Array subscripts with expressions

Hi folks, I need to do some array operations and don't like to create extra variables to maintain a lot. Here is a record variable; te purpose is probably obvious but irrelevant to the problem at hand: define win_stack record win_stack_size smallint, # Number of elements in stack top_win_num smallint, # Pointer to window atop stack win_name array[200] of char(10) # Array of window names end record Now, later in the code I want to reference the "top" element on the stack, so I use the top_win_num as the array subscript. Since it is a member of a record variable, I need to use the complete qualification: let win_stack.win_name[win_stack.top_win_num] = cur_win_name The compiler objects to this, with the following 2 error messages. | | Subscripts may contain only INTEGER or SMALLINT variables. | See error number -4346. |____________________________________^ | | A grammatical error has been found on line 122, character 38. | The construct is not understandable in its context. | See error number -4373. Hmm... Interesting. The -4373 is pointing to the smallint member variable, which is clearly a smallint. I then tried defining another simple smallint variable and used this code: let lc = win_stack.top_win_num # Get copy for syntax problem let win_stack.win_name[lc] = cur_win_name The compiler permits this. Whatsamattawithya, 4GL? Can't parse an expression in a subscript? As an experiment, I tried putting a function call inside the subscript, just to see what the compiler would do. let win_stack.win_name[array_cur()] = cur_win_name | | The symbol "array_cur" does not represent a defined variable. | See error number -4369. |____________________________________^ | | A grammatical error has been found on line 126, character 38. | The construct is not understandable in its context. | See error number -4373. Huh? I am really surprised that 4GL can't seem to handle this. I had a recollection (real old) that this did once work. I obviously have a workaround - use that stupid simple variable. Any cleaner ways? Does anyone else share that memory or was it wishful thinking on my part? -- -- Jake (Lost in thought and won't ask for directions) . . _..-'( )`-.._ ./'. '||\\\\. }\\_/{ .//||` .`\\. ./'.|'.'||||\\\\|.. )o o( ..|//||||`.`|.`\\. ./'..|'.|| |||||\\`````` \\,@,/ ''''''/||||| ||.`|..`\\. ./'.||'.|||| ||||||||||||. ||| .|||||||||||| ||||.`||.`\\. /'|||'.|||||| ||||||||||||{ | }|||||||||||| ||||||.`|||`\\ '.|||'.||||||| ||||||||||||{ | }|||||||||||| |||||||.`|||.` '.||| ||||||||| |/' ``\\||`` | ''||/'' `\\| ||||||||| |||.` |/' \\./' `\\./ \\!|\\ /|!/ \\./' `\\./ `\\| V V V }' `\\ /' `{ V V V \\ \\ \\ V / / / +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Impeccable Logic: A thought process which successfully | | resists chicken bites | +-----------------------------------------------------------+