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Extending Informix®
Beyond standard relational database objects, HCL Informix® can be extended to handle specialized data types, access methods, routines, and other objects. Informix includes many built-in extensions that are fully integrated in the database server. Informix also provides DataBlade® modules, which are packages of extended database objects for a particular purpose and that are installed separately from the database server. Alternatively, you can create your own user-defined objects for Informix.
Creating extensions
You can create user-defined data types, routines, access methods, and other database objects to suit your needs. You can use application programming interfaces to write user-defined routines and applications that access data in Informix® databases.
DataBlade® API Programmer's Guide
The Informix® DataBlade® API Programmer's Guide describes information about the DataBlade API, the C-language application programming interface (API) provided with HCL Informix.
Data manipulation
Date and time data types
This section describes the date and time data types and the functions that the DataBlade® API supports to process date and time data.
Date-time or interval data
The DataBlade® API provides support for date-time or interval data in both text and binary representations.
Date-time or interval binary representation
The DataBlade® API supports SQL data types that can hold information about date-time or interval values.

Extending Informix®
Beyond standard relational database objects, HCL Informix® can be extended to handle specialized data types, access methods, routines, and other objects. Informix includes many built-in extensions that are fully integrated in the database server. Informix also provides DataBlade® modules, which are packages of extended database objects for a particular purpose and that are installed separately from the database server. Alternatively, you can create your own user-defined objects for Informix.
- Informix® extensions and DataBlade® modules
  These topics describe how to use built-in database extensions and separately installed DataBlade® modules.
- Creating extensions
  You can create user-defined data types, routines, access methods, and other database objects to suit your needs. You can use application programming interfaces to write user-defined routines and applications that access data in Informix® databases.
  - DataBlade® API Programmer's Guide
    The Informix® DataBlade® API Programmer's Guide describes information about the DataBlade API, the C-language application programming interface (API) provided with HCL Informix.
    - DataBlade® API overview
    - Data manipulation
      - Numeric data types
        This section describes these numeric data types and the functions that the DataBlade® API supports to process numeric data.
      - Date and time data types
        This section describes the date and time data types and the functions that the DataBlade® API supports to process date and time data.
        Date data
        Date data is a calendar date. The DataBlade® API provides support for date values in both their text and binary representations.
        Date-time or interval data
        The DataBlade® API provides support for date-time or interval data in both text and binary representations.
        Date-time or interval text representation
        The text representation of a date-time or interval value is a quoted string that contains a series of digits and symbols.
        Date-time or interval binary representation
        The DataBlade® API supports SQL data types that can hold information about date-time or interval values.
        The DATETIME data type
        The SQL DATETIME data type provides the internal (binary) format of a date-time value. This data type stores an instant in time expressed as a calendar date and time of day, a calendar date, or a time of day. You choose how precisely a DATETIME value is stored with a qualifier. The precision can range from a year to a fraction of a second.
        The INTERVAL data type
        The SQL INTERVAL data type holds the internal (binary) format of an interval value. It encodes a value that represents a span of time. INTERVAL types are divided into two classes: year-month intervals and day-time intervals. A year-month interval can represent a span of years and months, and a day-time interval can represent a span of days, hours, minutes, seconds, and fractions of a second.
        The datetime.h header file
        The datetime.h header file contains definitions for use with the DATETIME and INTERVAL data types.
        Retrieval and insertion of DATETIME and INTERVAL values
        When an application retrieves or inserts a DATETIME or INTERVAL value, the DataBlade® API module must ensure that the qualifier field of the variable is valid.
        Transfers of date-time or interval data (Server)
        For date-time or interval values to be portable when transferred across different computer architectures, the DataBlade® API provides functions to handle type alignment and byte order.
        Conversion of date-time or interval representations
        Both the DataBlade® API library and the Informix® ESQL/C library provide functions that convert from the text (string) representation of a date, time, or interval value to the binary (internal) representation for DATETIME or INTERVAL.
        Operations on date and time data
        You can use Informix® ESQL/C and DataBlade® API functions to perform operations on date and time data.
        Functions to obtain information on date and time data
      - Complex data types
        This section describes the complex data types and the functions that the DataBlade® API supports to process collection and row-type data.
      - Smart large objects
    - Database access
    - Create user-defined routines
    - Appendix
      This section contains additional reference information.
  - DataBlade® API Function Reference
    The Informix® DataBlade® API Function Reference describes the DataBlade API functions and the subset of Informix ESQL/C functions that the DataBlade API supports.
  - DataBlade® Developers Kit
    The DataBlade® Developers Kit (DBDK) guides contain information about the tools you can use to develop and package DataBlade modules, which extend the functionality of HCL Informix® databases.
  - J/Foundation Developer's Guide
    The J/Foundation Developer's Guide describes how to write user-defined routines (UDRs) in the Java™ programming language for Informix®.
  - R-Tree Index User's Guide
    The Informix® R-Tree Index User's Guide describes the HCL Informix R-tree secondary access method and how to access and use its components.
  - User-Defined Routines and Data Types Developer's Guide
    The Informix® User-Defined Routines and Data Types Developer's Guide describes how to define new data types and enable user-defined routines (UDRs) to extend HCL Informix.
  - Virtual-Table Interface Guide
    The Informix® Virtual-Table Interface Programmer's Guide explains how to create a primary access method with the Virtual-Table Interface (VTI) so that users have a single SQL interface to HCL Informix tables and to data that does not conform to the storage scheme of HCL Informix.
  - Virtual-Index Interface Guide
    The Informix® Virtual-Index Interface Programmer's Guide explains how to create a secondary access method with the Virtual-Index Interface (VII) to extend the built-in indexing schemes of HCL Informix typically with a DataBlade® module.

Date-time or interval binary representation

The DataBlade® API supports SQL data types that can hold information about date-time or interval values.

Table 1. DataBlade® API and SQL date and time data types
DataBlade® API date and time data type	SQL date and time data type
mi_datetime	DATETIME
mi_interval	INTERVAL