Opaque Data Types

An opaque data type is a user-defined data type that can be used in the same way as a built-in data type. To create an opaque type, you must use the CREATE OPAQUE TYPE statement. Because an opaque type is encapsulated, you create support functions to access the individual components of an opaque type. The internal storage details of the type are hidden or opaque.

For more information about how to create an opaque data type and its support functions, see HCL OneDB™ User-Defined Routines and Data Types Developer's Guide.

Because of the maximum row size limit of 32,767 bytes, when you create a new table, no more than approximately 195 columns can be varying-length opaque or distinct user-defined data types. (The same restriction applies to BYTE, TEXT, VARCHAR, LVARCHAR, NVARCHAR, and ROW type columns. See ROW Data Types for additional information about ROW data types.)