Table of Contents


User Documentation Ispirer Capabilities - Progress 4GL Conversion Pricing

Progress 4GL and OpenEdge ABL Data Types


This article describes the data types supported by Progress 4GL and OpenEdge ABL 10.x and earlier.

Progress 4GL Data Types

Overview

Data Type Parameters and Range
Character Data Types
CHARACTER - Fixed-length character data
LONGCHAR - Variable-length character data
Integer Data Types
INTEGER - 32-bit integer data
Fixed-Point Numeric Data Types
DECIMAL - Fixed-pont numeric data
Date and Time Data Types
DATE - Date data type
DATETIME - Date and time data type
DATETIME-TZ - Date and time data type
Other Data Types
HANDLE - Handle (pointer to a resource)
LOGICAL - Boolean data
MEMPTR - Sequence of bytes in memory
RECID - Unique internal identifier of the current database record
ROWID - Unique internal identifier of the current database record

Character Data Types

CHARACTER

Progress 4GL/ABL - CHARACTER
Syntax CHARACTER
Data Variable-length character data
Range 32K
Default Value Empty string
Notes Display format limits the maximum number of characters that are displayed. In 4GL/ABL environment, it is allowed to insert
data exceeding display format.

When the SQL interface is used, Progress, by default, sets the SQL-WIDTH to twice the length of the displayed format.
SQL clients (ODBC/JDBC i.e.) cannot insert a value exceeding SQL-WIDTH.

To change SQL-WIDTH, use Data Dictionary tool, select a table, select Option Menu, SQL Properties, Adjust Width

Progress 4GL/ABL CHARACTER - Equivalents in Other Databases

Database Data Type and Conversion
Oracle CHAR(n), 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 2000/charsize
SQL Server CHAR(n), 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 8000
IBM DB2 CHAR(n), 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 254
MySQL CHAR(n), 0 ⇐ n ⇐ 255
PostgreSQL CHAR(n), 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 1G
Sybase ASE CHAR(n), 1 ⇐ n ⇐ pagesize (2K, 4K, 8K or 16K)
Sybase ASA CHAR(n), 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 32767/charsize
Informix DS CHAR(n), 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 32767
Teradata CHAR(n), 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 64000/charsize
HP Neoview CHAR(n), 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 4036
Interbase/Firebird CHAR(n), 1 ⇐ n ⇐ 32767/charsize

Other Data Types

LOGICAL

Progress 4GL/ABL - LOGICAL
Syntax LOGICAL
Data Boolean data
Range TRUE and FALSE (they are 4GL/ABL keywords). Possible literal values for true state: TRUE and YES.
Possible literal values for false state: FALSE and NO

Progress 4GL/ABL LOGICAL - Equivalents in Other Databases

Database Data Type and Conversion
SQL Server BIT - 0, 1 and NULL
MySQL BOOL, BOOLEAN, -128 to 127 and NULL
PostgreSQL BOOLEAN - TRUE/FALSE (1/0) and NULL
Sybase ASE BIT - 0 and 1, NULL is not allowed

HANDLE

Progress 4GL/ABL - HANDLE
Syntax HANDLE
Data Pointer to a handle-based object

Examples: 

DEFINE VARIABLE hHandle AS HANDLE NO-UNDO.
hHandle = THIS-PROCEDURE. /* Set a handle to a procedure object */