A Flat is an abstract data type, which provides simple and quick methods for the handling of key/value combinations. As values the message objects are used. The keys are represented by data type CAA.IDENT.
There are two basic possibilities of the Flat implementation:
Not for each possible key also memory space is available. All data sets in the Flat are sorted ascendingly. The access is done via an efficient search. Inserting and deleting may be linked with copy actions.
ADR(KCB) := BinarySearch(dwMinKey, dwKey, dwMaxKey);
Condition: (dwMaxKey – dwMinKey + 1) <= ctNumKeys
ADR(KCB) := ADR(KCB[0]) + (dwKey-dwMinKey) * SIZEOF(KCB);
Notice
Depending on the interpretation of the parameters dwMinKey, dwMaxKey and ctNumKeys during the create-calls, the Flat will behave as array or sorted list !
