Array Types

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Delphi Prism supports several different kinds of arrays, of which unbound arrays are the simplest kind:

Unbound arrays

var
  Array1: array of String;
  Array2: array of Byte;
begin
  Array1 := new String[25]; // 25 strings 0..24
  Arrays2 := new Byte[40];  // 40 bytes 0..39
  ...

Array Initialization

Arrays will be initialized if they comply with the three following rules:

• all bounds are specified (e.g. array[0..] of byte won't be initialized, array[0..10] of byte will be).
• they are defined as a field or local var.
• they don't have an explicitly assigned initial value.

Bound arrays

Arrays can have predetermined bounds, either in form of a fixed size (with lower and upper bound defined) or variable size (with just a lower bound specified). Starting with the May 2009 Release (3.0.19), bound arrays are allowed to have a negative lower range, that is they're allowed to be like: array[-10 .. 15] of byte.

type
  StringArray1 = array[0..5] of String;
  StringArray2 = array[1..] of String;
  StringArray3 = array[0.., 0..] of String;
  ...

var
  array1: StringArray1;
  array2: StringArray2;
  array3: StringArray3;
  array4: array[0..5] of Integer;
begin
  array1 := new StringArray;         // 6 strings 0..5
  array2 := new StringArray2(25);    // 25 strings 1..25
  array1 := new StringArray(45, 12); // 45x12 matrix of strings

In addition to Integer, chars and enums can also be used to define array bounds:

type
  SomeEnum = (One, Two, Three);
  EnumArray = array[SomeEnum.One..SomeEnum.Three] of Integer;
var
  a: array[SomeEnum] of Integer;
  c: array[char] of Integer;
begin
  a[someEnum.One] := 15;
  c['a'] := 15;

Inline Array Constants

You can create inline (in code) arrays without having to manually create a new array and set the elements. For example, you can write:

ListBox.Items.AddRange(['a', 'b']);

or:

x := [1,2,3]

Or

var x: array of Integer := [1,2];

Static Arrays

If you define a closed multi bound array:

type
   MyArray1 = array[0..10] of Byte;
   MyArray2 = array[0..] of Byte;
   MyArray3 = array[0..10, 0..10] of Byte;
   MyArray4 = array[0..10, 0..] of Byte;

All instances of MyArray1 and MyArray3 will be created automatically when they are used:

on the stack (local variables), or as part of a class (static or instance). Note: a static array still is a by reference type, so if you pass it as a parameter, any changes in the method that accepts the parameter will be translated back to the caller.

In other Object Pascal languages, a common code structure looks like this:

type
  MyArray = array[0..4096] of Integer;
  PMyArray = ^MyArray;

begin
  // use the pointer
  PMyArray(MyPointer)[0] ...

Delphi Prism simplifies and allows you to do the following:

var
  b: ^Byte;
begin
  b[0] = 15;
  b[1] := 12;
end;

Inline Arrays

Inline arrays are only supported for unsafe code. See Fixed Size Buffers.

Notes

• Pointers can only be used if the project/class/method support unsafe code.

• For compatibility purposes, Delphi Prism does some magic under the hood so that PMyArray(MyPointer)[0] is treated the same as b[0], but there are a couple of restrictions, for example the array must be single dimensional and start at 0.

See Also

• Types

Area: Oxygene Language
Compiler version: Oxygene 5

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