how to convert String^ to char*

Question

Hi, I am writing a piece of code to open a file and retrieves its name:

OpenFileDialog^ openFileDialog1 = gcnew OpenFileDialog;
if ( openFileDialog1-> ShowDialog() == System::Windows:: Forms:: DialogResult:: OK )
        System:: String^ fileName = openFileDialog1->FileName;

but later I realized that the String^ fileName can't be used as char* directly, the compiler says:
Cannot convert a managed type to an unmanaged type

Does anyone know how I can do the conversion?

Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

Look in the MSDN library index for PtrToStringChars().  Marshal.StringToHGlobalAnsi() works too.

Answer 2

Thanks a lot! it worked!