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Designing databases
The first step in creating a relational database is to construct a data model, which is a precise, complete definition of the data you want to store. After you prepare your data model, you must implement it as a database and tables. To implement your data model, you first select a data type for each column and then you create a database and tables and populate the tables with data. You can also implement fragmentation strategies and control access to your data.
Designing and Implementing a Database
The Informix® Database Design and Implementation Guide provides information to help you design, implement, and manage your Informix databases. It includes data models that illustrate different approaches to database design and shows you how to use structured query language (SQL) to implement and manage your databases.
Object-relational databases
Create and use user-defined casts
Cast row types
Cast individual fields of a row type

Designing databases
The first step in creating a relational database is to construct a data model, which is a precise, complete definition of the data you want to store. After you prepare your data model, you must implement it as a database and tables. To implement your data model, you first select a data type for each column and then you create a database and tables and populate the tables with data. You can also implement fragmentation strategies and control access to your data.
- Designing and Implementing a Database
  The Informix® Database Design and Implementation Guide provides information to help you design, implement, and manage your Informix databases. It includes data models that illustrate different approaches to database design and shows you how to use structured query language (SQL) to implement and manage your databases.

Cast individual fields of a row type

If an operation on a field of a row type requires an explicit cast, you can explicitly cast the individual field value without consideration of the row type with which the field is associated. The following statement uses an explicit cast on the field value to handle the conversion:

SELECT col1 from tab1, tab2 WHERE col1.b = col2.b::FLOAT::d_float

If an operation on a field of a row type requires an implicit cast, you can specify the correct field value and the database server handles the conversion automatically. In the following statement, which compares field values of different data types, a built-in cast automatically converts between INT and FLOAT values:

SELECT col1 from tab1, tab2 WHERE col1.a = col2.b