Access data values
A column value in a database can be an atomic SQL92 type (such
as integer or varchar) or, in HCL Informix® databases,
any of the following extended data types:
- An opaque data type, such as those supplied with HCL Informix DataBlade® modules and extensions (for example binaryvar for binary data)
- Row types, including types that use inheritance
- Collection types, such as Set, List, and Multiset
- Large object types
To enable applications to interact uniformly with value objects, all value objects present the ITValue interface. Value objects can expose additional interfaces to present different behaviors to the application. For instance, a value object representing a set can expose a container interface such as ITSet or ITContainer.
The following table lists the Informix value
object interfaces.
| Interface | Description |
|---|---|
| ITRow | Row object interface (for example, a vector of named attributes, such as a row) |
| ITContainCvt | Container object with members that can be converted to and from C++ types |
| ITContainer | Container object with integer index-based access |
| ITConversions | Object that can be converted to and from C++ base types |
| ITDateTime | Date and time information |
| ITDatum | Underlying data access |
| ITErrorInfo | Error information |
| ITEssential | Base interface. Supports reference counting and interface querying |
| ITLargeObject | Large object. Supports file read/write semantics |
| ITSet | Container object with random access |
| ITValue | Basic value object interface |
For a table showing how the server data types are supported in the , see Supported data types.