TYPE help wtd

If i have a type ie

type box
field x
field y
end type

and i wanted to create 5 new boxes

box1.box=new box
box1\x=5
box1\y=10

etc for the other 4, how can i create a loop so that i can create all 5 with minimum code. Is this possible bearing in mind that each name must be unique?

thanks

Use an array - something like this (untested):

Dim Box.tBox(4)

For N = 0 to 4
  Box(N) = New tBox
  Box(N)\x = 5
  Box(N)\y = 10
Next

Type tBox
  Field X
  Field Y
End Type

Hey, remember the box1.box is just a variable. It doesn't really name the type in anyway. You could have 5 different handles pointing to the same type object:

Type box
   Field x,y
End Type

b.box = new box
b1.box = b.box
b2.box = b.box
etc etc

Following on from that, you can just create five boxes in a loop, then assign the handles to an array, or five different variable.

Type box
   Field x,y
End Type

dim box_handle(5)

For loop = 1 to 5
   b.box = new box
   b\x = 5
   b\y = 10
   box_handle(loop) = handle (b.box) ; store the type objects handle, in an array
Next

; all of the types have a unique handle, stored in the box_handle() array. To access the 4th one say, you would find the object by doing...

b.box = Object.box(box_handle(4))

print b\x

Ross, I've never seen the 'handle' & 'object' commands before. I think they could be very usefull.

They are not in the manual; so how do you find out about them? Is there any documentation on them somewhere?

Thanks
Marg

Yes it is interesting, but I also checked the manual and I think he is just using them as "variable names".

The only commands with the term "handle" are the one that choose the origin or starting point of images or sprites.

Someone else posted around here. There very useful for things, but just remember, since they are undocumented, they could be removed in future versions of blitz, without notice :o)

But, for the task at hand, i think Gfk's way is alot better and easier.

Handle command basically gets the pointer information of that type object.

box = Handle (b.box)

box now contains the handle information for that object. Return to the type object by using the object command. Saves you cycling through all the type objects, to search for that one again.