How datatype definitions work

Datatype definitions allow you to translate from one datatype to another without losing valuable information.

When used as the declared datatype, a datatype definition provides the mechanism for capturing both the literal value and its datatype attributes—such as delimiters, range information, precision, scale, length, and maximum and minimum values—and translating them into a native datatype format that Replication Server can process.

When used as a published datatype, a datatype definition takes the value in Replication Server native datatype format, including its attribute information, and translates that information into a datatype format acceptable to another database, retaining as much information as the published datatype can accommodate.

When data definitions are used for both the declared and published datatypes, both translations take place.

The following tables list the available datatype definitions for each supported non-Sybase datatype.

Microsoft SQL Server does not directly support the new unsigned integer types in 15.0 and requires to use a map to clause in their replication definitions.

Table 9-4 lists the supported DB2 datatypes and their datatype definition equivalents.

**Table 9-4: Datatype definitions for DB2 datatypes**
DB2 datatype	Datatype definition
CHAR FOR BIT DATA	rs_db2_char_for_bit
DATE	rs_db2_date
TIME	rs_db2_time
TIMESTAMP	rs_db2_timestamp
VARCHAR FOR BIT DATA	rs_db2_varchar_for_bit
TINYINT	rs_db2_tinyint
DECIMAL	rs_db2_decimal
NUMERIC	rs_db2_numeric

Table 9-5 lists supported Informix datatypes and their datatype definition equivalents.

**Table 9-5: Datatype definitions for Informix datatypes**
Informix datatype	Datatype definition
binary	rs_informix_binary
date	rs_informix_date
datetime fraction(0)	rs_informix_datetime0
datetime fraction(1)	rs_informix_datetime1
datetime fraction(2)	rs_informix_datetime2
datetime fraction(3)	rs_informix_datetime3
datetime fraction(4)	rs_informix_datetime4
datetime fraction(5)	rs_informix_datetime5
datetime (time only)	rs_informix_datetime_time

Table 9-6 lists supported Oracle datatypes and their datatype definition equivalent.

**Table 9-6: Datatype definitions for Oracle datatypes**
Oracle datatype	Datatype definition
RAW	rs_oracle_binary
DATE	rs_oracle_date
DATE (with time)	rs_oracle_datetime
NUMBER (INTEGER)	rs_oracle_int
NUMBER (FLOAT)	rs_oracle_float
NUMBER (DECIMAL)	rs_oracle_decimal