MPI_Type_indexed

Creates an indexed datatype

Synopsis

int MPI_Type_indexed(int count,
                    const int *array_of_blocklengths,
                    const int *array_of_displacements,
                    MPI_Datatype oldtype,
                    MPI_Datatype *newtype)

Input Parameters

count: number of blocks -- also number of entries in array_of_displacements and array_of_blocklengths
array_of_blocklengths: number of elements in each block (array of nonnegative integers)
array_of_displacements: displacement of each block in multiples of oldtype (array of integers)
oldtype: old datatype (handle)

Output Parameters

newtype: new datatype (handle)

Thread and Interrupt Safety

This routine is thread-safe. This means that this routine may be safely used by multiple threads without the need for any user-provided thread locks. However, the routine is not interrupt safe. Typically, this is due to the use of memory allocation routines such as mallocor other non-MPICH runtime routines that are themselves not interrupt-safe.

Notes for Fortran

All MPI routines in Fortran (except for MPI_WTIME and MPI_WTICK) have an additional argument ierr at the end of the argument list. ierris an integer and has the same meaning as the return value of the routine in C. In Fortran, MPI routines are subroutines, and are invoked with the call statement.

All MPI objects (e.g., MPI_Datatype, MPI_Comm) are of type INTEGERin Fortran.

The array_of_displacements are displacements, and are based on a zero origin. A common error is to do something like to following

    integer a(100)
    integer array_of_blocklengths(10), array_of_displacements(10)
    do i=1,10
         array_of_blocklengths(i)   = 1
10       array_of_displacements(i) = 1 + (i-1)*10
    call MPI_TYPE_INDEXED(10,array_of_blocklengths,array_of_displacements,MPI_INTEGER,newtype,ierr)
    call MPI_TYPE_COMMIT(newtype,ierr)
    call MPI_SEND(a,1,newtype,...)

expecting this to send "a(1),a(11),..." because the array_of_displacements have values "1,11,...". Because these are displacements from the beginning of "a", it actually sends "a(1+1),a(1+11),...".

If you wish to consider the displacements as array_of_displacements into a Fortran array, consider declaring the Fortran array with a zero origin

    integer a(0:99)

Errors

All MPI routines (except MPI_Wtime and MPI_Wtick) return an error value; C routines as the value of the function and Fortran routines in the last argument. Before the value is returned, the current MPI error handler is called. By default, this error handler aborts the MPI job. The error handler may be changed with MPI_Comm_set_errhandler (for communicators), MPI_File_set_errhandler (for files), and MPI_Win_set_errhandler (for RMA windows). The MPI-1 routine MPI_Errhandler_set may be used but its use is deprecated. The predefined error handler MPI_ERRORS_RETURN may be used to cause error values to be returned. Note that MPI does not guarentee that an MPI program can continue past an error; however, MPI implementations will attempt to continue whenever possible.

MPI_ERR_COUNT: Invalid count argument. Count arguments must be non-negative; a count of zero is often valid.

MPI_ERR_TYPE: Invalid datatype argument. Additionally, this error can occur if an uncommitted MPI_Datatype (see MPI_Type_commit) is used in a communication call.

MPI_ERR_ARG: Invalid argument. Some argument is invalid and is not identified by a specific error class (e.g., MPI_ERR_RANK).

MPI_ERR_INTERN: This error is returned when some part of the MPICH implementation is unable to acquire memory.