The variable majority of a CDF describes how variable values within each variable array (record) are stored. Each variable in a CDF has the same majority. The majority can be either row major or column major.
For example, an array for an rVariable with [VARY,VARY] dimension variances in a 2-dimensional CDF with dimension sizes [2,4] and row majority would be stored as follows:
v(1,1), v(1,2), v(1,3), v(1,4), v(2,1), v(2,2), v(2,3), v(2,4)
where v(i,j) is the value at indices (i,j). If the CDF had column majority, the array would be stored as follows:
v(1,1), v(2,1), v(1,2), v(2,2), v(1,3), v(2,3), v(1,4), v(2,4)
In each case v(1,1) is stored at the low address.
An application needs to be concerned with the majority of a CDF in the following cases:
When performing a variable hyper write, the CDF library expects the values in the buffer to be in the variable majority of the CDF. The application must place the values into the buffer in that majority.
the random access to variable values. If all of the values of a record
are to be read/written, there may be an increase in performance
if the values are accessed with (rather than against) the
majority. For example, if the majority is row-major, increment the
last index the fastest.
A CDF's variable majority is specified when the CDF is created when using the Standard Interface but is set to the default variable majority for your CDF distribution when created using the Internal Interface. The majority of an existing CDF may be changed using the Internal Interface only if variable values have not yet been written. (Variables may exist and explicit pad values may have been specified, however.)