Understanding arrays

This is an introduction to arrays.

Arrays can store a one-, two- or three-dimensional set of elements.

The language supports three kind of array types:

Static arrays - introduced in early versions of the language.
Dynamic arrays - to be used in new developments.
Java arrays - to define a Java array, to interface with Java classes.

For static and dynamic arrays, elements can be of simple built-in types such as INTEGER, VARCHAR(n), RECORD structured types, or user-defined types. A BDL array can also be defined with built-in classes, imported module classes (from the Web Services extensions for example), or Java classes.

The first element in a BDL array is at position 1, for static, dynamic and Java arrays.

Arrays can be used to define a list of records that will be controlled by dialog instructions such as DISPLAY ARRAY and INPUT ARRAY.

Dynamic arrays can be manipulated with methods, to append, insert, delete elements, clear the array, copy one dynamic array to another, search in the elements.