Type Conversions

Data types may be converted from one form to another either explicitly or implicitly. Implicit conversions automatically occur in criteria and expressions to ease development. Explicit datatype conversions require the use of the CONVERT function or CAST keyword.

Type Conversion Considerations:

  • Any type may be implicitly converted to the OBJECT type.

  • The OBJECT type may be explicitly converted to any other type.

  • The NULL value may be converted to any type.

  • Any valid implicit conversion is also a valid explicit conversion.

  • Situations involving literal values that would normally require explicit conversions may have the explicit conversion applied implicitly if no loss of information occurs.

  • If widenComparisonToString is false (the default), when Teiid detects that an explicit conversion can not be applied implicitly in criteria, then an exception will be raised. If widenComparisonToString is true, then depending upon the comparison a widening conversion will be applied or the criteria will be treated as false.

For example:

SELECT * FROM my.table WHERE created_by = 'not a date'

With widenComparisonToString as false and created_by is typed as date, rather than converting not a date to a date value, an exception will be raised.

  • Array conversions are currently only valid to and from compatible object arrays. It is not yet possible for example to cast from integer[] to long[].

  • Explicit conversions that are not allowed between two types will result in an exception before execution. Allowed explicit conversions may still fail during processing if the runtime values are not actually convertable.

Warning
 The Teiid conversions of float/double/bigdecimal/timestamp to string rely on the JDBC/Java defined output formats. Pushdown behavior attempts to mimic these results, but may vary depending upon the actual source type and conversion logic. Care should be taken to not assume the string form in criteria or other places where a variation may cause different results.
Table 1. Type Conversions
Source Type Valid Implicit Target Types Valid Explicit Target Types

string

clob

char, boolean, byte, short, integer, long, biginteger, float, double, bigdecimal, xml [1]

char

string

boolean

string, byte, short, integer, long, biginteger, float, double, bigdecimal

byte

string, short, integer, long, biginteger, float, double, bigdecimal

boolean

short

string, integer, long, biginteger, float, double, bigdecimal

boolean, byte

integer

string, long, biginteger, double, bigdecimal

boolean, byte, short, float

long

string, biginteger, bigdecimal, float [2], double [2]

boolean, byte, short, integer, float, double

biginteger

string, bigdecimal float [2], double [2]

boolean, byte, short, integer, long, float, double

bigdecimal

string, float [2], double [2]

boolean, byte, short, integer, long, biginteger, float, double

float

string, bigdecimal, double

boolean, byte, short, integer, long, biginteger

double

string, bigdecimal, float [2]

boolean, byte, short, integer, long, biginteger, float

date

string, timestamp

time

string, timestamp

timestamp

string

date, time

clob

string

xml

string [3]
1. string to xml is equivalent to XMLPARSE(DOCUMENT exp) - See also XML Functions#XMLPARSE
2. implicit conversion to float/double only occurs for literal values
3. xml to string is equivalent to XMLSERIALIZE(exp AS STRING) - see also XML Functions#XMLSERIALIZE

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