FairCom DB API for C

Field Types

FairCom DB API, FairCom DB API .NET, and FairCom DB API VCL support all original FairCom DB field types and includes redefinition for new field types. For compatibility reasons, the original c-tree Plus field types can be used, but FairCom suggests using the new field types.

Note that these do not represent new field types, however, substitute a new name of existing FairCom DB field types. The new naming convention is used within the FairCom DB SQL product line, and offers a better description of the fields.

There is absolutely no difference in using any of the definitions, however, for future compatibility and better program reading, the new field types offer an improved path.

FairCom DB API Field Type	FairCom DB Field Type	Equivalent Data Type	Implementation
CT_BOOL	CT_BOOL	CTBOOL	One-byte Boolean
CT_TINYINT	CT_CHAR	CTSIGNED	Signed one-byte integer.
CT_UTINYINT	CT_CHARU	CTUNSIGNED	Unsigned one-byte integer.
CT_SMALLINT	CT_INT2	CTSIGNED	Signed two-byte integer.
CT_USMALLINT	CT_INT2U	CTUNSIGNED	Unsigned two-byte integer.
CT_INTEGER	CT_INT4	CTSIGNED	Signed four-byte integer.
CT_UINTEGER	CT_INT4U	CTUNSIGNED	Unsigned four-byte integer.
CT_MONEY	CT_MONEY	CTMONEY	Signed four-byte integer interpreted as number of pennies (two fixed decimal places) up to a precision of 9.
CT_DATE	CT_DATE	CTDATE	Unsigned four-byte integer interpreted as date. No time information.
CT_TIME	CT_TIME	CTTIME	Unsigned four-byte integer interpreted as time with whole second precision. No date information. This data type does not support millisecond precision. CTTIMEMS functions are recommended for millisecond precision.
CT_TIME_MS	CT_TIME_MS	CTTIMEMS	Similar to CTTIME but with millisecond precision.
CT_FLOAT	CT_SFLOAT	CTFLOAT	Four-byte floating point.
CT_DOUBLE	CT_DFLOAT	CTFLOAT	Eight-byte floating point.
CT_TIMESTAMP	CT_TIMES	CTDATETIME	Time stamp including date and time with millisecond precision. This data type support millisecond precision.
CT_EFLOAT	CT_EFLOAT	CTFLOAT	Extended precision floating point (not supported as a key segment).
CT_BINARY	CT_F2STRING (CT_ARRAY)*	pTEXT, pUTEXT	Arbitrary fixed-length data. Fixed-length binary data. 64-kilobytes maximum length.
CT_CHARS	CT_FSTRING	pTEXT	Fixed-length delimited data. Fixed-length string data. 64-kilobytes maximum length.
CT_FPSTRING	CT_FPSTRING	pTEXT	Fixed-length data with 1-byte length count. 255-bytes maximum length.
CT_F2STRING	CT_F2STRING	pTEXT	Fixed-length data with 2-byte length count.
CT_F4STRING	CT_F4STRING	pTEXT	Fixed-length data with 4-byte length count.
CT_BIGINT	CT_BIGINT	CTBIGINT	Eight-byte signed integer.
CT_NUMBER	CT_NUMBER	CTNUMBER	Scaled BCD number.
CT_CURRENCY	CT_CURRENCY	CTCURRENCY	Eight-byte signed integer interpreted as currency value with four fixed decimal digits.
CT_PSTRING	CT_PSTRING	pTEXT	Varying length field data with 1-byte length count.
CT_VARBINARY	CT_2STRING	pTEXT	Varying length field data with 2-byte length count. Variable length binary data of up to 65535 bytes.
CT_LVB	CT_4STRING	pTEXT	Varying length field data with 4-byte length count. Variable length binary data of up to 4294967295 bytes.
CT_VARCHAR or CT_LVC	CT_STRING	pTEXT	Varying length field delimited data. Variable length string data.
CT_UBIGINT	CT_INT8U	CTUBIGNINT	8-byte unsigned integer.
CT_NCHAR	CT_F2UNICODE		Fixed-length UNICODE char data.
CT_NVARCHAR	CT_2UNICODE		Variable-length UNICODE char data.

*CT_BINARY field type was changed in FairCom DB V9 to CT_F2STRING.

FairCom DB API .NET FIELD_TYPE Enum

All the FairCom DB API .NET field types are defined using the FIELD_TYPE enum:

FairCom DB API .NET Field Type
BOOL
TINYINT
UTINYINT
SMALLINT
USMALLINT
INTEGER
UINTEGER
MONEY
DATE
TIME
FLOAT
DOUBLE
TIMESTAMP
EFLOAT
BINARY
CHARS
FPSTRING
F2STRING
F4STRING
BIGINT
NUMBER
CURRENCY
PSTRING
VARBINARY
LVB
VARCHAR/LVC

Find Modes

Use the following find modes with the record find methods:

FairCom DB API Find mode	FairCom DB API .NET Find Mode	Explanation
CTFIND_EQ	EQ	Find a record equal to the target
CTFIND_LT	LT	Find a record less than target
CTFIND_LE	LE	Find a record less or equal than target
CTFIND_GT	GT	Find a record greater than target
CTFIND_GE	GE	Find a record greater or equal than target

Note: The Find Mode CTFIND_EQ requires that the target contains values for all segments that compose the index and the index cannot allow duplicates.

Note: FairCom DB API .NET defines this mode with the FIND_MODE enum.