Primitive Types
A Primitive Type is a data type. Defining a Primitive Type enables you to define your own data types and then specify how data of that type is interpreted.
You can specify what values the data can have or any constraints on the data, for example. It enables you to refine your data to your specific business domain. You could create a Primitive Type called Patient ID and specify that Patient IDs should always be a maximum of 7 characters long, and consist of 2 letters followed by 5 numbers, for example. See Setting Restrictions on Primitive Types and Attributes on page 10 for more information on the restrictions you can set.
All the Primitive Types that you define must be based on the following standard business object model Primitive Types that are available in the business object model Editor. Some types have subtypes. The types are described in the following table.
| Primitive Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Attachment | A binary file. |
| Boolean | A value of True or False. |
| Date | A date in the format dd/mm/yy. |
| DateTime | A date and time in the format dd/mm/yy hh:mm. |
| Decimal | Any number, positive or negative. |
| Decimal: Floating point | A subtype of Decimal, where the number of digits and of decimal places are not defined. |
| Decimal: Fixed point | A subtype of Decimal. A floating point number where the maximum number of digits and the number of decimal places are defined. |
| Duration | A string denoting a duration. |
| ID | A string denoting a unique ID. |
| Integer | Any whole number, positive or negative. |
| Integer: Signed Integer | A subtype of Integer, where the maximum number of digits is undefined. |
| Integer: Fixed length | A subtype of Integer, where the maximum number of digits is defined. |
| Object | |
| Object: xsd:Any | A subtype specific for representing the XML Schema type "any". |
| Text | Any characters can be entered up to the length you specify. |
| Time | A time in the format hh:mm (24 hour clock). |
| URI | A Uniform Resource Identifier. |
When you create a Primitive Type, it defaults to Text. the type is displayed above the name of the Primitive Type in italics as shown below.
You can change the standard type on which the Primitive Type is based by clicking on the
button in the
Superclass field, on the General tab in the Properties View. Additional information required by the Primitive Type is specified on the Advanced tab; see
To Set Restrictions on Primitive Types and Attributes.