Dynamic arrays and literal record syntax

[jouborg]

Dynamic array constants and variable initialization allow for succinct constant record array declaration (example in wiki). For example, I can do:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. procedure Test1;
2. type
3.   TPerson = record
4.     Name: String;
5.     City: String;
6.   end;
7.  
8.   TPeople = array of TPerson;
9.  
10. const
11.   people: TPeople = (
12.     (Name: 'Adam'; City: 'Los Angeles'),
13.     (Name: 'Eve'; City: 'Berlin')
14.   );
15.  
16. begin
17.   { some code }
18. end;
19.  

However, it doesn't appear that you can initialize a variable that's an array of records with literal syntax. I presume that's because the "literal record syntax" and type inference is limited to the const section:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. procedure Test3;
2. type
3.   TPerson = record
4.     Name: String;
5.     City: String;
6.   end;
7.  
8.   TPeople = array of TPerson;
9.  
10. var
11.   people: TPeople;
12.  
13. begin
14.   { the code below fails, because there's no record literal syntax and type inference }
15.   people := [
16.     (Name: 'Adam'; City: 'Los Angeles'),
17.     (Name: 'Eve'; City: 'Berlin')
18.   ];
19. end;      
20.  

Is my understanding correct and, if so, has support for this been considered?

[howardpc]

Recent FPCs accept this:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. procedure Test3;
2. type
3.   TPerson = record
4.     Name: String;
5.     City: String;
6.   end;
7.  
8.   TPeople = array of TPerson;
9.  
10. var
11.   people: TPeople = ((Name: 'Adam'; City: 'Los Angeles'),
12.                      (Name: 'Eve'; City: 'Berlin'));
13. begin
14.   // code to use people ...
15. end;

[jouborg]

Recent FPCs accept this

Only works at variable declaration time, right?

Doesn't seem to be valid in a function/procedure body (or the main program body), which is where it would be extra helpful, in my view.

So I cannot do:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. program recordliterals;
2.  
3. type
4.    TPerson = record
5.       name: string;
6.       city: string;
7.    end;
8.  
9.    TPeople = array of TPerson;
10.  
11. var people: TPeople;
12.  
13. begin
14.    people = ((Name: 'Adam'; City: 'Los Angeles'),
15.              (Name: 'Eve'; City: 'Berlin'));
16. end.
17.  

[PascalDragon]

Is my understanding correct and, if so, has support for this been considered?

Your understanding is correct. Support for such a syntax would not be possible, because the compiler would not know the type on the right side (it would need to work in more cases than just “simple” assignments). If you want something like that, write yourself a constructor for your record.