modifying unidentified array in a function

BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Programming/modifying unidentified array in a function

KamaShin

(Posted 2005) [#1]

I would like to create a function Append for example that can add an object at the end of an array provided that the object passed is of the same type as the objects already in the array... At first I thought of doing this:

Function Append(t:Object[] Var,o:Object)
	Local size:Int = Len(t)
	
	t = t[..size+1]
	t[size] = o
End Function

and then have the following code:

Type Any_Type
	Field x:Int,y:Int
	
	Method Any_Method()
		'Any code here
	End Method
	'...
End Type

Local My_Array:Any_Type[]

Local AT:Any_Type = New Any_Type
AT.x = 5
AT.y = 6
Append(My_Array, AT)

But this doesn't work: it returns a problem of conversion...

the only solution I found was to do things like this:

Function Append:Object[](t:Object[],o:Object)
	Local size:Int = Len(t)
	
	t = t[..size+1]
	t[size] = o
	Return t
End Function

And use the Append function in the following way:

Type Any_Type
	Field x:Int,y:Int
	
	Method Any_Method()
		'Any code here
	End Method
	'...
End Type

Local My_Array:Any_Type[]

Local AT:Any_Type = New Any_Type
AT.x = 5
AT.y = 6
My_Array = Any_Type[](Append(My_Array, AT))

This works fine but the way you call the Append function is a bit annoying... considering I made a whole module with functions like Append, Insert, Remove, Concat and so on... I would have preferred an easier way of calling Append...
Any idea on how Append should be coded so that it only needs to be called this way: Append(t:array, o:myobject) (<-- pseudo code of course)