Data Types
Looking at the Data Model pane, you will see that the fields are either string or HTML string, depending on how they were extracted. Basically, it is all just text. But inside the DataMapper module, which is very useful when we’re actually working with the data in a template, you can change the actual type of data that is being extracted so that it can be evaluated differently. How can it be changed? Simply by clicking on any field where you want to modify the data type. You then go to the bottom of the Step Properties pane and click the Type drop-down. Changing the type does not only determine the data type inside your record. It also sets the way it will be read into the Data Source. In the following example, if you select a date type, it actually causes an error because the format inside the Source Record is not recognized. The format is "year year year year month month day day" but the default format, in this case, adds the time. If you remove that, it will actually apply the change. So, visually speaking, only two things have been changed in the record: a little calendar icon now appears, indicating that it is a date type, and you can see that a time stamp was added..
When you select a specific data type, it converts it into a native type. If the date inside the Data Source was in a different format (Canadian format, Japanese format, etc.), the source shows that different format. But inside the Data Model, it will always be shown as "year month day" and the time.
Here are the data types available in all modules of PlanetPress Connect.
The Object data type is only available in the DataMapper module. It is created in the Properties subsection in the Preprocessor step, and can be used throughout the data mapping configuration.