[fpc-pascal] how to use Default to replace this ' FillChar(aRecord, sizeof(aRecord), 0);

[Lars]

On Mon, December 5, 2016 4:46 am, Dennis Poon wrote:
>

>
> Lars wrote:
>
>> Do you know about this feature:
>>
>>
>> var SomeRec: TSomeRecord = ();
>>
> This is good for global variable.
> But I wonder whether it has effect in procedure's local variable since
> it requires the compiler to clear the record on the stack (which is at
> different location every time).

I tested it and it seems to compile, and then the value is in fact 0 when
I try to access it and do a showmessage(inttostr(rec.i))... where rec.i is
an integer...

But just because it compiles and just because it is zero this time, does
not mean.. it is consistent. So this needs to be confirmed.

It is weird that fpc allows a local initialized var to compile, but delphi
5 rejects it...  Delphi 5 is older and may have not had as advanced stack
technology as fpc ;-)

Another trick is to setup a default global, and then just assign the local
var to the global (copying the contents) which resets the local to the
global.. i.e. if you assign one global record () default 0 contents, to a
local... using:

var
  GlobalDefault := TSomeRec = ();

procedure ...
var
  local: TSomeRec = ();
begin
  localrec := GlobalDefault