8.1 TData_Type

The TData_Type class is used to pass data type information.

The TData_Type class has the following methods:

integer Family

Indicates the family of the data type. The following families are defined:

Value	Mnuemonic	Description
0	DataType_Family_Undefined	Undefined or unknown (untyped).
1	DataType_Family_Logical	Logical (boolean).
2	DataType_Family_String	Text.
3	DataType_Family_Numeric	Numeric.
4	DataType_Family_Procedure	Code (procedure/function/method).

int Data_Type

Indicates the data type. The lowest 3 bits are the family (one of the above datatype families), and the rest of the bits indicate which type within that family. CEF understands the following data types:

Value	Mnuemonic	Description
1	DataType_Boolean	Boolean value (0=false, anything else=true)
2	DataType_String	String value.
3	DataType_Integer	Integer (whole) number.
11	DataType_Real	Floating-point number.
19	DataType_BCD	Binary-coded decimal number.

int Size

Total current size in bits. Note that this may be smaller than the maximum size.

boolean Big_Endian

True if value is stored in big-endian form.

int Max_Size

Maximum size in bits. For fixed-length data, this is the same as the current size.

The following methods apply to numeric types:

TTri_State Signed

True if signed, False if unsigned, Dont_Care if either/neither.
TTri-State is an enumeration, as follows:

Value	Mneumonic	Description
0	TS_False	False. Not signed.
1	TS_True	True. Signed.
2	TS_Dont_Care	Either signed or unsigned, unknown, or don't care.

integer Mantissa

Number of bits in mantissa (including sign, if signed).

integer Exponent

Number of bits in exponent (DataType_Real only).

boolean Fixed

True if fixed point number (DataType_Real and Data_Type_BCD only) or fixed-length string.

integer Fixed_Position

If fixed, this is the position of the decimal place (eg 3 means the 3rd digit is the first digit of the fractional part).

boolean Pack

True if packed (DataType_BCD only).

The following methods apply to string types:

integer Length_Encoding

Indicates the way that string length is encoded in the data:

Value	Mneumonic	Description
0	Datatype_String_Length_Other	Fixed or otherwise unknown length encoding.
1	Datatype_String_Length_Terminated	String is terminated by a null (ASCII 0).
2	Datatype_String_Length_Prefix	String is prefixed with length.

integer Prefix_Size

Number of bits of length for strings with length prefix.

integer Encoding

The character encoding scheme used for this string: