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The getdictionarykey( function returns the key of an item in the dictionary, given its value). This is essentially the opposite of the getdictionaryvalue( function (see Data Dictionaries).

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Parameters

This function has two parameters:

dictionary – is the name of the field or variable that contains the dictionary (must contain binary data).

value – is the value associated with the key you want to retrieve. If there are multiple objects with this value, it is indeterminate which key will be returned.

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Description

The getdictionarykey( function takes a value and returns the corresponding key name from dictionary collection. If there are multiple objects with this value, it is indeterminate which key will be returned. For example, suppose you created a dictionary and stored it in a variable named mailto.

fileglobal mailto
mailto=initializedictionary("Address","3987 Olive","City","Tustin","State","CA","Zip","92841")

Later, you could use the getdictionarykey( function to retrieve different keys from the dictionary, based on the values:

getdictionarykey(mailto,"3987 Olive") ☞ Address
getdictionarykey(mailto,"Tustin") ☞ City
getdictionarykey(mailto,"CA") ☞ State
getdictionarykey(mailto,"92841") ☞ Zip

Dictionary values are not restricted to text – you can use any type of data that Panorama supports, including numbers, dates, and binary data. This example includes both numbers and a date.

fileglobal InventoryItem
InventoryItem=initializedictionary("SKU",10445,"Description","Widget","Price",12.95,
    "On Hand",687,"Last Order Date",date("12/17/2012"))

Later, you could use the getdictionarykey( function to retrieve different values from the dictionary:

getdictionarykey(InventoryItem,10445) ☞ SKU
getdictionarykey(InventoryItem,"Widget") ☞ Description
getdictionarykey(InventoryItem,12.95) ☞ Price

As these example show, the data type you supply must match the type of data originally stored in the dictionary. If the value was stored as a number, it must be supplied to the getdictionarykey( function as a number. For example, in this case the Price is stored as a number. If you search for it as a text value, there will be no match.

 getdictionarykey(InventoryItem,"12.95") ☞ 

If the getdictionarykey( function doesn’t find a matching value, the empty string ("") is returned. If there are multiple values that match, one of the keys will be returned. However, there is no way to know which key will be returned.

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See Also

• appenddictionaryvalue -- appends a value to an item in a dictionary (see Data Dictionaries).
• changedictionaryname -- changes the name (key) of an item in a dictionary (see Data Dictionaries).
• changedictionaryvalues( -- changes one or more values in a dictionary (see Data Dictionaries).
• classicdictionaryvalue( -- returns the value of an item in the dictionary, given its key (see Data Dictionaries). Unlike getdictionaryvalue(, this function does not treat keys as case sensitive.
• clearglobaldictionaryvalues -- clears (removes) all the keys and values from the specified global dictionary.
• copypartialdictionary -- builds a new dictionary and initializes it with values from an existing dictionary (see Data Dictionaries).
• copypartialdictionary( -- partially copies a dictionary (see Data Dictionaries).
• Data Dictionaries -- Overview of Panorama's key/value data dictionaries.
• deletedictionaryvalue -- deletes a key/value pair from a dictionary (see Data Dictionaries).
• deletedictionaryvalue( -- deletes one or more key/value pairs from a dictionary (see Data Dictionaries).
• deleteglobaldictionaryvalues -- deletes one or more global dictionary values.
• dictionaryassignmentscode( -- returns code that can be used to take the values in a dictionary (see Data Dictionaries) and assign them to fields or variables based on the dictionary keys.
• dictionarydifference -- builds an array that lists keys of dictionary values that are different between two dictionaries (see Data Dictionaries).
• dictionaryfromarray( -- builds a new dictionary and initializes it from a two dimensional text array (see Data Dictionaries and Text Arrays).
• dictionaryfromvariables( -- builds a new dictionary and initializes it from a list of variables (carriage return delimited).
• dictionaryvalueexists -- returns true or false depending on whether or not a key/value pair exists in a dictionary (see Data Dictionaries).
• dictionaryvalueexists( -- returns true or false depending on whether or not a key/value pair exists in a dictionary (see Data Dictionaries).
• dumpdictionary -- returns a carriage return separated array of dictionary keys and values (see Data Dictionaries).
• dumpdictionary( -- returns a carriage return separated array of dictionary keys and values (see Data Dictionaries).
• dumpdictionaryquoted -- returns a carriage return separated array of dictionary keys and values (see Data Dictionaries).
• dumpdictionaryquoted( -- returns a carriage return separated array of dictionary keys and values (see Data Dictionaries). The text values are quoted.
• dumpdictionarysource( -- returns a carriage return separated array of dictionary keys and values (see Data Dictionaries). The keys and values are quoted so that they could be used to re-assemble the dictionary with the initializedictionary( function.
• getdictionarykey -- returns the key of an item in the dictionary, given its value. This is essentially the opposite of the getdictionaryvalue( function (see Data Dictionaries).
• getdictionaryvalue -- returns the value of an item in the dictionary, given its key (see Data Dictionaries).
• getdictionaryvalue( -- returns the value of an item in the dictionary, given its key (see Data Dictionaries).
• getglobaldictionary( -- converts a global dictionary into a regular dictionary.
• getstructurevalue( -- extracts a value from a structure of nested Data Dictionaries and/or Data Arrays.
• Global Dictionaries -- alertnate high performance method to store multiple data items, much faster than regular data dictionaries.
• globaldictionarybuild -- builds a global dictionary by scanning a database.
• globaldictionarykeys( -- returns a cr()-separated array containing the keys in a global dictionary, or the names of all global dictionaries.
• globaldictionaryvalue( -- returns the value of an item in a global dictionary, given its key (see Global Dictionaries).
• info("timerinfo") -- returns a dictionary that contains all of the properties of the currently running timer.
• initializedictionary -- builds a new dictionary and initializes it with one or more key/value entries (see Data Dictionaries).
• initializedictionary( -- builds a new dictionary and initializes it with zero or more key/value entries (see Data Dictionaries).
• initializedictionaryvalue( -- builds a new dictionary and initializes it with one or more entries (see Data Dictionaries). This function is deprecated, we recommend using the initializedictionary( function instead.
• listdictionarykeys( -- returns a list of the keys in a dictionary collection.
• listdictionarynames -- returns a list of the names (keys) in a dictionary (see Data Dictionaries).
• mergedictionaries -- merges the contents of two or more dictionaries (see Data Dictionaries).
• mergedictionaries( -- merges the contents of two or more dictionaries (see Data Dictionaries).
• renamedictionarykey( -- changes the key (name) of one or more values in a dictionary (see Data Dictionaries).
• setdictionaryvalue -- changes a value in a dictionary (see Data Dictionaries).
• setglobaldictionaryvalues -- sets one or more key/value pairs in a global dictionary.
• setlocalsfromdictionary -- converts a dictionary into a collection of local variables. The names and values of the local variables will be derived from the dictionary contents.
• soundinfo( -- returns a dictionary that contains all of the properties of a sound.
• timerinfo( -- returns a dictionary that contains all of the properties of a timer.

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History

Version	Status	Notes
10.0	Updated	Carried over from Panorama 6.0, but now is available as a function as well as a statement. Since dictionaries can now contain numbers, dates or binary values in addition to text, you must supply the correct data type in the value parameter.