| Navigation: Language Reference > 5 - Declaration Attributes > Variable and Entity Attributes >====== DIM (set array dimensions) ====== |    |
DIM(dimension,…,dimension)
| DIM | Declares a variable as an array. |
| dimension | A positive numeric constant which specifies the number of elements in this dimension of the array. |
The DIM attribute declares a variable as an array. The variable is repeated the number of times specified by the dimension parameters. Multi-dimensional arrays may be thought of as nested. Each dimension in the array has a corresponding subscript. Therefore, referencing a variable in a three dimensional array requires three subscripts. There is no limit to the number of dimensions, and the total size of an array is unlimited. Zero or negative array elements are invalid.
Subscripts identify which element of the array is being referenced. A subscript list contains a subscript for each dimension of the array. Each subscript is separated by a comma and the entire list is enclosed in brackets ([ ]). A subscript may be a numeric constant, expression, or function. The entire array may be referenced by the label of the array without a subscript list.
A GROUP structure array is a special case. Each level of nesting adds subscripts to the GROUP. Data declared within the GROUP is referenced using standard Field Qualification syntax with each subscript specified at the GROUP level at which it is dimensioned.
In general, there is a limit to size of data objects declared in global, module or local scope: 4MB. The compiler can report different errors depending from the type of data object exceeding this limit. Particularly, arrays with variable dimensions may be of a slightly greater size than 4MB.
The CLASS declaration supports the DIM attribute. It provides for creating arrays of objects of any type (for a CLASS declared without the TYPE attribute).
Example:
Scr GROUP !Characters on a DOS text-mode screen
Row GROUP,DIM(25) !Twenty-five rows
Pos GROUP,DIM(80) !Two thousand positions
Attr BYTE !Attribute byte
Char BYTE !Character byte
END !Terminate the group structures
END
END
! In the group above:
! Scr is a 4,000 byte GROUP
! Scr.Row is a 4,000 byte GROUP
! Scr.Row[1] is a 160 byte GROUP
! Scr.Row[1].Pos is a 160 byte GROUP
! Scr.Row[1].Pos[1] is a 2 byte GROUP
! Scr.Row[1].Pos[1].Attr is a single BYTE
! Scr.Row[1].Pos[1].Char is a single BYTE
Month STRING(10),DIM(12) !Dimension the month to 12
CODE
CLEAR(Month) !Assign blanks to the entire array
Month[1] = 'January' !Load the months into the array
Month[2] = 'February'
Month[3] = 'March'
See Also: