Converting Unicodestring to Char[] - char

Question

I've got a form with a Listbox which contains lines of four words.
When I click on one line, these words should be seen in four different textboxes.
So far, I've got everything working, yet I have a problem with chars converting.
The string from the listbox is a UnicodeString but the strtok uses a char[].
The compiler tells me it "Cannot Convert UnicodeString to Char[]". This is the code I am using for this:
{
int a;
UnicodeString b;
char * pch;
int c;
a=DatabaseList->ItemIndex; //databaselist is the listbox
b=DatabaseList->Items->Strings[a];
char str[] = b; //This is the part that fails, telling its unicode and not char[].
pch = strtok (str," ");
c=1;
while (pch!=NULL)
{
if (c==1)
{
ServerAddress->Text=pch;
} else if (c==2)
{
DatabaseName->Text=pch;
} else if (c==3)
{
Username->Text=pch;
} else if (c==4)
{
Password->Text=pch;
}
pch = strtok (NULL, " ");
c=c+1;
}
}
I know my code doesn't look nice, pretty bad actually. I'm just learning some programming in C++.
How can I convert this?

Answer 1

strtok actually modifies your char array, so you will need to construct an array of characters you are allowed to modify. Referencing directly into the UnicodeString string will not work.
// first convert to AnsiString instead of Unicode.
AnsiString ansiB(b);
// allocate enough memory for your char array (and the null terminator)
char* str = new char[ansiB.Length()+1];
// copy the contents of the AnsiString into your char array
strcpy(str, ansiB.c_str());
// the rest of your code goes here
// remember to delete your char array when done
delete[] str;

Answer 2

This works for me and saves me converting to AnsiString
// Using a static buffer
#define MAX_SIZE 256
UnicodeString ustring = "Convert me";
char mbstring[MAX_SIZE];
wcstombs(mbstring,ustring.c_str(),MAX_SIZE);
// Using dynamic buffer
char *dmbstring;
dmbstring = new char[ustring.Length() + 1];
wcstombs(dmbstring,ustring.c_str(),ustring.Length() + 1);
// use dmbstring
delete dmbstring;