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BBjVector

BBjVector is the BBj-native dynamic list. You create one through BBjAPI().makeVector(), and it grows automatically as you add items. It also implements java.util.List, so you can pass it to Java methods that expect a List.

Creating and Populating​

vect! = BBjAPI().makeVector()
vect!.addItem("alpha")
vect!.addItem("beta")
vect!.addItem("gamma")
print "Size: ", vect!.size()

makeVector() returns an empty BBjVector. Use addItem() to append, getItem() to read by index, and size() to get the count. All indexes are 0-based.

Core Methods​

MethodSyntaxDescription
addItemvect!.addItem(value)Append to end
insertItemvect!.insertItem(index, value)Insert at position
getItemvect!.getItem(index)Get by index
setItemvect!.setItem(index, value)Replace at index
removeItemvect!.removeItem(index)Remove by index
sizevect!.size()Item count
clearvect!.clear()Remove all items

Iterating a BBjVector​

The standard pattern is a for loop from 0 to size() - 1:

vect! = BBjAPI().makeVector()
vect!.addItem("alpha")
vect!.addItem("beta")
vect!.addItem("gamma")

for i = 0 to vect!.size() - 1
    print vect!.getItem(i)
next i

This prints each item in order. You can also use the Java Iterator interface, but the for loop is the most common pattern in BBj code.

BBjVector as java.util.List​

BBjVector implements java.util.Collection and java.util.List. This means you can use standard Java list methods alongside BBjVector's own methods:

vect! = BBjAPI().makeVector()
vect!.addItem("alpha")
vect!.addItem("beta")

rem Java List methods also work
vect!.add("gamma")
print "Contains alpha: ", vect!.contains("alpha")
print "Index of beta: ", vect!.indexOf("beta")

This dual interface is useful when passing BBjVectors to Java library methods that accept a List parameter.

contains() Type Sensitivity​

BBjVector's contains() method uses Java's .equals() under the hood, which is type-sensitive. A common gotcha occurs when mixing numeric types:

vect! = BBjAPI().makeVector()
vect!.addItem(42)

rem This may not find the item if the type does not match exactly
rem Use str() to normalize when searching for user-provided values
print "Contains 42: ", vect!.contains(42)

If you are building a vector from user input or mixed sources, be consistent about the types you store. When in doubt, store and search as strings using str().

Reading Legacy Code

See Reading Legacy Code for DIM-as-collection, REDIM, parallel arrays, and other historical collection patterns.

Further Reading