4.6.2.5 Number of Elements

The Number of Elements field specifies the number of occurrences of the data field. There are cases where several occurrences of the same data field (i.e., an array ) may be desired. Such cases might include multiple address lines or monthly account balances for the current year. Multiple address lines could be set up by declaring several different fields, e.g., address1, address2, and address3. As we've already stated, however, it is also possible to assign the Field Name address to one field, and set the Number of Elements field to 3. In that case, the Field Length value would be equal to the Length desired for one element. You may then refer to all elements of the field (i.e., each address line) by the single Field Name address. The individual elements of the field are then referenced as address[1], address[2], and address[3] respectively. (Note: The element identifier reference, i.e., the [n] characters, does not need to be taken into account when assigning the 15 characters of the Field Name.) The default value for the Number of Elements field is 1.