using VARIANT or converting to CString

[da_cobra]

I'v been searching the whole Internet for the following problem :

how to convert a CString to a Variant

my problem :
I'm working on an ADO database and I want to use the filter of the _recordsetPtr
like this :

_RecordsetPtr m_pRS ;
CString strFilter = "Name LIKE 'a*'" ;

m_pRS.Filter = strFilter ;

only problem : the Filter only takes a variant

or maybe can someone explain to me how I must use the VARIANT type?
I already searched MSDN and the web, but nowhere any good explanation on VARIANT

TIA