Reordering date variables 2

[SitesMasstec]

Hello dear colleagues:

I have four Date variables, dA, dB, dC and dD. Each stores a date. For example:
dA=11/16/2018
dB=12/30/2016
dC=08/15/2018
dD=10/20/2018

I want to reorder these dates (first is the newest) in memory, without using file/cursor, so I can transform in:
dA=11/16/2018
dB=10/20/2018
dC=08/15/2018
dD=12/30/2016

Is there a VFP 9 function to do this?



Thank you,
SitesMasstec

 

[Olaf Doschke]

In an array (->ASORT), not in single variables, though.

Bye, Olaf.

Olaf Doschke Software Engineering

https://www.doschke.name

 

[Mike Lewis]

No, there is not VFP function that will sort items that are stored in different variables. You must first copy them, either to an aray or a cursor, then sort them, then copy them back.

Something like this will do it:

LOCAL ARRAY Temp(4)
Temp(1) = Da
Temp(2) = Db
Temp(3) = Dc
Temp(4) = Dd

ASORT(Temp)

Da = Temp(1)
Db = temp(2)
Dc = temp(3)
Dd = Temp(4)

It's a bit heavy-handed, but it will do what you want.

Mike



__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips and downloads

 

[Mike Lewis]

And here's a slightly more generic solution. In this case, you can have as many or as few variables as you like; you are not limited to four. For simplicity, I will assume that you name the varibles D1, D2, D3, ...., rather than Da, Db, Dc. That way, you can have more than 26 variables if you need to.

lnCount = 4  && Number of date variables
LOCAL ARRAY Temp(lnCount)

FOR lnI = 1 TO lnCount
  lcVar = "D" + TRANSFORM(lnI)
  Temp(lnI) = &lcVar
ENDFOR 

ASORT(Temp)

FOR lnI = 1 TO lnCount
  lcVar = "D" + TRANSFORM(lnI)
  &lcVar = Temp(lnI)
ENDFOR

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips and downloads

 

[SitesMasstec]

I got the result I want, thanks Mike for your advice:

DECLARE dultco(4)
* 
dultco(1)=YCDULT
dultco(2)=YCDULT2
dultco(3)=YCDULT3
dultco(4)=YCDULT4

= ASORT(dultco,1,4,1)   && Sort the array, START=1, N.OF ELEMENTS=4, ORDER=1=DESCENDING

YCDULT = dultco(1)
YCDULT2= dultco(2)
YCDULT3= dultco(3)
YCDULT4= dultco(4)

As I have to reorder only 4 variables, it is a clear solution whenever I look at the code.

But as soon as I have the same problem with more than 10 variables, I will adopt your last solution presented here.


Thank you,
SitesMasstec