BUG: COPY TO ARRAY Behaves Differently from dBASE

• Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, versions 3.0, 3.0b, 5.0, 5.0a

SYMPTOMS

Using the command COPY TO ARRAY <array name> FIELDS <field list> where one of the fields in the field list is a calculated expression generates one of the following errors:

• Not a character expression.

  -or-

• Command contains unrecognized phrase/keyword.

CAUSE

Calculated expressions are not evaluated in the COPY TO ARRAY command.

NOTE: This is a common practice among dBASE programmers and will cause legacy code to break.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this error message do one of the following:

• Modify the structure of the source table to accommodate result data from calculated expressions.

  -or-

• Create the array using the SQL syntax. This syntax permits calculated expressions to some degree. For example, if you need a four-element array that contains data from three specific fields in your table in addition to a calculated expression, your code would look like this:

  SELECT product, units, cost, (cost*unit) ;

        FROM products ;
        INTO ARRAY aTemp
  

  Here product, units, and cost are fields from a table called products and (cost*units) is a calculated expression.

  -or-

• Create the array with an extra element and STORE the results of the calculation in the corresponding array element by using a FOR loop. For example, if you need a four-element array with 10 rows and the last element in the array should contain the calculated expression, your code would look like this:

  DIMENSION aTemp[5,10] FOR i = 1 TO 10 STEP 1

        STORE (i + 1) TO aTemp[5,i]
  

  ENDFOR

  Here (i + 1) is the calculated expression.

STATUS