Test value of LPTSTR

I have two strings I want to compare. I was following the named piper server/client example of this page: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365592%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

Anyhow, in my "GetAnswerToRequest" I define a string like so

LPTSTR option = TEXT("THIS IS A TEST");

and then I try to compare it to the pchRequest parameter, which is the same string, that the client has sent. I can't find a working comparison that resolves true.

When I put both values in the debugger, I see some differences. For option, I believe it is using single byte characters:

-       option,15   
        [0x00000000]    0x0054  unsigned short
        [0x00000001]    0x0048  unsigned short
        [0x00000002]    0x0049  unsigned short
        [0x00000003]    0x0053  unsigned short
        [0x00000004]    0x0020  unsigned short
        [0x00000005]    0x0049  unsigned short
        [0x00000006]    0x0053  unsigned short
        [0x00000007]    0x0020  unsigned short
        [0x00000008]    0x0041  unsigned short
        [0x00000009]    0x0020  unsigned short
        [0x0000000a]    0x0054  unsigned short
        [0x0000000b]    0x0045  unsigned short
        [0x0000000c]    0x0053  unsigned short
        [0x0000000d]    0x0054  unsigned short
        [0x0000000e]    0x0000  unsigned short

and for the pchRequest value, it looks like it using double byte characters:

-       pchRequest,15   
        [0x00000000]    0x4854  unsigned short
        [0x00000001]    0x5349  unsigned short
        [0x00000002]    0x4920  unsigned short
        [0x00000003]    0x2053  unsigned short
        [0x00000004]    0x2041  unsigned short
        [0x00000005]    0x4554  unsigned short
        [0x00000006]    0x5453  unsigned short
        [0x00000007]    0x5a00  unsigned short
        [0x00000008]    0x48c0  unsigned short
        [0x00000009]    0x18cf  unsigned short
        [0x0000000a]    0x0000  unsigned short

So..most of the hex values here match, but there are two per character in pchRequest, and one in my option variable. I think this is what makes lstrcmp() fail.

Also, it does seem like the pchRequest might have some extra characters in it, but I can't tell where they are coming from. Any ideas on how to compare these two strings, that as far as I know should be identical?

THanks!

You presumably have a Unicode build, which means LPTSTR is defining a wide string. However you need to compare against an ANSI string.

To do this, just drop the TEXT() macro, and use char* instead. For example,

char* option = "THIS IS A TEST";

Then use lstrcmpA() to invoke the ANSI version of lstrcmp explicitly.