Field DataBound Settings

DataType

The DataType setting is an enumeration of the .NET Type SqlDbType. This is an important setting in your field, as it controls how the value is persisted in the communications with the database and within the form. Its values are:

BigInt – any whole number within the range of -9,233,372,03,854,775,808 and 9,223,372,036,854,775,807
Binary – Data held within this data type is in binary format. This is used mainly for flags, or combinations of flags. For example perhaps you want to hold flags about a customer. You need a flag for active customers (value = 1), customers with orders within the last month (value = 2), orders over $1000 (value = 4), and loyal customers (value = 8). This adds up to 4 columns of data, however by using binary data types, you could have an active customer whose last order was more than $1000, and who meets loyalty criterion. These flags would yield a value of 13 (1+4+8 = 13), thus you can store a single column and yet have many flags set via this value.
Bit – The bit column holds a value of 0 or 1 usually used to determine True or False values.
Char – A fixed length data type that may contain alphanumeric characters.
DateTime – This data type will hold any date value from January 1st, 1753 to December 31st, 9999. It also stores a time; if you enter no time then the default value of 12:00:00 will be stored as well.
Decimal – Stores any combination of 38 numerical digits with a decimal, from -10^38+1 to 10^38-1. The greater precision required to the right of the decimal point , the less digits can be used to the left of the decimal point.
Float – This is used for numbers where the decimal point is not fixed. Floats hold very large numbers in the range of -1.79E+308 through 1.79E+308. The values here may sometimes not be as precise as is wished. Number such as Pi may be truncated as they have more decimal place than can be catered for.
Image – This data type hold images.
Int – Integer, is used for numeric values ranging from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
Money – This data type is used for holding numeric data type with up to four decimal places. This is not to be used for different monetary types as it has no distinction as to the type of currency held within but only to the calculation of said currency.
NChar – Same as char, but data is stored as Unicode.
NText – Similar to text data type but data is stored as Unicode, only 1GB of data can be stored.
NVarChar – Similar to varchar, but uses Unicode to store data.
Real – Similar to float, but ranges from -3.40E+38 through 3.40E+38
SmallDateTime – Similar to DateTime, but ranges from January 1st, 1900 to June 6th, 2079
SmallInt – This data type can store number between the ranges of -32,768 to 32,767
SmallMoney – Similar to money but ranges from -214,748.3648 to 214,478,6347 Text – Can hold up t0 2GB of text data.
TimeStamp – Not expected to be manually input, usually holds a binary number generated by SQL server to serve as a unique version number of the data stored in a row.
TinyInt – This data type holds small numbers in the range of 0 – 255
UniqueIdentifier – This data type holds a GUID(Globally Unique Identifier) similar to TimeStamp, usually generated from combined information on the network card, processor ID, date and time.
VarBinary – Similar to binary except that the physical column size per row may differ depending on values stored
VarChar – This data type holds alphanumeric data but only stores the number of characters that the data in the field contains.
Variant – May contain any type of data except fixed length string data.

FieldAssociation

The Field Association setting is a valuable part of how fields interact with each other on the page, as well as how the data is persisted to the database. The Setting Value is the exact FieldName of another control on the page. This name corresponds as well with a predefined Type that is used to control what data is saved, and in which ways. You can create and modify these Associations based on the Form Type using the Form > Edit / Add Association button.