Creating an Opaque Data Type

To create an opaque data type, follow these steps:

1. Create the internal structure for the opaque data type.
2. Write and register the support functions.
3. Register the opaque data type in the database with the CREATE OPAQUE TYPE statement.
4. Provide access to the opaque data type and its support functions with the GRANT statement.
5. Write any SQL-invoked functions that are needed to support the opaque data type.
6. Provide any customized secondary-access methods that the opaque data type might need.

The following sections describe each of these steps.