A
non-fixed
record part defines a set of fields whose length is not necessarily known
at generation time. A field in a non-fixed record can any of these:
- Dictionary
- ArrayDictionary
- An array of dictionaries or arrayDictionaries
Also, a field can be based on any of these:
- A primitive type such as STRING
- A DataItem part
- A fixed-record part
- Another record part
- An array of any of the preceding kinds
Two types of non-fixed record parts are available:
- BasicRecord, as is used for general processing but not for accessing a
data store
- SQLRecord, as is used for accessing a relational database
You may use a non-fixed record in the following contexts:
- In a statement that copies data to or from a relational database
- In an assignment or move statement
- As an argument that passes data to another program or function
- As a parameter that receives data into a program or function
A record part that includes a fixed structure (with each field assigned
a level number) is a fixed record part, even if the record part is of type
BasicRecord or SQLRecord. For details, see Fixed record parts.