Re: Sort of a Data Structure Array... Idea

[Barbara Morris <bmorris@xxxxxxxxxx>]

CarollaT@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> 
> I have a situation where I am using a data structure array, like this:
> 
>      D DispItems       DS                  Qualified Dim(5000)
>      D  Insurance                     5S 0 Inz(0)
>      D  Family                        9P 0 Inz(0)
>      D  Member                        2S 0 Inz(0)
>      D  Claim                         4P 0 Inz(0)
>      D  Assigned                       D   Inz(*Loval)
> ...
> Set up a simple array, like this:
> 
>      D DispArray       S             25A   Dim(5000) DESCEND
> 
> Then, remove the 'Dim(5000)' from the data structure, and use it like a
> model to populate as I need to assign/retrieve data elements out of the
> array.  Basically, as I am stepping through the array, I EVAL the selected
> array element into the data structure 'model', then address each field of
> the data structure.  Once updated, I EVAL the data structure back into the
> array element.
> 
> So SORTA works on the DispArray array now.  In your opinion, is this a good
> idea?  Is this more or less efficient than using qsort?
> 

Tony, the possible problem with this approach is that your numeric data
won't be sorted by its natural order because it would be sorted by its
hex value, and the sign is at the end. If the first subfield had values
-9, -8, -7, 7, 8, 9 the elements would be sorted to -7, 7, -8, 8, -9,
9.  A similar problem can happen with dates if they aren't in *ISO
format.