Problems with array insert

[John Petty]

When I pass an array to ARRAY INSERT with a type pointer the compiler (PBDLL6) doesn't recognise that is actually an array. The following short program demonstrates

TYPE testa
     a(999) AS BYTE
END TYPE
GLOBAL ta() AS testa
GLOBAL tp AS testa PTR
SUB testinsert ()
   REDIM ta(999)
   tp = VARPTR(ta(2))
   ARRAY INSERT @tp.a(100) FOR 100 ,0
END SUB

The compiler gives error 423 array variable expected

If I remove the pointer and pass the array directly as in the next example

TYPE testa
     a(999) AS BYTE
END TYPE
GLOBAL ta() AS testa
SUB testinsert ()
   REDIM ta(999)
   ARRAY INSERT ta(2).a(100) FOR 100 ,0
END SUB

the compiler gives error 477 syntax error
If I make it even simpler

TYPE testa
     a(999) AS BYTE
END TYPE
GLOBAL ta AS testa
SUB testinsert ()
   ARRAY INSERT ta.a(100) FOR 100 ,0
END SUB

the compiler again gives error 423

I have large arrays of complex UDT's which contain large arrays of unions and was hoping I could insert and delete from them quickly without resorting to assemler instructions.
Any suggestions?

------------------

[Lance Edmonds]

the array statement requires a "normal" array, not an array within a udt (a udt member array)

in general, the solution is to use dim..at to "overlay" a conventional array over the udt member array.

see http://www.powerbasic.com/support/pb...ad.php?t=15034 for a similar discussion/example.



------------------
lance
powerbasic support
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</a>

[John Petty]

Thanks Lance I had forgotten that one.
Can I impose on your skills a little further?
I realise the pointers in PB are very powerful, do you think the following code would get the correct overlay address? Sorry if it seems lazy of me but the project is many thousands of lines (and thus hard to test) and that area will probably have to be optimised into assembler in the final version.

UNION testu
      b(999) AS BYTE
      l(249) AS LONG
END UNION
TYPE testa
     s AS STRING * 20
     u AS testu
END TYPE
GLOBAL ta() AS testa
globaltp AS testa PTR
SUB testarray ()
     REDIM ta(9999)
     tp = VARPTR(ta(167)
     DIM TempByteArray(999) AS BYTE AT VARPTR(@tp.u.b(0))
END SUB

------------------

[Michael Mattias]

You may be doing this the hard way.

Take a look at using pointer offsets, as in:

   X = @p[offsetvalue]

I haven't looked at your problem in depth, but I think this might make your code easier to read and maintain.

Using this method, you never need a BYTE array; you just use either a BYTE PTR or STRING PTR * 1.


MCM