COMPRESSARRAY Function

Type: Integer

The number of non-empty strings that were compressed.

When compressing an array of strings, the non-empty strings in the resulting array are sorted in the same way as in the original array.

The COMPRESSARRAY function is especially useful for printing names and addresses. For instance, you can use this function to remove blank lines in account statements.

This function compresses an array of Text or Code (not BigText). The compression is done by moving empty strings to the end of the array.

For example, "Redmond", "Copenhagen", "", "Fargo", "Paris" is changed to "Redmond", "Copenhagen", "Fargo", "Paris", "".

In Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009, it is not supported to use the CompressArray function on multidimensional arrays. In previous versions, CompressArray works for arrays of arrays.

This example shows how to use the COMPRESSARRAY function. The input StringArray has the following values:

The output StringArray has the following values:

All non-empty entries have been moved to the beginning of the array.

This example requires that you create the following text constants in the C/AL Globals window.

Name[1] := ''; // Empty String
Name[2] := Text000;
Name[3] := Text001;
Name[4] := ' '; // A string containing blanks
Name[5] := Text002;
Name[6] := '';
MESSAGE(Text003, Name[1], Name[2], Name[3], Name[4], Name[5], Name[6]);
COMPRESSARRAY(Name); // The empty lines (strings) are removed
MESSAGE(Text004, Name[1], Name[2], Name[3],Name[4], Name[5], Name[6]);

The first message window displays the following:

Before compression, the address is...

Joe Raybon

One Meca Way

Atlanta

The second message window displays the following:

Joe Raybon

One Meca Way

Atlanta

All empty and blank strings, which cause blank lines, are moved to the end of the array. The other elements are moved to the beginning of the array.

Note
Empty lines are not printed if they occur on the first or last line in a message window.

Reference