The MWStruct class passes or receives a Struct type
to or from a compiled class method. This class contains seven properties/methods:
This method allocates a structure array with a specified number and size of dimensions and a specified list of field names.
| Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
| Optional array of dimensions |
|
| Optional array of field names |
None.
When created, an MWStruct object has a dimensionality
of 1-by-1 and no fields. The Initialize method
dimensions the array and adds a set of named fields to each element.
Each time you call Initialize on the same object,
it is redimensioned. If you do not supply the varDims argument,
the existing number and size of the array's dimensions unchanged.
If you do not supply the varFieldNames argument,
the existing list of fields is not changed. Calling Initialize with
no arguments leaves the array unchanged.
The following Visual Basic® code illustrates use of the Initialize method
to dimension struct arrays.
Sub foo ()
Dim x As MWStruct
Dim y As MWStruct
On Error Goto Handle_Error
'Create 1X1 struct arrays with no fields for x, and y
Set x = new MWStruct
Set y = new MWStruct
'Initialize x to be 2X2 with fields "red", "green",
' and "blue"
Call x.Initialize(Array(2,2), Array("red", "green", "blue"))
'Initialize y to be 1X5 with fields "name" and "age"
Call y.Initialize(5, Array("name", "age"))
'Re-dimension x to be 3X3 with the same field names
Call x.Initialize(Array(3,3))
'Add a new field to y
Call y.Initialize(, Array("name", "age", "salary"))
Exit Sub
Handle_Error:
MsgBox(Err.Description)
End Sub
The Item property is the default property
of the MWStruct class. This property is used to
set/get the value of a field at a particular index in the structure
array.
| Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
| Optional index arguments. Between 0 and 32 index arguments can be entered. To reference an element of the array, specify all indexes as well as the field name. |
When accessing a named field through this property, you must supply all dimensions of the requested field as well as the field name. This property always returns a single field value, and generates a bad index error if you provide an invalid or incomplete index list. Index arguments have four basic formats:
Field name only
This format may be used only in the case of a 1-by-1 structure array and returns the named field's value. For example:
x("red") = 0.2
x("green") = 0.4
x("blue") = 0.6
In this example, the name of the Item property
was neglected. This is possible since the Item property
is the default property of the MWStruct class.
In this case the two statements are equivalent:
x.Item("red") = 0.2
x("red") = 0.2
Single index and field name
This format accesses array elements through a single subscripting
notation. A single numeric index n followed by
the field name returns the named field on the nth
array element, navigating the array linearly in column-major order.
For example, consider a 2-by-2 array of structures with fields "red", "green" ,
and "blue" stored in a variable x.
These two statements are equivalent:
y = x(2, "red") y = x(2, 1, "red")
All indices and field name
This format accesses an array element of an multidimensional
array by specifying n indices. These statements
access all four of the elements of the array in the previous example:
For I From 1 To 2
For J From 1 To 2
r(I, J) = x(I, J, "red")
g(I, J) = x(I, J, "green")
b(I, J) = x(I, J, "blue")
Next
Next
Array of indices and field name
This format accesses an array element by passing an array of indices and a field name. The next example rewrites the previous example using an index array:
Dim Index(1 To 2) As Integer
For I From 1 To 2
Index(1) = I
For J From 1 To 2
Index(2) = J
r(I, J) = x(Index, "red")
g(I, J) = x(Index, "green")
b(I, J) = x(Index, "blue")
Next
Next
With these four formats, the Item property
provides a very flexible indexing mechanism for structure arrays.
Also note:
You can combine the last two indexing formats. Several index arguments supplied in either scalar or array format are concatenated to form one index set. The combining stops when the number of dimensions has been reached. For example:
Dim Index1(1 To 2) As Integer Dim Index2(1 To 2) As Integer Index1(1) = 1 Index1(2) = 1 Index2(1) = 3 Index2(2) = 2 x(Index1, Index2, 2, "red") = 0.5
The last statement resolves to
x(1, 1, 3, 2, 2, "red") = 0.5
The field name must be the last index in the list. The following statement produces an error:
y = x("blue", 1, 2)
Field names are case sensitive.
The read-only NumberOfFields property returns
the number of fields in the structure array.
The read-only NumberOfDims property returns
the number of dimensions in the struct array.
The read-only Dims property returns an array
of length NumberOfDims that contains the size of
each dimension of the struct array.
The read-only FieldNames property returns
an array of length NumberOfFields that contains
the field names of the elements of the structure array.
The next Visual Basic code sample illustrates how to access a two-dimensional structure array's fields when the field names and dimension sizes are not known in advance.
Sub foo ()
Dim x As MWStruct
Dim Dims as Variant
Dim FieldNames As Variant
On Error Goto Handle_Error
'
'... Call a method that returns an MWStruct in x
'
Dims = x.Dims
FieldNames = x.FieldNames
For I From 1 To Dims(1)
For J From 1 To Dims(2)
For K From 1 To x.NumberOfFields
y = x(I,J,FieldNames(K))
' ... Do something with y
Next
Next
Next
Exit Sub
Handle_Error:
MsgBox(Err.Description)
End Sub
Creates a copy of an MWStruct object.
| Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
| Reference to an uninitialized |
None
Clone allocates a new MWStruct object
and creates a deep copy of the object's contents. Call this function
when a separate object is required instead of a shared copy of an
existing object reference.
The following Visual Basic example illustrates the difference
between assignment and Clone for MWStruct objects.
Sub foo ()
Dim x1 As MWStruct
Dim x2 As MWStruct
Dim x3 As MWStruct
On Error Goto Handle_Error
Set x1 = new MWStruct
x1("name") = "John Smith"
x1("age") = 35
'Set reference of x1 to x2
Set x2 = x1
'Create new object for x3 and copy contents of x1 into it
Call x1.Clone(x3)
'x2's "age" field is
'also modified 'x3's "age" field unchanged
x1("age") = 50
.
.
.
Exit Sub
Handle_Error:
MsgBox(Err.Description)
End Sub