How to overload assign operator for record in Delphi

Question

I want to make the type of record that uses dynamic arrays.

Using the variables A and B of this type I want to be able to perform operations A: = B (and other) and be able to modify the content of A without modification B like in snipped code below:

    type
      TMyRec = record
        Inner_Array: array of double;
      public
        procedure SetSize(n: integer);
        class operator Implicit(source: TMyRec): TMyRec;
      end;

    implementation

    procedure TMyRec.SetSize(n: integer);
    begin
      SetLength(Inner_Array, n);
    end;

    class operator TMyRec.Implicit(source: TMyRec): TMyRec;
    begin
    //here I want to copy data from source to destination (A to B in my simple example below)
    //but here is the compilator error
    //[DCC Error] : E2521 Operator 'Implicit' must take one 'TMyRec' type in parameter or result type
    end;


    var
      A, B: TMyRec;
    begin
      A.SetSize(2);
      A.Inner_Array[1] := 1;
      B := A;
      A.Inner_Array[1] := 0;
//here are the same values inside A and B (they pointed the same inner memory)

There are two problems:

1. when I don't use overriding assigning operator in my TMyRec, A:=B means A and B (their Inner_Array) are pointing the same place in memory.

2. to avoid problem 1) I want to overload assign operator using:

   class operator TMyRec.Implicit(source: TMyRec): TMyRec;

but compilator (Delphi XE) says:

[DCC Error] : E2521 Operator 'Implicit' must take one 'TMyRec' type in parameter or result type

How to resolve this problems. I read several similar posts on stackoverflow but they don't work (if I understood they well) on my situation.

Artik

Answer 1

It is not possible to overload the assignment operator. This means that what you are attempting to do is not possible.

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Edit: It is possible now - http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/Sydney/en/Custom_Managed_Records#The_Assign_Operator