RECORD

The RECORD keyword defines a structured type or variable.

Syntax 1 (explicit record definition)

RECORD [ attributes-list ]
  member type-specification
  [,...] 
END RECORD

member is an identifier for a record field, that must follow the convention for identifiers.
type-specification can be one of:
- A primitive type
- A record definition
- An array definition
- A dictionary definition
- A function type definition
- The name of a user defined type
- The name of a built-in class
- The name of an imported extension class
- The name of an imported Java class
attributes-list is a comma-separated list of name = value pairs or name attributes, and defines attributes for the record type.

Syntax 2 (database column based record)

RECORD [ attributes-list ] LIKE [dbname:]tabname.*

dbname identifies a specific database schema file.
tabname.* references the structure of a complete table defined in the database schema file.
attributes-list is a comma-separated list of name = value pairs or name attributes, and defines attributes for the record type.

Usage

A record defines an ordered set of variables called members. Each record member is defined with a specific type or in turn, structured type.

Tip:

Consider defining a user type for records, to avoid repeating the record definition for each variable.

Records whose members correspond in number, order, and data type compatibility to a database table can be useful for transferring data from the database to the screen, to reports, or to functions.

In the first form (Syntax 1), record members are defined explicitly:

DEFINE rec RECORD
           cust_id INT,
           cust_name VARCHAR(50),
           cust_address VARCHAR(100),
           ...
       END RECORD

In the second form (Syntax 2), record members are created implicitly from the table definition found in the database schema file specified by the SCHEMA instruction:

SCHEMA stock
...
DEFINE rec RECORD LIKE customer.*

Important:

When using the LIKE clause, the data types are taken from the database schema file during compilation. Make sure that the database schema file of the development database corresponds to the production database, otherwise the records defined in the compiled version of your programs will not match the table structures of the production database. Statements like SELECT * INTO record.* FROM table would fail.