How to get the error message from the error code returned by GetLastError()?

Question

After a Windows API call, how can I get the last error message in a textual form?

GetLastError() returns an integer value, not a text message.

Answer 1

//Returns the last Win32 error, in string format. Returns an empty string if there is no error.
std::string GetLastErrorAsString()
{
    //Get the error message, if any.
    DWORD errorMessageID = ::GetLastError();
    if(errorMessageID == 0)
        return std::string(); //No error message has been recorded

    LPSTR messageBuffer = nullptr;
    size_t size = FormatMessageA(FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER | FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM | FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS,
                                 NULL, errorMessageID, MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT), (LPSTR)&messageBuffer, 0, NULL);

    std::string message(messageBuffer, size);

    //Free the buffer.
    LocalFree(messageBuffer);

    return message;
}