Iterate using the list option

[Jon Blanchard]

How do I use the ITERATE action using the List type?  It was never explained properly in training and so few of us use it that very little mention is made of it.   It must still work, otherwise the List type wouldn’t still be there.

Thanks.

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[Jim Kosloskey]

Well on later releases, if you point the basis to a field that is indeed a Tcl list (like a temp variable). The ITERATE will work its way over that list. Unfortunately the counter value (%lx) has the value of the current pointed to element in the list not the value of its position in the list.

What I have used the List ITERATE for is to work my way through a repeating element like a while statement. That allows me to exit the ITERATE when a condition is met by setting the value of the counter to greater than the maximum element in the list.

So the basis would be something like ‘0 1’ using %l1 as the counter.

Inside the ITERATE I would check for a condition which might indicate to end the iteration. When the condition is true I COPY = 2 to $%l1 and that causes the iteration to end. If it is false, I COPY =0 (zero) to %l1 causing the list ITERATE to continue.

The above technique I cover in more depth in my Xlate ITERATE class (along with everything lese you need to know about the ITERATE and other Xlate related topics). It is no longer as necessary with the BREAK Action in later Cloverleaf releases.

email: jim.kosloskey@jim-kosloskey.com 29+ years Cloverleaf, 59 years IT - old fart.

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