system() problem

Hello All;

I am almost done...

Below is my code. notice how I build toDo. I need this built string to be executed by system(). I will not compile. Here is the code and error:

Code:

// test-app.cpp : Defines the entry point for the console application.
//

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <ctime>
#include "string.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
	//system("c:\progra~1\PostgreSQL\8.1\bin\pg_dump focus > \\10.1.65.30\smbtes\backup.backup");
	string filename;
	char dateStr[9];
	string toDo;
	//_strdate(dateStr);
	_strdate_s(dateStr);
	

	filename = "Backup-";
	filename = filename + dateStr;
	filename = filename + ".backup";
	toDo = "pg_dump -h localhost -U swanley007 focus > \\\\10.1.2.16\\smbtest\\";
	toDo = toDo + filename;
    //cout << filename << endl;
	//cout << toDo << endl;


	int i;
	puts ("Trying to execute command PG_DUMP");
	i= system (toDo);
	//i= system ("pg_dump -h localhost -U swanley007 focus > \\\\10.1.65.30\\smbtest\\backup.backup");
	//i = system ("pg_dump focus > \\10.1.65.30\smbtest\backup.backup");
	system ("pause"); 
	return 0;


}

c:\documents and settings\stan swank ii\my documents\visual studio 2005\projects\test-app\test-app\test-app.cpp(32) : error C2664: 'system' : cannot convert parameter 1 from 'std::string' to 'const char *'
No user-defined-conversion operator available that can perform this conversion, or the operator cannot be called
Build log was saved at



Thanks for any help

>> i= system (toDo);

Does system return something?

system ( toDo.cstr() );

Yes, it returns the exit code of the called command.

use toDo.c_str() instead of toDo.

> Yes, it returns the exit code of the called command.
But what is the called command?

Many DOS/Windows implementations of system() always return 0, because what actually gets run when you do
system( "foo.exe" );
is
cmd /c foo.exe
and what you get back is the exit status of cmd.exe, not the exit status of foo.exe.

Try it with a simple sub-program which is just

Code:

int main ( ) { return 1; }

And see what result gets assigned when you invoke it with system().

If you want more detailed information, then try the FAQ
http://faq.cprogramming.com/cgi-bin/...&id=1043284392