Why does the compiler choose bool over string for implicit typecast of L“”?

Question

Having recently introduced an overload of a method the application started to fail. Finally tracking it down, the new method is being called where I did not expect it to be.

Answer 1

L"" is a pointer to a wide character string. The compiler believes that the conversion to a bool takes precedence over a conversion to a std::wstring.

To fix the problem, introduce a new setValue:

void setValue(std::wstring const& name, const wchar_t * value);