Conversion of Data Types

Article
08/03/2018

Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Feature Pack, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

The automatic and explicit conversions that can be carried out between different data types are listed in the help topics for several of the primitive and composite data types. This topic describes the rules and algorithms that MorphX uses to perform automatic (or implicit) type conversion on primitive data types.

The default values and the internal representation for variables of primitive data types in X++ are shown in the following table.

Data type	Default	Internal representation
Boolean	false	Short number
Integer	0	Long number
Real	0.0	BCD (binary-coded digital) number
Date	Null	Date
String	empty	List of characters
Enums	0 (first entry)	Short number

The internal implementation is shown to explain the automatic type conversions that X++ can perform. The principle is simple: every number can automatically be converted to another number in an expression. Usually, the conversion is upward; that is, from short to long to BCD. The conversion follows the operators in the expression. The following table shows the rules.

Operator	Description
+ - *	If one of the operands is a real, the other will be converted into real and the result is a real. If both are integers, Booleans, or enums, no conversion will take place, and the result will be integer, Boolean, or enum, respectively. Otherwise, a Boolean is promoted to enum and enum is promoted to integer
/	Because / is division, the result can be decimal. X++ converts numbers to real before performing the division. The result is real.

+ - *

If one of the operands is a real, the other will be converted into real and the result is a real.

If both are integers, Booleans, or enums, no conversion will take place, and the result will be integer, Boolean, or enum, respectively.

Otherwise, a Boolean is promoted to enum and enum is promoted to integer

Because / is division, the result can be decimal. X++ converts numbers to real before performing the division. The result is real.

Conversion Examples

In the examples shown in the following table, which illustrate these principles, the first letter of the data type is used as a variable identifier (b is a Boolean, d is a date, I is an integer, r is a real, and s is a string).

ID	Expression	Left data type	Operands converted	With numbers	Result
1	i = b + b	integer	Boolean, Boolean	i = false + false	0
2	i = r + b	integer	real, real	i = 33.3 + true	34
3	b = i + r	Boolean	real, real	b = 10 + 33.3	undefined
4	b = i + r	Boolean	real, real	b = 0 + 1	true
5	r = i + b	real	integer, integer	r = 100 + false	100.0
6	r = i + b	real	integer, integer	r = 100 + true	101.0
7	i = r MOD b	integer	integer, integer	i = 33.3 MOD true	0
8	r = i DIV i	real	no conversion	r = 100 DIV 5	20
9	d = d + i	date	date, date	d = 1\1\1998 + 30	31\1\1998
10	i = d + i	integer	date, date	i = 1\1\1998 + 1	compile error
11	d = d + d	date	date, date	d = 1\1\1998+1\1\1998	compile error
12	s = s + s	string	string, string	s = "a" + "b"	"ab"
13	i = s + i	integer

Notes for the Preceding Examples

The following table discusses details about some of the rows in the preceding table. The ID values match.

ID	Discussion
2	The assignment i = r + b, with r = 33.3 and b = true is calculated as follows: `i = 33.3 + true; // Which is evaluated as... i = 33.3 + 1.0; // Which is evaluated as... i = 34.3; // Which is evaluated as... i = 34; // ...as i is an integer.`
3	The result is undefined because a Boolean has only two legal values: false (0) and true (1). The result of the expression 10 + 33.3 is 43, which is assigned to the Boolean. Note Because the internal representation is integer, you can use the Boolean in an expression and it will represent the value 43. The Boolean will be considered true.
9	Shows that an integer can be added to a date. The system treats the integer as a quantity of days. Note The utcdatetime data type does not support arithmetic operations and implicit conversions. Instead, methods on the DateTimeUtil class can be used.
10	Results in a compiler error, because a date cannot be automatically converted into an integer.
11	Shows that you cannot add dates together.
12	Shows that the + operator strings concatenates two strings to create a new string.
13	Shows that there is no automatic conversion between strings and integers (or other numbers). However, you can make explicit conversions by using built-in conversion functions, such as the str2int function.

Conversion of Data Types

Conversion Examples

Notes for the Preceding Examples

See also

Additional resources