Q59734: BASIC 7.00 Can Write Whole Array (in TYPE) to Disk at Once

Article: Q59734
Product(s): See article
Version(s): 7.00 7.10 | 7.00 7.10
Operating System(s): MS-DOS | OS/2
Keyword(s): ENDUSER | | mspl13_basic
Last Modified: 3-AUG-1990

Microsoft BASIC Professional Development System (PDS) versions 7.00
and 7.10 introduce support for static arrays in user-defined TYPE
definitions. This means that you can write an entire array (in a user
TYPE record) to a disk file at once. The code example below writes an
entire array to a RANDOM or BINARY file using a single PUT# statement.

Note that you cannot output arrays all at once (in one PRINT# or
WRITE# statement) to files opened with sequential access (OPEN FOR
OUTPUT). With sequential access (OPEN FOR OUTPUT or INPUT), you must
output or input just one array element at a time.

You must use RANDOM or BINARY access to write a static
nonvariable-length string array to a file all at once (as shown in the
examples below).

Note that in Microsoft QuickBASIC versions 4.00, 4.00b, and 4.50 for
MS-DOS, in Microsoft BASIC Compiler versions 6.00 and 6.00b for MS-DOS
and MS OS/2, and in Microsoft BASIC PDS versions 7.00 and 7.10 for
MS-DOS and MS OS/2, you can directly write whole records (variables)
of a given user-defined TYPE to disk as the third argument of the PUT#
statement. Each and every element of the user-defined TYPE record is
automatically copied to the file. If the data is numeric and you
output to a file OPENed with RANDOM or BINARY access, the data is
automatically stored in numeric format (without requiring a lengthy
FIELD statement or numeric-to-string conversion functions such as
MKS$, MKD$, MKI$, or MKL$).

Since an array can be an element of a record of user-defined TYPE in
BASIC 7.00 and 7.10 (but not in earlier versions), you can write a
whole array at once into a disk file, as shown below.

Code Example
------------

The following example, compiled in BASIC PDS 7.00 or 7.10, shows how
to write a whole array to disk at once, using just one PUT# statement:

TYPE rec1
  array1(20) AS INTEGER
END TYPE
DIM var1 AS rec1, var2 AS rec1  'DIMension var1 & var2 with TYPE rec1
FOR i = 1 TO 20      ' Fill each element of the array:
  var1.array1(i) = i
NEXT

' The following OPEN statements may OPEN FOR either RANDOM or BINARY:
OPEN "test.dat" FOR RANDOM AS #1
PUT #1, , var1       ' Write whole array to disk all at once.
CLOSE

OPEN "test.dat" FOR RANDOM AS #1
GET #1, , var2      ' Reads array all at once into var2.
FOR i = 1 TO 20     ' Print the contents of the array var2.array1:
  PRINT var2.array1(i);
NEXT
CLOSE

THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1986-2002.