Command STRUCTURE | UNION Foundation
Defines a structure or union
STRUCTURE <cName> [PACK <nPackSize>]
VAR <VarName> AS [@][STRUCTURE|UNION] <VarType>[<nArrayLen>]
ENDSTRUCTURE
UNION <cName> [PACK <nPackSize>]
VAR <VarName> AS [@][STRUCTURE|UNION] <VarType>[<nArrayLen>]
ENDUNION
Structures are used to represent structured data in a way allowing the data to be exchanged with operating system APIs or DLL functions using the EXTERN command. The declaration of a structure begins with the statement STRUCTURE. Following the structure name is the declaration of the structure members. The structure declaration ends with the statement ENDSTRUCTURE.
A union is a special case of a structure allowing to map different data items to the same location in memory. Which kind of data is actually stored in the union depends on the respective use-case. The application can access the data in the union through one of the union's members, allowing the application to work with the data using the data type valid for the current use-case. The declaration of a union begins with a UNION and ends with an ENDUNION statement.
Defining structure and union members
Structure and union members are declared using one or more statements of the form:
Each member has a unique name defined via <VarName>, and a data type defined via <VarType>. The data type must be set to a key word identifying a parameter type of a DLL function as documented for the EXTERN command. For example, UINTEGER or STRING.
For members whose value is an array (field), the optional <nArrayLen> specifier must be used for reserving sufficient space in the structure or union. In this case, <VarType> specifies the base type of the array elements. Note that specifying an array length is only valid if the value of the member is stored directly within the structure or union.
If a member's value is not stored directly in the structure or union but is accessed via a reference to a certain memory location (pointer), the member's data type must be prefixed with the reference operator (@).
Structures and unions are complex data types and can themselves be defined as members of a structure or union. To do this, the keyword STRUCTURE or UNION must be included in the declaration of the respective member followed by the structure or union name,
Examples:
Creating structure instances
Structure instances are created implicitly from a structure or union declaration by declaring a LOCAL variable of the corresponding type. See the LOCAL statement for syntax and usage information.
Using external memory for initializing structures
The method :setAddress( <nPointer> ) can be used for setting the memory address of a structure instance.
Getting the size of a structure or union
The Byte size a structure or union occupies in memory can be determined by executing the :sizeOf() method on the structure or union instance.
Data type of a structure instance
Structure instances expose themselves as objects to the application. Consequently, the ValType() function returns the data type "O" (object) when called with a structure instance.
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