Description
variant 
variant_cast ( variant variant, int type )
     This function makes a copy of variant and then
     performs a variant cast operation to force the copy to have the type
     given by type.  type should
     be one of the VT_XXX constants.
    
     This function wraps VariantChangeType() in the COM library; consult MSDN
     for more information.
    
     See also variant_set_type().