How to convert a handle string to a std::string - c++-cli

Question

I am trying to convert a handle string to a normal string. I though the method I was using was working, but when I look in the debugger it appears that half of my string has been chopped off on the line that creates the chars variable. Any idea why and what the proper way to convert a handle string to a normal string woudl be?
std::string convert(String^ s) {
const char* chars = (const char*)(System::Runtime::InteropServices::Marshal::
StringToHGlobalAnsi(s)).ToPointer();
string myNewString = std::string(chars);
return myNewString;
}

Answer 1

It's probably the debugger that's cutting off the display of the string. You didn't mention how long a string you're using, but the debugger can't display infinite length, so it has to cut it off at some point.
To verify this, try printing myNewString to the console, or to the debugger via Debug::WriteLine or OutputDebugString.
However, there is a significant issue in your code: After allocating memory with StringToHGlobalAnsi, you must free it using FreeHGlobal.
If you want to continue using StringToHGlobalAnsi, I'd fix it up like this:
std::string convert(String^ s) {
IntPtr ptr = Marshal::StringToHGlobalAnsi(s);
string myNewString = std::string((const char*)ptr.ToPointer());
Marshal::FreeHGlobal(ptr);
return myNewString;
}
However, it's probably easier to use the marshal_as methods. This will take care of everything for you.
std::string output = marshal_as<std::string>(managedString);