FieldType class | QSYS API Reference Guide

Estimated reading time: 12 minutes

Represents the type of a field in a data structure.

Namespace: ASNA.DataGate.Common Assembly: ASNA.QSys.DataGate.Client.dll

Inheritance: Object

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared) members of this type are safe for multithreaded operations. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

Remarks

The FieldType class provides a way to define the type of a field in a data structure, including its data type, length, precision, scale, and format for date/time and DBCS fields. It also provides methods to create new instances of FieldType for specific data types.

Properties

Type	Name	Description
Int32	ByteLength	Gets the byte length of the field.
DataTypes	DataType	Gets the data type of the field.
DateTimeFormat	DateTime	Gets the date/time format of the field. This is used for date and time types.
DbcsFormat	Dbcs	Gets the DBCS format of the field. This is used for DBCS types.
PropertyCollection	ExtendedProperties	Gets the collection of extended properties for the field.
Int32	Precision	Gets the precision of the field. This is used for decimal types.
Int32	Scale	Gets the scale of the field. This is used for decimal types.

Methods

Signature	Description
GetSystemTypeOfType(DataTypes, Int32)	Gets the corresponding .NET type for a given DataTypes value and byte length.
NewBinary(Int32, Int32)	Creates a new FieldType instance representing a binary field.
NewByte()	Creates a new FieldType instance representing a byte field.
NewChar(Int32)	Creates a new FieldType instance representing a character field.
NewDate(DateTimeFormat)	Creates a new FieldType instance representing a date field.
NewDBCS(Int32, DbcsFormat)	Creates a new FieldType instance representing a DBCS field.
NewDontCare(Int32)	Creates a new FieldType instance representing a DontCare field.
NewFloat(Int32)	Creates a new FieldType instance representing a floating point field.
NewHex(Int32)	Creates a new FieldType instance representing a hexadecimal field.
NewInteger(Int32)	Creates a new FieldType instance representing an integer field.
NewPacked(Int32, Int32)	Creates a new FieldType instance representing a packed decimal field.
NewTime(DateTimeFormat)	Creates a new FieldType instance representing a time field.
NewTimestamp()	Creates a new FieldType instance representing a timestamp field.
NewUnicode(Int32)	Creates a new FieldType instance representing a Unicode field.
NewZoned(Int32, Int32)	Creates a new FieldType instance representing a zoned decimal field.

Type GetSystemTypeOfType(DataTypes dt, int byteLength)

Gets the corresponding .NET type for a given DataTypes value and byte length.

Type GetSystemTypeOfType(DataTypes dt, int byteLength)

Parameters

Type	Parameter name	Description
DataTypes	dt	The DataTypes value to get the .NET type for.
Int32	byteLength	The byte length of the data type.

Returns

Type	Description
Type	The corresponding .NET type, or null if no match is found.

FieldType NewBinary(int prec, int scale)

Creates a new FieldType instance representing a binary field.

FieldType NewBinary(int prec, int scale)

Parameters

Type	Parameter name	Description
Int32	prec	The total number of digits in the binary field.
Int32	scale	The number of digits to the right of the decimal point in the binary field.

Returns

Type	Description
FieldType	A new FieldType instance.

FieldType NewByte()

Creates a new FieldType instance representing a byte field.

FieldType NewByte()

FieldType NewChar(int length)

Creates a new FieldType instance representing a character field.

FieldType NewChar(int length)

Parameters

Type	Parameter name	Description
Int32	length	The length of the character field.

Returns

Type	Description
FieldType	A new FieldType instance.

FieldType NewDate(DateTimeFormat fmt)

Creates a new FieldType instance representing a date field.

FieldType NewDate(DateTimeFormat fmt)

Parameters

Type	Parameter name	Description
DateTimeFormat	fmt	The format of the date field.

Returns

Type	Description
FieldType	A new FieldType instance.

FieldType NewDBCS(int length, DbcsFormat fmt)

Creates a new FieldType instance representing a DBCS field.

FieldType NewDBCS(int length, DbcsFormat fmt)

Parameters

Type	Parameter name	Description
Int32	length	The length of the DBCS field.
DbcsFormat	fmt	The format of the DBCS field.

Returns

Type	Description
FieldType	A new FieldType instance.

FieldType NewDontCare(int length)

Creates a new FieldType instance representing a DontCare field.

FieldType NewDontCare(int length)

Parameters

Type	Parameter name	Description
Int32	length	The length of the DontCare field.

Returns

Type	Description
FieldType	A new FieldType instance.

FieldType NewFloat(int length)

Creates a new FieldType instance representing a floating point field.

FieldType NewFloat(int length)

Parameters

Type	Parameter name	Description
Int32	length	The length of the floating point field. It should be either 4 or 8.

Returns

Type	Description
FieldType	A new FieldType instance.

FieldType NewHex(int length)

Creates a new FieldType instance representing a hexadecimal field.

FieldType NewHex(int length)

Parameters

Type	Parameter name	Description
Int32	length	The length of the hexadecimal field.

Returns

Type	Description
FieldType	A new FieldType instance.

FieldType NewInteger(int length)

Creates a new FieldType instance representing an integer field.

FieldType NewInteger(int length)

Parameters

Type	Parameter name	Description
Int32	length	The length of the integer field. It should be either 2, 4, or 8.

Returns

Type	Description
FieldType	A new FieldType instance.

FieldType NewPacked(int prec, int scale)

Creates a new FieldType instance representing a packed decimal field.

FieldType NewPacked(int prec, int scale)

Parameters

Type	Parameter name	Description
Int32	prec	The total number of digits in the packed decimal field.
Int32	scale	The number of digits to the right of the decimal point in the packed decimal field.

Returns

Type	Description
FieldType	A new FieldType instance.

FieldType NewTime(DateTimeFormat fmt)

Creates a new FieldType instance representing a time field.

FieldType NewTime(DateTimeFormat fmt)

Parameters

Type	Parameter name	Description
DateTimeFormat	fmt	The format of the time field.

Returns

Type	Description
FieldType	A new FieldType instance.

FieldType NewTimestamp()

Creates a new FieldType instance representing a timestamp field.

FieldType NewTimestamp()

FieldType NewUnicode(int length)

Creates a new FieldType instance representing a Unicode field.

FieldType NewUnicode(int length)

Parameters

Type	Parameter name	Description
Int32	length	The length of the Unicode field.

Returns

Type	Description
FieldType	A new FieldType instance.

FieldType NewZoned(int prec, int scale)

Creates a new FieldType instance representing a zoned decimal field.

FieldType NewZoned(int prec, int scale)

Parameters

Type	Parameter name	Description
Int32	prec	The total number of digits in the zoned decimal field.
Int32	scale	The number of digits to the right of the decimal point in the zoned decimal field.

Returns

Type	Description
FieldType	A new FieldType instance.

Example 1. Use of NewTimestamp method example.

  /* Use the already initialized As400OProgram "timeProg" to set the
   * value of a DateTime variable. This program accepts a timestamp data type
   * whose time format is ISO as its sole parameter, which it does not
   * read but uses to return data. */

  ProgParmType as400Time = new ProgParmType("TimeISO", 0, FieldType.NewTimestamp());
  ProgParm timeParm = new ProgParm(as400Time, DataDirection.Output);
  timeProg.AppendParm(timeParm);

  timeProg.Execute();

  DateTime currentTime;
  currentTime = Convert.ToDateTime(timeProg.ParmToObject(timeParm, Type.GetType("System.DateTime"), 0));
  /* Unlike the IBM i FieldType NewTime or NewDate, NewTimeStamp contains both date and time
   * values. */

Example 2. Use of NewDate method example.

  /* Create a parms list to pass to a pre-initialized As400Program object.
   * We want to pass one date with time format *USA and another with time
   * format *ISO. Other time formats are available in the DateTimeFormat
   * enumeration as well. */
  DateTime DateUSA = System.DateTime.Now;
  DateTime DateISO = System.DateTime.Now;

  ProgParmType type1 = new ProgParmType("DateUSA", 0, FieldType.NewDate(DateTimeFormat.USA));
  ProgParmType type2 = new ProgParmType("DateISO", 0, FieldType.NewDate(DateTimeFormat.ISO));
  ProgParm parm1 = new ProgParm(type1, DataDirection.InputOutput);
  ProgParm parm2 = new ProgParm(type2, DataDirection.InputOutput);

  prog.AppendParm(parm1);
  prog.AppendParm(parm2);

  /* In the lines below, we assign the IBM i program parameters
   * values from our .NET variables. */
  prog.ObjectToParm(parm1, DateUSA, 0);
  prog.ObjectToParm(parm1, DateISO, 0);

  /* Call the program. */
  prog.Execute();

  /* The parameters can be bidirectional and thus return data as well. 
   * To use that data, we assign the values of the parameters back to our
   * .NET variables. */
  DateUSA = Convert.ToDateTime(prog.ParmToObject(parm1, DateUSA.GetType(), 0));
  DateISO = Convert.ToDateTime(prog.ParmToObject(parm2, DateUSA.GetType(), 0));
  /* IMPORTANT NOTE: The time and date data types do not return all the information
   * which a .NET DateTime can contain. Specifically, if you specify a parm as a NewTime,
   * the data portion of the returned DateTime will be set to MinValue. The same will
   * happen to the time portion of a variable if its IBM i parm was set to be a NewDate. */