Published: Tuesday, March 28, 2000
Dynamic Arrays Made Easy
If you've used VBScript's arrays before, you're likely aware that you can dynamically resize
arrays using the Redim statement. (To learn more, see the
technical documentation
for Redim.) Sometimes this can be a pain, though. For example, imagine that you wanted to read
each line of a text file into an array. Since you do not know the number of lines in the file initially,
there is no way to create a preset array size. Rather, you would use code like:
Loop, reading in each line of the array
Add a new element to the array
Store the line in the array
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While this is feasible, you, the developer, have to Redim the array at each iteration.
Now, imagine that you wanted to delete a particular element from the array and then compact the array?
Ugh. This would involve moving elements backwards through the array then issuing another Redim
statement to compact the array.
What would be nice would be to have an easy-to-use dynamic array class. This class would have the same
functionality of a regular array, but would be dynamic in nature. That is, the developer working with this
class could simply say:
and not have to worry if the array MyArray was of the proper dimensions or not. Also, it would be
nice if the developer could easily delete an element from the array and compact it with code like:
If you are new to classes, I highly recommend you read some of the great articles on VBScript classes
before continuing on with this article:
The DynamicArray Class
This class needs only one member variable, the actual array that is used to store the data (named aData).
In the Initialize event, aData is Redimed as an array with one element.
Note that arrays are indexed starting at zero, not one, in this class.
The class contains two Property Get statements: Data and DataArray.
Data returns a particular array element while DataArray returns the entire array.
A single Property Let statement exists for the Data property. This array does the
grunt work of Rediming the array, if needed.
The DynamicArray class contains three methods: StartIndex, StopIndex, and
Delete. StartIndex simply returns the starting array index (like LBound)
while StopIndex returns the array's current greatest possible index (like UBound).
The third and final method, Delete, removes a particular element from the array and then compacts
the array.
In Part 2 we'll look at how to use this array to create truly dynamic
arrays. The remainder of this part contains the source code for the DynamicArray class.
Read Part 2
Class DynamicArray
'************** Properties **************
Private aData
'****************************************
'*********** Event Handlers *************
Private Sub Class_Initialize()
Redim aData(0)
End Sub
'****************************************
'************ Property Get **************
Public Property Get Data(iPos)
'Make sure the end developer is not requesting an
'"out of bounds" array element
If iPos < LBound(aData) or iPos > UBound(aData) then
Exit Property 'Invalid range
End If
Data = aData(iPos)
End Property
Public Property Get DataArray()
DataArray = aData
End Property
'****************************************
'************ Property Let **************
Public Property Let Data(iPos, varValue)
'Make sure iPos >= LBound(aData)
If iPos < LBound(aData) Then Exit Property
If iPos > UBound(aData) then
'We need to resize the array
Redim Preserve aData(iPos)
aData(iPos) = varValue
Else
'We don't need to resize the array
aData(iPos) = varValue
End If
End Property
'****************************************
'************** Methods *****************
Public Function StartIndex()
StartIndex = LBound(aData)
End Function
Public Function StopIndex()
StopIndex = UBound(aData)
End Function
Public Sub Delete(iPos)
'Make sure iPos is within acceptable ranges
If iPos < LBound(aData) or iPos > UBound(aData) then
Exit Sub 'Invalid range
End If
Dim iLoop
For iLoop = iPos to UBound(aData) - 1
aData(iLoop) = aData(iLoop + 1)
Next
Redim Preserve aData(UBound(aData) - 1)
End Sub
'****************************************
End Class
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