{"id":2402,"date":"2023-11-17T05:58:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-17T05:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/i.refvalue.org\/?p=2402"},"modified":"2025-12-01T09:32:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T01:32:11","slug":"simple-encoding-conversion-via-__bstr_t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i.refvalue.org\/index.php\/2023\/11\/17\/simple-encoding-conversion-via-__bstr_t\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows String Representations and Simple Conversions via __bstr_t"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Windows NT kernel (from WinNT to Windows 11) internally uses UTF-16 strings by default, including Windows Drivers<\/a>, Native Applications<\/a> and COM clients and servers, etc. All other common encodings like UTF-8, GBK, GB18030, BIG-5 should always be converted to UTF-16 before invocations to the kernel functions within ntdll.dll<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a compatible layer upon the kernel layer, which is called Win32 API, a huge heritage left by the Win9X series. Win32 API is a family of functions for programmers to communicate with the operating system and hardware conveniently. Microsoft keeps this compatibility on the Windows NT Kernel so that most of the Win32 functions are still remaining unchanged and ABI-compatible. For example the CreateFile<\/code> function does exist from Windows 98 to Windows 11. That is unbelievable because a Linux distribution may break any API in a minor update!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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