I'm using VB5.

I'm trying to pass binary data to the waveOutPrepareHeader function. This
function takes a WAVEHDR structure which contains an element which is a
pointer to a block of memory.

I have this block of memory set up as a variable-length string member of
the structure. The VB manual says that this will make a pointer to the
string be passed in the structure. Exactly what I want.

Well, that's what happens, except that VB takes it upon itself to convert
this string from Unicode to ASCII when it is passed to the API, and since
most of the byte-pairs are > 255, I wind up passing the string
"??????????????????????..." since VB converts these byte-pairs to question
marks.

Okay, so I thought "I'll stick a zero between every pair." Now I get the
correct translation, but unfortunately VB sticks the translation in the
*second half* of the passed string, but *sends something else in the first
half of the string.* The string is as long as the unicode string was, but
twice as long as it should be using ASCII.

In other words, I try to pass:

 65 0 66 0 67 0

but what is actually passed is:

 <> <> <> 65 66 67

where <> <> <> is part of the original string I think. (But I'm not sure. I
suspect that it is the second half of the original string, the 0 67 0,
because it sounds like it (since I am playing this data through my
speakers.)) But the pointer to this string VB *actually* passes doesn't
point to the 65 66 67, it points to the whole <> <> <> 65 66 67!!! VB is
not passing the correct pointer to the un-unicoded string. The correct data
is always in exactly the second half of the string that is actually passed.

Unfortunately I can't send a byte array because the structure member needs
to be a pointer, and I can't pass a reference to something as a structure
member, although in can be done with regular parameters.

Has anyone experienced this before; does anyone have a workaround for it?
It seems to be a bug. Am I just simply screwed? I've racked my brain and
can't seem to make it work in any way at all. How can I get VB to send the
correct string?

Michael Baldwin