Type codes for bBaseW are increased from single ASCII character to two UTF-16 characters, if needed is right padded with space to be two characters in field descriptor.
Green rows are bBaseW type codes. Light green are lower priority, proposed bBaseW type codes. Gray rows are dBase/xBase types expanded upon for bBaseW. Salmon red marks an unused codes orcodes used for a completely different type.
| Type Code |
Type Name |
Database Version |
Field Size |
Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Character String | ||||
| C | Character | bBaseW | Settable, 2 to 512 bytes. |
1 to 256 UTF-16 (single WORD) characters. Strings shorter than field size padded on the right with spaces. |
| C | Character | dBase xBase |
Settable, 1 to 253 bytes. |
ASCII text < 254 characters long in dBASE. Only fields <= 100 characters can be indexed. |
| Integers | ||||
| IL | Long Integer |
bBaseW | Fixed, 4 bytes |
signed, 32 bit, little endian |
| IQ | Quad Integer |
bBaseW | Fixed, 8 bytes |
signed, 64 bit, little endian |
| I | Long | dBase 7 FoxPro |
4 bytes | Leftmost bit used to indicate sign, 0 negative. (code "I", but called "Long" in dBase 7)See IL. |
| + | Autoincrement | bBaseW | Fixed, 4 bytes. |
Autoincrement, signed, 32 bit, little endian. Starting
value set during table design. Default start is 0, can be started as negative. |
| + | Autoincrement | dBase xBase |
Fixed, 4 bytes |
same as IL |
| N | Numeric | dBase xBase |
Settable, up to 18 bytes. |
ASCII text up till 18 digits, with sign and decimal point). Valid characters: "0" - "9" and "-". Number fields can be up to 20 characters long in FoxPro and Clipper. |
| O | Double | dBase xBase |
Fixed, 8 bytes |
(As in double long? Binary assumed.) Not needed, see IQ |
| Floating Point | ||||
| FX | Extended Floating Point |
bBaseW | Fixed, 10 Byte |
IEEE 754 Extended Double precision. |
| FQ | Quad Floating Point |
bBaseW (proposed) |
Fixed, 16 byte |
(will require 64 bit CPU and compiler) |
| F | Floating Point | dBase xBase |
Fixed, 20 bytes |
minus, decimal and upto 18 ASCII digits (depreciated for bBaseW) |
| Currency (Fixed Decimal Number) (¤ is "unspecified currency" character, on number pad Alt 0164.) |
||||
| ¤4 | Currency | bBaseW | 8 bytes | Signed, 64 bit, integer count of 1/10000ths. (called CURRENCY type variable) Up to 14 digits, decimal point and 0 to 4 digits when entering. |
| ¤2 | Extended Currency |
Signed, 64 bit, integer count of 1/100ths. (called CURRENCYEX type variable integral part is extended | ||
| Y | Currency | FoxPro | ? | ? |
| Date and Time | ||||
| @W | DateTime (Windows format.) |
bBaseW | Fixed, 8 bytes. |
Is Windows® Filetime format. Epoch 1 January 1601. count of 100ns. (is post Gregorian) |
| @U | DateTime Unix format |
Modified Unix® Timestamp. Epoch 1 Janury 1970, UTC time. 32 bit Unix timestamp put in 64 bits and multiplied by 10^7, hundreds of nano then added. The modification avoids January 19, 2038 overflow and adds fractions of seconds. (is very post Gregorian) |
||
| @ | Timestamp | dBase xBase |
Fixed, 8 bytes (2 longs) |
First long represents date and second long time. Date is the number of days since 1 January 4713 BCE. Time is: (hours * 3600000) + (minutes * 60000) + (seconds * 1000). Dates before 15 October 1582 are pre-Gregorian, not acounting for leap years nor the 10 day adjustment. Also, multiple other calendars, with different adjustments, in different geographic areas, from 4713 BCE to 1582. Is the time local or UTC? Local would make sharing data time zones more difficult. Seconds are multiplied by 1000, but no mention of adding miliseconds. |
| D | Date | bBaseW | Fixed, 4 bytes |
WORD for year, BYTE for month and BYTE for day. 4 bytes saved over xBase. |
| D | Date | dBase xBase |
Fixed, 8 bytes. |
Date stored as an ASCII string in the format YYYYMMDD. |
| T | Time | bBaseW | Fixed, 3 bytes. |
1 byte for hours, 1 byte for minutes and 1 byte for seconds. |
| T | DateTime | FoxPro | Fixed, 8 bytes |
The first 4 bytes are a 32-bit little-endian integer
representation of the Julian date, where Oct. 15, 1582 = 2299161 per (a dead link). The last 4 bytes are a 32-bit little-endian integer time of day represented as milliseconds since midnight. It mentions 1582, but the 2299161 puts the epoch more than 6200 years pre-Gregorian. |
| Miscellaneous Types | ||||
| L | Logical | bBaseW | Fixed, 4 bytes |
A C/C++ structure or PowerBASIC UDT (User Defined Type). Each of the 32 bits may be set for True or reset for False. |
| L | Logical | dBase VII xBase |
Fixed, 1 byte |
Initialized to 0x20 (space) otherwise T or F. In older versions may ?, Y, y, N, n, F, f, T, t. Always displayed as T, F or?. (note: takes entire byte for one T/F state.) |
| M | Memo | bBaseW (definitely planned) |
Fixed, 8 bytes |
The 8 bytes are the location of memo in memo file
(.dbm vs. .dbt) (note: 1st 4 bytes in memo are record number the memo is for, to used for deletion of a record and associated memo then compaction; next 4 bytes are string(text) length part of the memo in bytes. followed by the memo. |
| M | Memo | dBase xBase |
Fixed, 10 bytes |
10 ASCII digits representing a .DBT block number. The number is stored as a string, right justified and padded with blanks. |
| GB | Graphic Bitmap |
bBaseW lower priority |
Fixed, 8 bytes |
See M comments. Format is DIB. (.dbb file extention?) (note: First 4 bytes are record number, second 4 are DIB size. first 4 bytes of DIB is X dimension, second four are Y dimension, these are included in DIB size.) |
| GI | Graphic Image |
bBaseW possible |
?? | .bmp, .jpg, .png Maybe guts of those type files, or file path/name. View from bBaseW or shell to MS Paint?? |
| ΔΞ | RecStat | bBaseW | WORD | Record status flags bit 15 is 0 for deleted record |
Created on 08 August 2023