TYPE MyType txt AS STRING PTR END TYPE ' Set some text to the string member: [email protected] = "Some text" ' Read the member's contents: TheString$ = [email protected]
LOCAL TmpStr AS STRING REDIM Table(255) TmpStr = "TJGC" Table(0).ID = VARPTR(TmpStr) MSGBOX Table(0)[email protected]
Pointers are very powerful, but they are not the easiest thing to comprehend at first glance. I'd suggest using standard string variables and UDT's before employing the use of a pointer. 
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' For this code to be useful, the string array must be GLOBAL so that the
' UDT of pointers can reference the data at all times.
#COMPILE EXE
'#DIM ALL
TYPE Product
ID AS STRING PTR
Catagory AS STRING PTR
PName AS STRING PTR
Price AS STRING PTR
ShipCost AS STRING PTR
PImage AS STRING PTR
Description AS STRING PTR
END TYPE
GLOBAL Table() AS Product
GLOBAL Tmp() AS STRING
FUNCTION PBMAIN() AS LONG
DIM Table(255) AS GLOBAL Product
CALL LoadData()
' now reference the targets of the pointers in the UDT
MSGBOX "The ID of the 1st item is " & Table(1)[email protected]
' Change the content of the 3rd' items description:
Table(3)[email protected] = "New Description"
END FUNCTION
SUB LoadData()
DIM Tmp() AS GLOBAL STRING
DIM TmpStr AS STRING
DIM StrData AS STRING
DIM X AS LONG ' use longs instead of integer for efficiency
DIM A AS LONG
' CALL GetRealPath()
OPEN gCommandLine$ & "\data.file" FOR INPUT AS #1
' assuming parse loops works I did not test it
DO WHILE NOT EOF(1)
LINE INPUT #1, TmpStr
StrData = StrData & TmpStr
LOOP
CLOSE #1
' store the individual strings in the array
REDIM Tmp(PARSECOUNT(StrData, ANY "|"))
FOR X = 1 TO PARSECOUNT(StrData, ANY "|")
Tmp(X) = PARSE$(StrData, ANY "|", X)
NEXT X
TmpStr = "" ' release the memory
StrData = ""
' Create a UDT of pointers to the string array subscripts
A = 0
FOR X = 1 TO UBOUND(Tmp(1)) - 1 STEP 13
Table(A).ID = VARPTR(Tmp(X))
Table(A).Catagory = VARPTR(Tmp(X + 2))
Table(A).Price = VARPTR(Tmp(X + 3))
Table(A).PName = VARPTR(Tmp(X + 4))
Table(A).PImage = VARPTR(Tmp(X + 5))
Table(A).Description = VARPTR(Tmp(X + 6))
Table(A).ShipCost = VARPTR(Tmp(X + 7))
INCR A
NEXT X
END SUB
OPEN gCommandLine$ & "\data.file" FOR BINARY AS #1 StrData = SPACE$(LOF(1)) GET #1,, StrData CLOSE #1 StrData = REMOVE$(StrData , CHR$(13,10))
LOCAL p AS LONG p = PARSECOUNT(StrData, ANY "|") REDIM Tmp(p) FOR X = 1 TO p Tmp(X) = PARSE$(StrData, ANY "|", X) NEXT X
TYPE Product ID AS LONG Catagory AS STRING PTR PName AS STRING PTR Price AS STRING PTR ShipCost AS STRING PTR PImage AS STRING PTR Description AS STRING PTR END TYPE A = 0 FOR X = 0 TO UBOUND(Tmp) -13 STEP 13 Table(A).ID = A Table(A).Catagory = VARPTR(Tmp(X + 2)) 'None of these compile. Table(A).Price = VARPTR(Tmp(X + 3)) Table(A).PName = VARPTR(Tmp(X + 4)) Table(A).PImage = VARPTR(Tmp(X + 5)) Table(A).Description = VARPTR(Tmp(X + 6)) Table(A).ShipCost = VARPTR(Tmp(X + 7)) INCR A NEXT X
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