Navigation bar
  Start Previous page  5 of 97  Next page End Home  

5
The individual data items on the various types of cards are known as
FACTORS
Factors are grouped into eight different
FACTOR TYPES, depending on their size
and the kind of data storage that they require.  
1. If the relevant information were in the form of a whole number (for example,
the number of living units, or the number of bedrooms) then the factor type would
be INTEGER.
2. If the data is in the form of a real number, which can include fractional or
decimal values (2.5 baths, 9.357 acres, etc.)  then the Factor type would be
SINGLE PRECISIONSingle Precision factors may contain
numbers up to eight
digits long.
3. DOUBLE PRECISION factors are similar to Single Precision, but allow data
entries of numbers up to 16 digits long.
4.
BYTE
factors are numeric factors, which use only one byte of storage space to
represent a numeric value between 0 and 255.
5. An alphanumeric string (a complicated - sounding term that simply means one
or more letters or numbers intermixed) such as Owner Name or Property
Location would be stored as a TEXT factor type.  
6. There are certain fields which only allow you to select an item from a pre-
defined set of choices, (i.e.: Acre Type, Physical Condition, etc. ).  This type of
factor is known as a CATEGORICAL
7. USER-DATE factors are utilized for dates that can be entered or modified by
the user.  They are always stored in MM/DD/YYYY format by the system.
8. AUTO-DATE
factors are dates that are automatically assigned by the system
whenever that particular item of data is stored.  They are also stored in
MM/DD/YYYY format.
Factors are assigned a certain length according to their type and their individual
estimated needs at the time the database is created. 
Previous page Top Next page