Help me understanding MSDN Functions please

[Tommy1998]

hello , im c++ programmer but , im in troubles , whenever i open MSDN for help there is everything but , i have troubles how to work with the stuff i found there so : for example there is an function :

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa364963%28v=vs.85%29.aspx


i have no clue what is this :

_In_ LPCTSTR lpFileName,
_In_ DWORD nBufferLength,
_Out_ LPTSTR lpBuffer,
_Out_ LPTSTR *lpFilePart

okay lets say file name i understand so it mean i can do smth like

const char * filename = "text.txt";
okay so for now func args looks like

GetFullPathName((LPCTSTR)filename,//All other stuff here)

what is buffer etc, there are many more functions i have no clue how to fill with arguments and variables please , i think that if i understand this describtion i can code everything , and also i understand that IN and IN is propably the thing that func requieres to return the OUT ones ... am i right? please teach me :D

[MikeyBoy]

Um... aren't these arguments all described on that page you linked to?

[Tommy1998]

Mikey yes exactly i just rewrote them here but can you help me ?

[MikeyBoy]

That page tells you that lpBuffer is a buffer that you supply, into which the function will write the string for the drive and path, and that the string will be null-terminated.

That page tells you that nBufferLength is the length of the buffer that you supply.

That page tells you that lpFilePart is a pointer that is set by the function, that will point to the position in lpBuffer where the start of the filename is.

The Remarks section of that page goes into more detail about how the function works. There are also plenty of examples on that page that show you how to use the function.

If there are specific bits of the page you don't understand, then you'll need to be more specific in telling us what those bits are, so that we can help explain them.