fieldtype
DATATYPE

The fieldtype statement changes the data type of the current field.


Parameters

This statement has one parameter:

datatype – new data type for the field. The available types are: TEXT, INTEGER, FLOAT, DATE, CHOICE, and BINARY.


Description

This statement changes the data type of the current field. This example will change the type of the current field to floating point numbers.

fieldtype "Float"

Note: The list of available data types is different than it was in Panorama 6.0 and earlier. The biggest change is fixed point numbers – the 1 DIGIT, 2 DIGITS, 3 DIGITS and 4 DIGITS data types are no longer available – use FLOAT instead (for compatibility with existing applications the fieldname statement will accept these types and automatically convert them to FLOAT for you). The integer data type is now specified as INTEGER, though 0 DIGITS will also be accepted for compatibility with existing applications.

The PICTURE data type is no longer available, but there is now a BINARY data type.

Here are some examples of legacy data types and how they are handled:

fieldtype "0 digits" ☞ integer value field
fieldtype "1 digit" ☞ floating point value field
fieldtype "2 digits" ☞ floating point value field
fieldtype "3 digits" ☞ floating point value field
fieldtype "4 digits" ☞ floating point value field
fieldtype "picture" ☞ not allowed (error)

See Also


History

VersionStatusNotes
10.0UpdatedCarried over from Panorama 6.0, but the list of available types has changed -- see the text above.