Chapter 3 Building Conceptual Data Models


List of standard data types

You can open the list of Standard Data Types by clicking the question mark button to the left of the list of Data Types on the General Tab of a domain property sheet.


This is the same list that is available in the Physical Data Model, and any . data type selected in this list will be automatically mapped to a conceptual data type.

Numeric data types

The following numeric data types are available:

Conceptual data type DBMS-specific physical data type
Content

Length
Integer int / INTEGER 32-bit integer
Short Integer smallint / SMALLINT 16-bit integer
Long Integer int / INTEGER 32-bit integer
Byte tinyint / SMALLINT 256 values
Number numeric / NUMBER Numbers with a fixed decimal point Fixed
Decimal decimal / NUMBER Numbers with a fixed decimal point Fixed
Float float / FLOAT 32-bit floating point numbers Fixed
Short Float real / FLOAT Less than 32-bit point decimal number
Long Float double precision / BINARY DOUBLE 64-bit floating point numbers
Money money / NUMBER Numbers with a fixed decimal point Fixed
Serial numeric / NUMBER Automatically incremented numbers Fixed
Boolean bit / SMALLINT Two opposing values (true/false; yes/no; 1/0)

Character data types

The following character data types are available:

Conceptual data type DBMS-specific physical data type
Content

Length
Characters char / CHAR Character strings Fixed
Variable Characters varchar / VARCHAR2 Character strings Maximum
Long Characters varchar / CLOB Character strings Maximum
Long Var Characters text / CLOB Character strings Maximum
Text text / CLOB Character strings Maximum
Multibyte nchar / NCHAR Multibyte character strings Fixed
Variable Multibyte nvarchar / NVARCHAR2 Multibyte character strings Maximum

Time data types

The following time data types are available:

Conceptual data type DBMS-specific physical data type
Content

Length
Date date / DATE Day, month, year  
Time time / DATE Hour, minute, and second  
Date & Time datetime / DATE Date and time  
Timestamp timestamp / TIMESTAMP System date and time  

Other data types

The following other data types are available:

Conceptual data type DBMS-specific physical data type
Content

Length
Binary binary / RAW Binary strings Maximum
Long Binary image / BLOB Binary strings Maximum
Bitmap image / BLOB Images in bitmap format (BMP) Maximum
Image image / BLOB Images Maximum
OLE image / BLOB OLE links Maximum
Other User-defined data type
Undefined undefined Not yet defined data type

 


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