INF: Data Types Used by Analysis Services (299905)

MORE INFORMATION

The Data Types and Key Data Types properties used in an Analysis Services database affect the size of the records contained in the database. The size of a record affects Analysis Services performance in all areas, including cube size, processing time, server memory usage, server to client data transfer time, and client memory usage. The values for both the Data Type and Key Data Type properties are ADO data types. Information about the data types that are used for these properties are summarized in the following table:

OLAP Data Type	OLE DB Data Type Constant	C Data Type	Description of the Data Type
Big Integer	adBigInt	DBTYPE_I8	Indicates an eight-byte signed integer.
Binary	adBinary	DBTYPE_BYTES	Indicates a binary value.
Boolean	adBoolean	DBTYPE_BOOL	Indicates a Boolean value.
BSTR	adBSTR	DBTYPE_BSTR	Indicates a null-terminated character string (Unicode).
Chapter	adChapter	DBTYPE_HCHAPTER	Indicates a four-byte chapter value used to identify rows in a child rowset.
Char	adChar	DBTYPE_STR	Indicates a String value.
Currency	adCurrency	DBTYPE_CY	Indicates a currency value. Currency is a fixed-point number with four digits to the right of the decimal point and is stored in an eight-byte signed integer scaled by 10,000.
Date	adDate	DBTYPE_DATE	Indicates a date value. Date values are stored as Double, the whole part of which is the number of days since December 30, 1899, and the fractional part of which is the fraction of a day.
DBDate	adDBDate	DBTYPE_DBDATE	Indicates a date value (yyyymmdd).
DBTime	adDBTime	DBTYPE_DBTIME	Indicates a time value (hhmmss).
DBTimeStamp.	adDBTimeStamp	DBTYPE_DBTIMESTAMP	Indicates a date-time stamp (yyyymmddhhmmss plus a fraction in billionths).
Decimal	adDecimal	DBTYPE_DECIMAL	Indicates an exact numeric value with a fixed precision and scale.
Double	adDouble	DBTYPE_R8	Indicates a double-precision floating-point value.
Empty	adEmpty	DBTYPE_EMPTY	Specifies no value was specified.
Error	adError	DBTYPE_ERROR	Indicates a 32-bit error code.
File Time	adFileTime	DBTYPE_FILETIME	Indicates a 64-bit value representing the number of 100-nanosecond intervals since January 1, 1601.
GUID	adGUID	DBTYPE_GUID	Indicates a globally unique identifier (GUID).
Numeric	adNumeric	DBTYPE_NUMERIC	Indicates an exact numeric value with a fixed precision and scale.
PropVariant	adPropVariant	DBTYPE_PROP_VARIANT	Indicates an Automation PROPVARIANT.
Single	adSingle	DBTYPE_R4	Indicates a single-precision floating-point value.
Small Integer	adSmallInt	DBTYPE_I2	Indicates a two-byte signed integer.
Tiny Integer	adTinyInt	DBTYPE_I1	Indicates a one-byte signed integer.
Unsigned Big Integer	adUnsignedBigInt	DBTYPE_UI8	Indicates an eight-byte unsigned integer.
Unsigned Integer	adUnsignedInt	DBTYPE_UI4	Indicates a four-byte unsigned integer.
Unsigned Small	adUnsignedSmallInt	DBTYPE_UI2	Integer indicates a two-byte unsigned integer.
Unsigned Tiny Integer	adUnsignedTinyInt	DBTYPE_UI1	Indicates a one-byte unsigned integer.
User Defined	adUserDefined	DBTYPE_UDT	Indicates a user-defined variable.
WChar	adWChar	DBTYPE_WSTR	Indicates a null-terminated Unicode character string.
IDispatch	adIDispatch	DBTYPE_IDISPATCH	Indicates a pointer to an IDispatch interface on an OLE object. This data type is not currently supported by ADO, and usage of this data type may cause unpredictable results.
Integer	adInteger	DBTYPE_I4	Indicates a four-byte signed integer.
IUnknown	adIUnknown	DBTYPE_IUNKNOWN	Indicates a pointer to an IUnknown interface on an OLE object. This data type is not currently supported by ADO, and usage of this data type may cause unpredictable results.
Variant	adVariant	DBTYPE_VARIANT	Indicates an Automation Variant. This data type is not currently supported by ADO, and usage of this data type may cause unpredictable results.
Long VarBinary	adLongVarBinary		Indicates a long binary value (Parameter object only).
Long VarChar	adLongVarChar		Indicates a long String value (Parameter object only).
Long VarWChar	adLongVarWChar		Indicates a long null-terminated string value (Parameter object only).
VarBinary	adVarBinary		Indicates a binary value (Parameter object only).
VarChar	adVarChar		Indicates a String value (Parameter object only).
VarNumeric	adVarNumeric		Indicates a numeric value (Parameter object only).
VarWChar	adVarWChar		Indicates a null-terminated Unicode character string (Parameter object only).

REFERENCES

For more information about the ADO data types used with the Data Type and Key Data Type properties, refer to the MSDN topic DataTypeEnum at: