Two-Dimensional Compile-Time Arrays in RPG

Hey, Ted:

How do you define a two-dimensional compile-time array in V5R2 RPG?

--Joe

Good question. I've only had to do that one time, and this is the method I used

     D AdjTbl          s             48a   
                           dim(3) ctdata perrcd(1) 

     D AdjTblPtr       s               *   
                           inz(%addr(AdjTbl))

     D AdjRow          ds                  
                           dim(3) qualified 
     D                                     
                           based(AdjTblPtr) 
     D   AdjCol                      12a   dim(4) 

     D Adjective       s             12a 
     D Row             s             10u 0 
     D Col             s             10u 0 

      /free 

          Adjective = AdjRow(Row).AdjCol(Col); 

      /end-free 
** 
acrimonious bucolic     crapulous   dyadic 
equivocal   fecund      gelatinous  heliocentric
irascible   jingoistic  kinesthetic laic

I defined a compile-time array with the rows of data as I needed them. Then I used a pointer to overlay the compile-time array with a multi-dimensioned data structure that contained an array subfield. Notice that the AdjRow data structure is qualified. A data structure has to be qualified if it's given a dimension.

To extract an element of the two-dimensional array, reference both the outer dimension (the data structure) and the inner dimension (the subfield) with subscripts. In this example, if Row has the value 3 and Col has the value 1, Adjective takes the value irascible.

I'm guessing COBOL programmers won't bother to write me about this tip. COBOL has had 2D and 3D arrays for something like 40 years.

--Ted

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