Re: Using pointers to manage like arrays?

[Loyd Goodbar <loyd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Hans. As I thought more about it, I did not use pointers at all. In
my original note, I stated I could create a "sort" column, which would
receive a copy of the data I want sorted and output - and this is exactly
what I did. Along with judicious use of %subarr, I was able to greatly
reduce the codebase and have only one array for operations.

With a sortvalue field, I performed the equivalent of:
sortvalue = topqty; // copy item quantity array to sortvalue.
sorta sortvalue;
ShowTopN(start:end:10); // show top 10 by quantity
sortvalue = topcost; // extended cost
sorta sortvalue;
ShowTopN(start:end:10); // show top 10 by extended cost
...

And this is exactly what I hoped to accomplish. The ShowTopN procedure, and
a graphing routine that runs behind it, only reference the sortvalue()
array.

One question though: can I do a LIKEDS on this structure?

     d                 ds
     d toplist                       90    dim(1000) descend
     d  topdept                            inz like(sqlrow.department)
     d                                     overlay(toplist:1)
     d  topitem                            inz like(sqlrow.item)
     d                                     overlay(toplist:*next)
...

Since the DS does not have a name, how does one reference it for
duplication? I recall giving a name to the DS but it generated a compiler
system error. I apologize but I did not retain the relevant error.

The program is working very well for me. Thanks everyone for feedback and
bouncing ideas!

--Loyd


On Fri, May 1, 2009 at 4:07 PM, Hans Boldt <hans@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Loyd: Why complicate matters by using pointers?
>
> There are two issues:
>
> First, you have two structures with identical layout. You define the
> structure layout ONCE. Then, you define two DS arrays using LIKEDS.
>
> Second, you want to have identical code to process the two arrays. That
> means you want ONE procedure, where the DS array is passed as a parameter.
>
> Cheers! Hans