buffer of elements by selected type. The actual number of elements copied is the minimum of the given number of elements (the buffer's size) and the actual number of elements contained in the field.

If the actual field data type is not selected type, the function automatically performs the conversion.

Parameters

field	the field from which to copy the elements
buffer	the buffer in which to copy the data
num_elems	the number of elements in the given buffer

Returns

the actual number of elements copied