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Extending Informix®Beyond standard relational database objects, HCL Informix® can be extended to handle specialized data types, access methods, routines, and other objects. Informix® includes many built-in extensions that are fully integrated in the database server. Informix® also provides DataBlade® modules, which are packages of extended database objects for a particular purpose and that are installed separately from the database server. Alternatively, you can create your own user-defined objects for Informix®.
Creating extensionsYou can create user-defined data types, routines, access methods, and other database objects to suit your needs. You can use application programming interfaces to write user-defined routines and applications that access data in Informix® databases.
DataBlade® API Programmer's GuideThe Informix® DataBlade® API Programmer's Guide describes information about the DataBlade® API, the C-language application programming interface (API) provided with HCL Informix®.
Data manipulation
Numeric data typesThis section describes these numeric data types and the functions that the DataBlade® API supports to process numeric data.
Fixed-point dataFixed-point data is a decimal value with a fixed number of digits to the right and left of the decimal point. The fixed number of digits to the right of the decimal point is called the scale of the value. The total number of digits in the fixed-point value is called the precision of the value.
Fixed-point binary representations
MONEY data typeWhen you define a column with the MONEY(p) data type, it has a total of p (<= 32) significant digits (the precision) and a scale of 2 digits.

MONEY data type

When you define a column with the MONEY(p) data type, it has a total of p (<= 32) significant digits (the precision) and a scale of 2 digits.

The default value that the database server uses for scale is locale-dependent. The default locale specifies a default scale of two. For nondefault locales, if the scale is omitted from the declaration, the database server creates MONEY values with a locale-specific scale. For more information, see the Informix® GLS User's Guide.

You can also specify a scale with the MONEY(p,s) syntax, where s represents the scale. For a complete description of the MONEY data type, see the Informix Guide to SQL: Reference.

Tip: The internal format of the MONEY data type is often referred to as its binary representation.

The DataBlade® API supports the SQL MONEY data type with the mi_money data type. The mi_money data type holds the internal (binary) format of a MONEY value. This binary representation of the MONEY data type has the same structure as the fixed-point DECIMAL data type.

Values of the mi_money data type cannot fit into an MI_DATUM structure. They must be passed by reference within C UDRs.

All data types, including mi_money, must be passed by reference within client LIBMI applications.

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