Real

Local Variable Declaration Statement

Syntax samples

REAL <name1>{= <expression1>, <name2>= <expression2>...)

REAL Var1

REAL Counter = 0

REAL Var1 = CLOCK(SEC), Random_Num = RAND(10)

Description

Creates a local variable of type real. Local variables work much the same as attributes, except that they only are available within the logic that declares them. A local variable will be created for each entity that encounters a REAL statement. Local variables are not directly available to subroutines, which have their own local variables. However, a local variable may be passed to a subroutine as a parameter. Local variables are available to macros.

Valid In

Any logic. Variables declared with REAL are valid in any expression within the logic where a real number is valid.

Components

<names>

An identifier for the first local variable. This identifier must be a valid name.

<expressions>

The variable will initially be assigned this value. This expression is evaluated every time the REAL statement is encountered.

Example

The example below uses a local real variable to track the total time an entity waits for another entity to be joined to it. A shipping area has an operation where invoices are joined to boxes to produce packages. The user wants to know exactly how long an invoice must wait before a box arrives to be joined. By setting the value of a local variable, Start, to the clock time just before the JOIN statement and using a LOG statement immediately after the JOIN, we can determine how long each invoice had to wait before a box arrived. A local variable is a better choice here than an entity attribute because the only place the information is needed is inside this logic.

Process Table

Routing Table

See Also

INT. See Variables.