Another posibility is to use flags in your data, if it is well known. For example, let say you arrange your data in columns. If all your data is positive, then the end of the data array can be marked with a negative number:
2 3 3 2 4
4 5 -1 4 7
3 2 0 3 2
-1 5 0 0 -1
0 6 0 -1 0
0 -1 0 0 0
Here the "-1" indicates where the data in the column ends.
A variation can be that the first element in the columns indicates how many valid elements are in the column.
Obviously, these approaches may need more coding, but can work.
-Enrique
www.vartortech.com