C++17 introduced structured binding, which lets you assign an expression to multiple variables.

auto [a,b] = std::pair(1, "hello");
// int a = 1
// char const* b = "hello"

However, this is for creating new variables to hold the result. If you want to assign the result to existing variables, then you can use the old standby std::tie.

int a;
char const* b;
std::tie(a, b) = std::pair(1, "hello");

This comes in handy in C++/WinRT if you have a winrt::com_array<T> and you need to return it in its ABI form of a uint32_t coupled with a T*.

winrt::com_array<int32_t> CalculateResult();

HRESULT GetInt32Array(uint32_t* size, int32_t** value) try
{
  *size = 0;
  *value = nullptr;
  std::tie(*size, *value) = winrt::detach_abi(CalculateResult());
  return S_OK;
}
catch (...) { return winrt::to_hresult(); }

When applied to a com_array, the detach_abi function returns a std::pair representing the size of the conformant array and a pointer to the start of the array. This is a form ready to be assigned to the tie of the two output parameters.

The type of the pointer part of the return value of detach_abi(com_array<T> a) is a pointer to the C++/WinRT ABI representation of T. Here are some examples:

• If you have a com_array of a scalar type, then you will get a pointer to a conformant array of that scalar type.
• If you have a com_array of a string type, then you will get a pointer to a conformant array of void*.
• If you have a com_array of a reference type, then you will get a pointer to a conformant array of mystery pointers.

In the last case, you should just treat the resulting pointer as if it were a void**.

HRESULT GetNames(uint32_t* size, HSTRING** value) try
{
  *size = 0;
  *value = nullptr;
  std::tie(*size, reinterpret_cast<void*&>(*value)) =
    winrt::detach_abi(CalculateNames());
  return S_OK;
}
catch (...) { return winrt::to_hresult(); }
HRESULT GetSomethingArray(uint32_t* size, ISomething*** value) try
{
  *size = 0;
  *value = nullptr;
  std::tie(*size, reinterpret_cast<void*&>(*value)) =
    winrt::detach_abi(CalculateSomethings());
  return S_OK;
}
catch (...) { return winrt::to_hresult(); }

Note that in both cases we reinterpret-cast the output pointer to just void*. Any pointer type can be assigned to void*, so we just use that to soak up the C++/WinRT ABI pointer, without needing to know what it actually is.¹

¹ The C++/WinRT ABI requires that all data pointers have the same size and representation, so this sort of type pun is legal from an ABI point of view.