Last modified: 24 August 2012
Name: H5Tvlen_create
Signature:
hid_t H5Tvlen_create( hid_t base_type_id )

Purpose:
Creates a new variable-length array datatype.

Description:
H5Tvlen_create creates a new one-dimensional array datatype of variable-length (VL) with the base datatype base_type_id.

This one-dimensional array often represents a data sequence of the base datatype, such as characters for character sequences or vertex coordinates for polygon lists. The base type specified for the VL datatype can be any HDF5 datatype, including another VL datatype, a compound datatype, or an atomic datatype.

When necessary, use H5Tget_super to determine the base type of the VL datatype.

The datatype identifier returned from this function should be released with H5Tclose or resource leaks will result. Under certain circumstances, H5Dvlen_reclaim must also be used.

Note:
H5Tvlen_create cannot be used to create a variable-length string datatype. H5Tvlen_create called with a string or character base type creates a variable-length sequence of strings (a variable-length, 1-dimensional array), with each element of the array being of the string or character base type.

To create a variable-length string datatype, see “Creating variable-length string datatypes.”

Parameters:
hid_t base_type_id     IN: Base type of datatype to create.

Returns:
Returns datatype identifier if successful; otherwise returns a negative value.

See Also:
H5Dvlen_get_buf_size
H5Dvlen_reclaim
Creating variable-length string datatypes

Fortran90 Interface: h5tvlen_create_f
SUBROUTINE h5tvlen_create_f(type_id, vltype_id, hdferr) 
  IMPLICIT NONE
  INTEGER(HID_T), INTENT(IN) :: type_id    ! Datatype identifier of base type 
                                           ! Base type can only be atomic 
  INTEGER(HID_T), INTENT(OUT) :: vltype_id ! VL datatype identifier 
  INTEGER, INTENT(OUT) :: hdferr           ! Error code
END SUBROUTINE h5tvlen_create_f
    

History:
Release     Change
1.4.5 Fortran subroutine introduced in this release.