Example: passing an array by reference

This example demonstrates the use of a DataStore to retrieve data in a server component. The server component uo_customers has a function called retrieve_custlist. retrieve_custlist generates an instance of the DataStore ds_datastore and then uses this DataStore to retrieve all of the rows in the Customer table. Once the data has been retrieved, retrieve_custlist passes the data back to the client application.

The retrieve_custlist function has an argument called customers, which is defined as an array based on the structure st_custlist. The structure st_custlist has the same layout as d_custlist, the DataWindow object used to access the database. The return value for retrieve_custlist, which is used to return the number of rows retrieved, is of type Long.

Here is the signature of the retrieve_custlist function:

retrieve_custlist( REF st_custlist customers [] ) returns long

Here is the script for the retrieve_custlist function:

datastore ds_datastore
long ll_rowcount

ds_datastore = create datastore
ds_datastore.dataobject = "d_custlist"
ds_datastore.SetTransObject (SQLCA)

IF ds_datastore.Retrieve() <> -1 THEN
   ll_rowcount = ds_datastore.RowCount()
END IF

customers = ds_datastore.object.data
destroy ds_datastore

return ll_rowcount

At the conclusion of processing, the function retrieve_custlist destroys the DataStore and returns the number of rows retrieved back to the client.