Record copy with .* notation

The .* notation to assign records is discouraged.

Before Genero BDL version 3.20, the syntax to copy a record to another record was done with the .* notation:

LET record2.* = record1.*

Starting with version 3.20, the proper syntax to assign a record to another record defined with the same RECORD structure, or TYPE, is to use the record variable names without the .* suffix:

LET record2 = record1

Important: The .* notation to assign records is still supported for backward compatibility, to be able to compile legacy code. There is no need to change existing code. Use the new syntax without .* in new development.

The new syntax without of the .* syntax has mainly been introduced for the following reason:

When the compiler sees record.* as function parameter, this is equivalent to list all members of the record: record.first-element, ..., record.last-member.

For example, the next statements are equivalent:

CALL func1(record.*)
CALL func2(record.field1, ..., record.fieldN) -- not nice, but legal

Genero 3.20 has introduced record types with methods, and records can be passed as read-only parameters without the .* notation. In this case, the compiler makes a stronger type checking for method parameters:

CALL var.method1(record) -- OK if method1 is defined with that record type
CALL var.method1(record.*) -- Denied!
CALL var.method1(record.field1, ..., record.fieldN) -- Denied!