Question:
Is it possible to re-size arrays at runtime?

Answer:
I came across an exampleof how to do one. The author is BenLicht, who has come up with a brilliant way to doa runtime sized array.

The trick is using a pointer to an arraywith a size of 1, then allocating memory for the pointer by multiplyingthe number of items you want in the array by the size of the array type.

Here’s a sample unit I’ve adapted from his example:

{This unit demonstrates how to implement a dynArray}unit U;interfaceuses  SysUtils, WinTypes, WinProcs, Classes, Controls, Forms, Dialogs, StdCtrls;

type  TResizeArr = array[0..0] of string;  PResizeArr = ^TResizeArr;  TForm1 = class(TForm)    Button1: TButton;    procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject);  private    { Private declarations }  public    { Public declarations }  end;var  Form1: TForm1;  procedure DefineDynArray(var h : THandle;          {Handle to mem pointer}                           NumElements : LongInt;    {Number of items in array}                           var PArr : PResizeArr);   {Pointer to array struct}  procedure TestDynArray;implementation{$R *.DFM}{============================================================================ Procedure that defines the dynarray. Note that the THandle and Pointer to the array are passed by reference. This enables them to be defined outside the scope of this procedure. ============================================================================}procedure DefineDynArray(var h : THandle;          {Handle to mem pointer}                         NumElements : LongInt;    {Number of items in array}                         var PArr : PResizeArr);   {Pointer to array struct}begin  {Allocate Windows Global Heap memory}  h    := GlobalAlloc(GMEM_FIXED, NumElements * sizeof(TResizeArr));  PArr := GlobalLock(h);end;{============================================================================ Procedure that uses the DefineDynArray proc. This is pretty useless, but provides a good example of how you can access the elements of the 'array' once the array is defined. ============================================================================}procedure TestDynArray;var  MyArray : PResizeArr;  I       : Integer;  str     : String;  h       : THandle;begin  str := '';  DefineDynArray(h, 10, MyArray); {Define the 'array'}  for I := 0 to 9 do    MyArray^[I] := IntToStr(I);

  for I := 0 to 9 do    str := str + MyArray^[I] + ',';  ShowMessage(str);  GlobalUnlock(h); {Must make a call to unlock the memory, then}  GlobalFree(h);   {free the memory and invalidate the handle}end;procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);begin     TestDynArray;end;end.

This is a perfect example of one of those programming things that takehours to figure out, but turn out to be amazingly simple.