[string] C++/CLI Converting from System::String^ to std::string

C# uses the UTF16 format for its strings.
So, besides just converting the types, you should also be conscious about the string's actual format.

When compiling for Multi-byte Character set Visual Studio and the Win API assumes UTF8 (Actually windows encoding which is Windows-28591 ).
When compiling for Unicode Character set Visual studio and the Win API assume UTF16.

So, you must convert the string from UTF16 to UTF8 format as well, and not just convert to std::string.
This will become necessary when working with multi-character formats like some non-latin languages.

The idea is to decide that std::wstring always represents UTF16.
And std::string always represents UTF8.

This isn't enforced by the compiler, it's more of a good policy to have.

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <string>
#include <codecvt>
#include <msclr\marshal_cppstd.h>

using namespace System;

int main(array<System::String ^> ^args)
{
    System::String^ managedString = "test";

    msclr::interop::marshal_context context;

    //Actual format is UTF16, so represent as wstring
    std::wstring utf16NativeString = context.marshal_as<std::wstring>(managedString); 

    //C++11 format converter
    std::wstring_convert<std::codecvt_utf8_utf16<wchar_t>> convert;

    //convert to UTF8 and std::string
    std::string utf8NativeString = convert.to_bytes(utf16NativeString);

    return 0;
}

Or have it in a more compact syntax:

int main(array<System::String ^> ^args)
{
    System::String^ managedString = "test";

    msclr::interop::marshal_context context;
    std::wstring_convert<std::codecvt_utf8_utf16<wchar_t>> convert;

    std::string utf8NativeString = convert.to_bytes(context.marshal_as<std::wstring>(managedString));

    return 0;
}