Microsoft Comm Control

Hello Gurus:

Appreciate your help on Microsoft Comm Control - ActiveX 6.0. Example given is:
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Private Sub Form_KeyPress (KeyAscii As Integer)
Dim Buffer as Variant

' Set and open port
MSComm1.CommPort = 1
MSComm1.PortOpen = True

Buffer = Chr$(KeyAscii)
MSComm1.Output = Buffer
End Sub
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I understand that this is Visual Basic and have "Translated" all of it into what I need in Visual C++ except the last line in the above example. What is the C++ equivalent to "Dim buffer as Variant"? What argument do I need on SetOutput() to make the control work? (I am sending an ASCII string out a serial port)

Thanks!