DDBuilder: Defining General Typedef Attributes (Superseded)

DDBuilder has been superseded by the BASIS DBMS Data Dictionary module accessible from the BASIS IDE or the Enterprise Manager. Recommended for usage with ODBC/JDBC access to PRO/5, Visual PRO/5, BBj application data. DDBuilder is no longer included in the BBj download package as of version 12.0 but can be downloaded with Visual PRO/5.

To define general typedef attributes (i.e., data type, column length, and numeric precision), do the following:

In the tree view, select the desired typedef to display the General Typedef properties page.
Enter data into the appropriate fields (each field is described under Fields).

Fields

Description

Provide a short description of the typedef contents.

Native Type

Provide the typedef data type from one of the following:

Data Type	Description
Character string	Default data type.
Numeric	Free-format numbers.
Integer	Stored in fixed-length field of 1 to 6 bytes.
Unsigned integer	Similar to Integer, but values are always interpreted as positive numbers.
IEEE float	Industry-standard floating point format (8 bytes).
BCD float	Binary Coded Decimal representation.
Business math	Stored in fixed-length field of 8 bytes.
C float	Standard single precision floating point format for the current machine.
C double	Standard double precision floating point format for the current machine.

Length

Define the internal (i.e., stored) size of the column, based on the data type. A negative length causes the absolute value of the length to be imposed on columns using this typedef. (Negative lengths are not recommended.)

Data Type	Length
Character String	Up to 32,767 bytes.
Numeric	Up to 32,767 bytes.
Integer	1, 2, 3, or 4 bytes.
Unsigned integer	1, 2, 3, or 4 bytes.
IEEE float	N/A (always 8 bytes).
BCD float	N/A (always 8 bytes).
Business math	N/A (always 8 bytes).
C float	N/A (always 4 bytes).
C double	N/A (always 8 bytes).

Maximum Length

If the typedef has a variable length, a longer length can be specified for data entry. This is the default value for columns defined with this typedef.

Precision

Define the number of decimal places in a numeric column. Although the default is 2 decimal places, an integer between -1 and 16 can be specified. A value of -1 indicates floating point, or maximum precision. Precision takes effect when a value is assigned to the column upon inserting a record. For a data dictionary to be used by BBxPROGRESSION/4, the maximum precision is 14.