Convert all instances of "\" to "\\" in System::String^ and convert to char* - string

Question

I have an openFileDialog that returns a filename. I want to save that filename as a char* so that I can open it later using fstream. To do this I'll need to replace all instances of \ with \\ in the string.
My tactic for doing this is to split the System::String^ on every instance of \, and then join all the elements of the resulting System::String^ array back together with \\ separating them.
This is the function that I have written, but it seems to return a blank string even when I pass a String^ that contains \.
private: const char* getCharPointer(String^ name){
array<String^>^ words;
String^ delimStr = "\\";
array<Char>^ delimiter = delimStr->ToCharArray( );
String^ replaceDelim = "\\\\";
words = name->Split(delimiter);
String^ tidiedName = String::Join( replaceDelim, words );
label1->Text = tidiedName;
std::string newname=msclr::interop::marshal_as< std::string >( tidiedName);
const char* name_cstr = newname.c_str();
return name_cstr;
}
I am a newcomer to Visual C++ and Windows in general so I would appreciate any pointers on this. It doesn't help that IntelliSense doesn't seem to work with Visual Studio 2010.

Answer 1

Intellisense is not provided in VC++ and It seems it will never be added into VC++.
Anyway, you can use, instead of Join, Replace.
You can see here the reference.
Look at this simple program [ I'm using a Windows Form Application and this code is under a button event handler].
String^ a = "Hello\\World";
String^ b = a->Replace("\\", "\\\\"); //Replace \ with \\
MessageBox::Show(a + " -> " + b);
if you run it, you will get this output.
Hello\World -> Hello\\World
I hope this one is what you need for your code!