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ANYDATASET TYPE

An ANYDATASET type contains a description of a given type plus a set of data instances of that type. An ANYDATASET can be persistently stored in the database if desired, or it can be used as interface parameters to communicate self-descriptive sets of data, all of which belong to a certain type.

This chapter discusses the following topics:

• Construction
• Summary of ANYDATASET Subprograms

Construction

The AnyDataSet needs to be constructed value by value, sequentially.

For each data instance (of the type of the AnyDataSet), the AddInstance() function must be invoked. This adds a new data instance to the AnyDataSet. Subsequently, Set*() can be called to set each value in its entirety.

The MODE of construction/access can be changed to attribute/collection element wise by making calls to PieceWise().

• If the type of the AnyDataSet is TYPECODE_OBJECT, individual attributes will be set with subsequent Set*() calls. Likewise on access.
• If the type of the current data value is a collection type individual collection elements will be set with subsequent Set*() calls. Likewise on access. This call is very similar to AnyData.PieceWise() call defined for the type AnyData.

Note that there is no support for piece-wise construction and access of nested (not top level) attributes that are of object types or collection types.

EndCreate() should be called to finish the construction process (before which no access calls can be made).