A data type is basically a link to a corporate or standard field definition in the LANSA Repository. For example, the modeler has a data type called "Name" which refers to the field STD_NAME in the repository. When you create a "Customer Name" element, you would specify that it has a data type of "Name". Likewise, when you create another element called "Supplier name", it will also access the data type "Name". This ensures that you have one corporate standard for all "names" in your model.
If you require a "Company name" which has completely different rules and properties, then you have identified a new data type. A standard or corporate definition should be defined to the repository, and a new data type should be created.
The modeler supports the concept of a corporate repository. As you create new corporate data types, you will be adding them to the list of element data types.
Data types should not form a complete duplicate of your repository. You should not create a new data type for each element in your model. Data types represent global types of data for your models, applications and databases.
If you wish to use the data typing facility, one of the most common changes you will make to the LANSA environment is the maintenance of data types in the Logical Modeler.
Elements that refer to data types for their definition inherit the data type field's physical characteristics, including validation rules and help text, when the repository definition for an element is built.
The Logical Modeler is shipped with some default data types. These shipped data types all refer to the standard LANSA fields that begin with the characters STD_. (Refer to 2.1 Pre-Requisites.)
When you work with Data Types, you will use these modeler facilities:
