pTAL Reference Manual (G06.24+, H06.09+, J06.03+)

field-alignment
FIELDALIGN
specifies how you want the compiler to align the base of the structure and fields in the
structure. The offsets of fields in a structure are aligned relative to the base of the structure.
If a definition substructure does not specify a FIELDALIGN clause, the contained substructure’s
field alignment is the field alignment of its encompassing structure or substructure.
If you do not specify a FIELDALIGN clause on a structure declaration, pTAL uses the current
value of the FIELDALIGN compiler directive. The default value of the FIELDALIGN directive
is AUTO.
If you specify a FIELDALIGN (NODEFAULT) compiler directive, you must specify a
FIELDALIGN clause on every definition structure and template structure.
SHARED2
specifies that the base of the structure and each field in the structure must begin at an
even-byte address except STRING fields.
SHARED8
specifies that the offset of each field in the structure from the base of the structure must be
begin at an address that is an integral multiple of the width of the field.
AUTO
specifies that the structure and the fields of the structure be aligned according to the optimal
alignment for the architecture on which the program will run (this is not the same behavior
as the AUTO attribute has in the native mode HP C compiler).
PLATFORM
specifies that the structure and the fields of the structure must begin at addresses that are
consistent across all languages on the same architecture.
structure-layout
is the identifier of a previously declared structure or structure pointer that provides the structure
layout for this structure.
Declaring Template Structures
A template structure declaration describes a structure layout but allocates no space for it. You use
the template layout in subsequent structure, substructure, or structure pointer declarations.
Declaring Template Structures 139