PROGRESS 4GL – does IF condition supports for dimensional array?

January 18, 2022

I am new to progress 4GL language. I have written a logic which is trying to check <> "" values for dimensional arrays and giving syntax error. Can anyone pls help me where I am making mistakes and the logic I written is correct or not?

DEFINE VARIABLE anotarray AS CHARACTER NO-UNDO.
DEFINE VARIABLE barray AS CHARACTER EXTENT 3 NO-UNDO.

ASSIGN
barray[1] = "yes"
barray[2] = "no"
anotarray = ""
.
/***value can be stored randomly in variable barray. so we cannot specify [1],[2],[3] for if condition***/
/***based on req. I need to check both anotarray or barray <> "" ***/

IF (anotarray OR  barray ) <> "" THEN  DISP barray.

/*** ERROR thrown- An array was specified in an expression, on the right-hand side of an assignment, or as a parameter when no array is appropriate or expected. (361)*** /

>Solution :

This syntax is not valid : IF (anotarray OR barray) <> "" THEN ...

You have to cycle through all elements of your array. You can do it using a DO statement and the EXTENT function.

Also, you have to compare both variables to the empty string : IF anotarray <> "" OR barray[ix] <> "" THEN ...

This code should work :

DEFINE VARIABLE anotarray AS CHARACTER NO-UNDO.
DEFINE VARIABLE barray AS CHARACTER EXTENT 3 NO-UNDO.
DEFINE VARIABLE ix AS INTEGER     NO-UNDO.

ASSIGN
barray[1] = "yes"
barray[2] = "no"
anotarray = ""
.

DO ix = 1 TO EXTENT(barray):
  IF barray[ix] <> "" OR anotarray <> "" THEN DISP barray[ix].
END.