LOCATE

The LOCATE statement specifies where to store a TEXT or BYTE value.

filename is the name of a file in which to store the TEXT or BYTE value. This specification can include a pathname and file extension. If the filename includes a pathname that contains one or more backslash ( \ ) symbols, then you must use a pair of backslashes ( \\ ) to represent each backslash.

• ariable is the name of a CHAR or VARCHAR variable containing a filename specification. (This can also be a CHAR or VARCHAR member of a record, or element of an array.)

The TEXT or BYTE variable that stores a large binary value is also called a BLOB (for Binary Large Object). You must specify whether you want to store the value of the variable in memory or in a file. You can access a value from memory faster than from a file. If your program exceeds the available memory, however, 4GL automatically stores part of the BLOB value in a file.

To use a BLOB variable, your program must do the following:

1. Declare the variable with a DEFINE statement.

2. Use the LOCATE statement to specify the storage location. The LOCATE statement must appear within the scope of reference of the variable.

The List of Large Variables

This comma-separated list specifies the large variable(s) to be initialized:

array is the name of a structured variable of the ARRAY data type.

first is the name of a large member variable to be initialized.

integer is a literal integer between 0 and the declared size of the array.

last is another member of record that was declared later than first.

record is the name of a structured variable of the RECORD data type.

• ariable is the name of a large variable of the TEXT or BYTE data type that was declared in a previous DEFINE statement.

References

DEFINE

EXIT

FUNCTION

GLOBALS

INITIALIZE

MAIN

REPORT

RETURN