Vector column elements

CAT treats vectors in quite a simple fashion. Values can only be GOT or PUT for individual vector elements; there are no routines for processing entire vectors. In order to access individual elements it is necessary to assign identifiers to them. Identifiers for vector elements, like those for scalar columns and parameters, are obtained using CAT_TIDNT. The name of a vector column element passed to CAT_TIDNT has the same syntax as the NAME attribute of the element, as described below. The attributes of a vector column element identifier are different to the identifiers for the whole column; they are listed in Table .

Table: Attributes of a vector column element

Attribute	Name	Data type
Name	NAME	_CHAR
Data type	DTYPE	_INTEGER
Character size	CSIZE	_INTEGER
Base identifier	BASEID	_INTEGER
Vector element	ELEM	_INTEGER

All these attributes are created automatically when an identifier is obtained for the element; they are all mandatory and immutable.

The vector column to which a vector column element belongs is referred to as the column element's base column. The DTYPE and CSIZE attributes of a vector column element are necessarily identical to the corresponding attributes for its base column. The details of the remaining attributes are as follows.