Array of structures - two ways to approach - which is better?

Question

Folks - I've been trying to create an array of structures,
but I bumped into problem that lead me to an example that is
completely different. I'm trying to figure out which is valid. In
general, it comes down to this:
(1) myStructure
.firstName
vs
(2) myStructure.firstName
The problem with the first is that I can't find a way to
discover the size of the array, which leads me to suspect this is
not a valid method. The problem with the second is that you must
redefine the structure for EACH array element, which seems like it
would add a lot of overhead.
Any advice? Sample code attached.
Thanks!
************* Sample (1) **************
<CFSET sCust=StructNew()>
<CFSET vCustCount = #rsMailAuth.recordcount#>
<CFSET i = 0>
<CFOUTPUT QUERY="rsMailAuth">
<CFSET i = i+1>
<CFSET sCust.userId
= #rsMailAuth.userId#>
<CFSET sCust.validEmailSource =
#rsMailAuth.validTcEmails#>
<CFSET sCust.authKeyword
= #rsMailAuth.tcEmailKeyword#>
<CFSET sCust.authKeywordLoc =
#rsMailAuth.tcEmailKeywordLoc#>
</CFOUTPUT>
************* Sample (2) **************
<cfset strTest = arrayNew(1) >
<cfset strTest[1] = structNew() >
<CFLOOP INDEX = "i" FROM="1" TO="5" >
<cfset strTest
= structNew() >
<cfset strTest.id = i>
<cfset strTest
.name = "[email protected]">
</CFLOOP>
<cfoutput>#arrayLen(strTest)#</cfoutput>

Answer 1

Sorry - simple english...
I am collecting a series of emails from a pop email server.
As I parse these into the individual parts (subject, body, from,
etc) I want to stuff them into a structure. each email would be a
new index. so, the 2nd email 'from' info would go into
myStructure.from[2] or myStructure[2].from.
I know there are lots of ways around this, I just have a
natural predisposition to use structures when possible as it makes
it easier for me to keep track of things and makes it easier to
follow the code.
I can make either of these work, I'm just not sure if they
are valid in the world of coldfusion8.