Registering an Opaque Data Type

This section explains how to register an opaque data type.

For more information on how to register an opaque type and grant the associated privileges, see the IBM Informix: User-Defined Routines and Data Types Developer's Guide.

Registering an Opaque Type in a Database

Use the CREATE OPAQUE TYPE statement to register an opaque data type in a database. For more information, see Determining Internal Representation. You can assign privileges to the opaque type with the GRANT USAGE ON TYPE statement. Type privileges for user-defined types (including opaque types) are stored in the sysxtdtypeauth system catalog table. By default, Usage privilege is granted to the person who registered the user-defined type. For more information on the syntax of the GRANT statement, see the IBM Informix: Guide to SQL Syntax.

Registering Opaque-Type Support Functions

To have the database server able to locate the opaque-type support functions, you must register them with the following actions:

• Use the CREATE FUNCTION statement to register the opaque-type support functions as C UDRs.

  For more information, see Registering a C UDR.

• Use the GRANT EXECUTE ON statement to grant the Execute privilege to the opaque-type support functions.

  For more information, see Privileges for the UDR.

• Use the GRANT USAGE ON LANGUAGE statement to ensure that users have the Usage privilege in the C language for UDRs.

  For more information, see The UDR Language.

Registering the Opaque-Type Casts

Use the CREATE CAST statement to register the input, output, receive, send, import, export, importbin, and exportbin support functions as cast functions in the syscasts system catalog table. The input, receive, import, and importbin support functions must be registered as implicit casts. The output, send, export, and exportbin support functions must be registered as explicit casts. For more information, see Support Functions as Casts.