Choose the Data Type for Each Field
The fields in a GetMetadata response for a web service connector must have a specific type which Policy Modeling will accept. These field data types include STRING, DATE, TIMEOFDAY, DATETIME, BOOLEAN and DECIMAL.
For example:
<Field name="Model" type="STRING" can-be-input="true" can-be-output="false" is-required="false"/> <Field name="Price" type="DECIMAL" can-be-input="true" can-be-output="false" is-required="false"/>
The choice of which data type the attribute will have is very important. The following table explains when to use each field data type.
| Field data type | When to use |
|---|---|
| STRING | If a field should contain an arbitrary piece of text, that includes a specially formatted date, time, or number such as a phone number, but this value is not expected to be parsed as a value other than a string |
| BOOLEAN | If a field should describe a simple true or false value |
| DECIMAL | If a field should describe a number value |
| DATE | If a field should describe a date value where both the time and the timezone are irrelevant |
| TIMEOFDAY | If a field should describe a time value where the date and the timezone are irrelevant, and only the hours, minutes and seconds are relevant |
| DATETIME | If a field should describe a record at a precise moment in time, that is, where the date and timezone are important |
Note: A field must have a data type, but this does not mean that it will contain data in Load and Save transactions. For example, the value may be null. The metadata describes the data type of the possible value that the field may carry. Note also that type cannot be specified for a field if enum-type is provided, and that type must be specified if no enum-type attribute is provided.