[VFP] COPY TO ARRAY command issues

[cpyrgas]

1. COPY TO ARRAY command returns a VO ARRAY, not a FoxArray

That's because DbCopyToArray() returns an ARRAY, maybe a new function should be implemented in XSharp.VFP returning a FoxArray?

2. COPY TO ARRAY myarr requires that myarr is already defined, otherwise results to a runtime error that the variable does not exist. VFP does not require the array to already exist.

Maybe we should adjust the command to first check if the array exists and if not declare it as a memvar?

[cpyrgas]

COPY TO ARRAY now indeed returns a Fox Array, but unlike VFP, requires the original array to be declared. When using

FUNCTION Start() AS VOID
DbUseArea(,,"c:\dbf\customers")
//LOCAL aTestArray // not declared
COPY TO ARRAY aTestArray

a runtime error is thrown: XSharp.Error:Variable does not exist

[Irwin1985]

Hi Chris,

I've been looking into this and the "auto-creation" of arrays is trickier than it looks in .NET.

The issue is that when we call e.g. AMEMBERS(aInfo, ...) and aInfo hasn't been declared, the runtime hits MemVar._Get during parameter binding and throws EG_NOVAR before the function even starts executing.

We could technically "hush" the error in MemVar._Get for the FoxPro dialect to return NIL, but that's dangerous as it would hide legitimate "Variable not found" errors in standard assignments or ? commands eg: ?m.NonExistentVar.

Architecturally I think the way forward is:

1. Change these functions signatures to expect REF USUAL instead of ARRAY.
2. The compiler needs to be "Lazy" in VFP dialect when passing undeclared MemVars by reference, passing the reference to the symbol instead of trying to resolve the value first.

If we do this, we can handle the instantiation inside the runtime using __FoxRedim(ArrayName, ...) if the value is NIL.