Data Storage Containers

You choose a data storage container according to the amount and type of data, and how you want to use it. You determine the availability of data by the way you declare it and where you create it in the program. This range of availability or effectiveness is called scope.

Most programming languages make it possible for you to store data in constants, variables, and arrays. In Visual FoxPro, you can also store data in records and objects. For more information about differences, see Visual FoxPro and Other Programming Languages.

Scope of Data Containers

The following table summarizes the scope differences between data containers.

Container	Scope	Example
Constants	Private	#DEFINE ERRSTR "Error!"
Variables	Public, private, or local	Var = 7
Arrays	Public, private, or local	ArrayName[1,1] = "John Brown"
Fields	Permanent storage, accessible while the table containing the records is open	REPLACE name WITH "John Brown"
Object Properties	Referenced through the object and the object's container hierarchy	txtCustomer.Value = "John Brown"

See Also

Access to Variables | Arrays | Constants | Fields | LOCAL Command | Objects | PRIVATE Command | PUBLIC Command | Records | Variables | Object Properties | Visual FoxPro and Other Programming Languages | Overview of the Language