Row-type binary representation

The database server supports the following row types.
Named row type
A named row type is identified by its name. With the CREATE ROW TYPE statement, you create a template of a row type. You can then use this template to take the following actions:
  • Use type inheritance
  • Define columns that all have the same row type
  • Assign a named row type to a table with the OF TYPE clause of the CREATE TABLE statement
Unnamed row type
An unnamed row type is identified by its structure. With the ROW keyword, you create a row type. This row type contains fields but has no user-defined name. Therefore, if you want a second column to have the same row type, you must specify all fields.
All row types use the same internal format to store their values. For more information, see the Informix® Guide to SQL: Reference.
Tip: The internal format of a row type is often referred to as its binary representation.
The DataBlade® API supports the SQL row types with the following data type structures:
  • A row descriptor (MI_ROW_DESC) provides information about the row type.
  • A row structure (MI_ROW) holds the binary representation of the field values in the row type.
Important: The fields of a row type are comparable to the columns in the row of a table. This similarity means that you use the same DataBlade API data type structures to access row types that you do to access columns in a row.