From the February 2013 Issue of Prestwood eMag

Delphi Language Details: Using Record Types In Delphi By Mike Prestwood

Posted 21 years ago on 3/13/2003 and updated 12/12/2008 Take Away: How to use records in Delphi.  Tags: records , record types , TRecord , Object PASCAL , Delphi , Borland Delphi , how to , usage KB100130

Using Records

Records are convenient for grouping variables together.

Key Points

• Use the 'record' and 'end' keywords to define the record


• Between 'record' and 'end', declare your variables normally


• Refer to each element using dot notation. For example, 'theRec.theVar'.

For convenience, the following example declared a new TName type as a new custom type. This was done so that everywhere we need to use this record structure, we simply use a single line declaration.

Here is a simple example:

procedure TForm1.ButtonClick(Sender: TObject);

{For convenience, declare a new type of record.}

type

   TName = record

      FName    : String;

      MInitial : String[1];

      LName    : String;

   end;

var

   recName   : TName;

   sFullName : String;

   sSpace    : String;

begin

  with recName do begin

     FName    := 'Mike';

     MInitial := 'A';

     LName    := 'Prestwood';

  end;

  sSpace    := ' ';

  sFullName := recName.FName +sSpace+ recName.MInitial + sSpace  + recName.LName;

  ShowMessage(sFullName);

   { 

  Instead of using with…do, you can access a record directly. 

  For example:

  }

  ShowMessage(recName.LName);

end;

Daniel Kram

Comment 1 of 1 You can also use Arrays in records. For example:    TName = record       FName    : String;       MInitial : String[1];       LName    : String;    end;   TPeople = record   F_Gender: string;   F_Address: string;   F_Name: array of TName; End; Notice, the F_Name is not defined in size, so use the SetLength() call see this article: http://www.prestwood.com/ASPSuite/KB/Document_View.asp?QID=100158 Posted 16 years ago

KB Post Contributed By Mike Prestwood:

Mike Prestwood is a drummer, an author, and creator of the PrestwoodBoards online community. He is the President & CEO of Prestwood IT Solutions. Prestwood IT provides Coding, Website, and Computer Tech services. Mike has authored 6 computer books and over 1,200 articles. As a drummer, he maintains play-drums.com and has authored 3 drum books. If you have a project you wish to discuss with Mike, you can send him a private message through his PrestwoodBoards home page or call him 9AM to 4PM PST at 916-726-5675 x205. Visit Profile