ref

The ref function is used to retrieve any of the following:

• Any object, previously stored in the specified ObjectRepository by key. If no object has been stored under the specified key, then #void is returned.
• Any key or object, previously stored in the specified ObjectRepository at the position specified by {index1} and the element specified by {index2}. The first index argument {index1} must be in the range 0 to the number of objects in the Object Repository - 1. The second index {index2} must be 0 (returns the key) or 1 (returns the object). If {index1} or {index2} is invalid, the constant #void is returned.
• The numeric position of a given key argument {key}, in a given Object Repository argument {aGor}. If the key is not in the specified Object Repository {aGor}, then the Boolean value false is returned.
• The odbID of an Object Repository {aGor} currently opened archive database file. The odbid is either #void, when a database is not active, or a Byte Vector if the database is activated via a beginTransaction. The Byte Vector contents may not make sense to a human being, but the Byte Vector is used with all low-level internal database functions.
• The filename of an Object Repository {aGor} using the special symbol key arguments member: and name:

Also, the Object Repository supports low level operations such as Direct Frame Retrieval and Direct Frame Storage. The ref function can be used to retrieve a previously saved object by way of the object's frameid thus bypassing the repository index. The specified frameid must have been obtained from a previous repository save (see the Direct Frame Storage feature of the setq function).

Warning: If no object has been stored under the specified frameid value, or if the specified frameid is invalid, then an error is returned.

(ref aGor key)

Here are a number of links to Lambda coding examples which contain this instruction in various use cases.

Example_ObjectRepository_ref_030

This example shows the ref function retrieve an object or key from the Object Repository BY INDEX.

This example shows the ref function retrieve the POSITION OF THE OBJECT KEY.

This example shows the ref function retrieve the Object Repository's odbid.

This example shows the ref function retrieve the Object Repository's filename.

This example shows the ref function do a DIRECT FRAME RETRIEVAL.

Here are the links to the data types of the function arguments.

Here are also a number of links to functions having arguments with any of these data types.

How do I contact the AIS team? You can always talk with the AIS at aiserver.sourceforge.net.