Informix data types supported in ArcGIS

When you create a table or add a column to a table in a database, you define a specific data type for the column. Data types determine the following:

What values you can store in the column
What operations you can use on the data in that column
How the data in that column is stored in the database

ArcGIS works with specific data types. When you access a database table through a Database Connection, query layer, or web service, ArcGIS filters out any unsupported data types. ArcGIS does not display unsupported data types, and you cannot edit unsupported data types through ArcGIS. Similarly, when you use ArcGIS to copy and paste tables containing unsupported data types from one database to another, ArcGIS only pastes columns that use a supported data type.

The first column in the following table lists the ArcGIS data types. The second column lists the Informix data type that ArcGIS creates. The third column shows what other Informix data types (if any) map to the ArcGIS data type when you view a table that you created outside ArcGIS. The last column provides additional information when needed.


ArcGIS data types	Informix data types created	Other Informix data types that can be viewed	Notes
BLOB	BLOB
DATE	DATETIME
DOUBLE	DECIMAL(31,8)		The precision and scale specified in ArcGIS can affect the resultant data type created in the database. See ArcGIS field data types for more information.
FLOAT	DECIMAL(31,8)		The precision and scale specified in ArcGIS can affect the resultant data type created in the database. See ArcGIS field data types for more information.
GEOMETRY	ST_GEOMETRY		ST_Geometry is a superclass. The actual data subtype created (such as ST_Multilinestring or ST_Point) depends on what type of feature class you create, whether polygon, line, point, multipoint, or multipatch.
GLOBAL ID	CHAR(38)		Only supported in geodatabases.
GUID	CHAR(UUID LEN)
LONG INTEGER	INTEGER
OBJECT ID	CHARACTER(38) when created in an enterprise geodatabase SERIAL when created in a database		The ArcGIS type ObjectID is the registered row ID column for the table (or feature class.) Only one may exist per table.
RASTER	BLOB		Only supported in geodatabases.
SHORT INTEGER	SMALLINT
TEXT	VARCHAR	CHAR