INFORMIX
Informix Guide to SQL: Tutorial
Chapter 10: Understanding Complex Data Types
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 In a traditional relational database, users are limited to the built-in data types that the database server provides. Consequently, you can store and access only those types of data that the built-in data types support. In contrast, INFORMIX-Universal Server lets you create user-defined data types and complex data types that extend the type system of the database server and provide greater flexibility in the types of data that you can store and manipulate. A user-defined type (opaque type or distinct type), from the point of view of the user, is an atomic data type. When you create a user-defined type, you define the structure of the data type as well as the functions, operators, and aggregates that operate on the new data type. A complex data type is usually a composite of other existing data types. For example, you might create a complex type whose components include built-in types, opaque types, distinct types, or other complex types. An important advantage that complex types have over user-defined types is that users can access and manipulate the individual components of a complex data type through SQL.

This chapter introduces complex data types and describes how to use them. It covers the following topics:



Informix Guide to SQL: Tutorial, version 9.1
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