws error.

Answer 1

   WCHAR wszCommand[]{ L"insert command here" };  
   WCHAR wszBuffer[1024]{};  
   LPWSTR pwszBuffer = static_cast<LPWSTR>(HeapAlloc(GetProcessHeap(), 0, 1024 * sizeof(WCHAR)));  
   	  
   mciSendStringW(wszCommand, wszBuffer, ARRAYSIZE(wszBuffer), hwnd);  
   mciSendStringW(wszCommand, pwszBuffer, 1024, hwnd);  

Its just a buffer. Consider the two different ways to pass the pointer to the buffer as shown above.