Blbfile

This keyword declares a binary large object (BLOB) variable.

Syntax

Local    Blbfile NAME(LENGTH)
Local    Blbfile NAME(LENGTH)(DIMENSIONS)
Variable Blbfile NAME(LENGTH)(DIMENSIONS)
Value    Blbfile NAME(LENGTH)(DIMENSIONS)
Const    Blbfile NAME(LENGTH)(DIMENSIONS)

• NAME is the name of the variable declared.
• LENGTH is an integer value between 0 and 20.
• DIMENSIONS can be:
  • A single numeric value DIM (meaning that there is an array with an index range from 0 to DIM-1).
  • A range of numeric values INDEX1..INDEX2 (the index varies between INDEX1 and INDEX2).
  • Several indexes or index ranges separated by a comma (for multiple dimension arrays, up to four dimensions are possible)

Several variable declarations can be done on the same line, separated by a comma.

Local declarations create the variables in the current local variable class that is not seen by nested or calling sub-programs. The Call / Subprog, and func / Funprog insulate the local variables, as well as the calls of method by fmet.

Const, Variable, and Value declarations state the arguments sent by a Call, func, or fmet. With these syntaxes, the dimensions and the index ranges can be omitted wherever the parenthesis is present. The dimension and index ranges are defined by the calling program.

Example

# Direct declarations
Local Blbfile MYPICTURE(2), A_PDF(4), EXCEL_DATA(5) : # Local Binary object variables
Local Blbfile MYPICTURE_ARRAY(2)(1..10) : # An array of 10 binary objects

# A sub-program sending pictures and returning a result
Funprog SEND_PICTURES(PICT)
Variable Blbfile PICT()(,) : # A 2 dimensions matrix of pictures is sent as references
...
End SEND_STATUS

# A sub-program storing pictures 
Subprog STORE_PICTURES(PICT)
Value Blbfile PICT()(1..3) : # An array of 3 elements is sent (a copy is done when passing the arguments)
...
End

Comments

The dimension given is used to size the variable per default. If a value exceeding this size is assigned, the execution engine will automatically re-size the variable.

The correspondence between the dimension and the default memory size allocated is provided in the following table:

There is still a global declaration variable that exists for variables that have to be seen in the scope of a process execution, but its use is strongly discouraged.

See also

Global, Local, Variable, Value, Const, Tinyint, Shortint, Date, Integer, Float, Double, Decimal, Char, Clbfile, Uuident, Datetime, Instance.