Data Types

Overview

Most of the data types are self explanatory and are adapted to the database in use. Refer to the database documentation for its data types specifics.

Every type below lives in org.dbunit.dataset.datatype. Which SQL type maps to which of these is normally decided automatically — see the DataType Factory property for how to override or extend the mapping, and Database-Specific Guides for vendor-specific types (Oracle SDO_GEOMETRY, PostgreSQL citext/interval/inet, MSSQL uniqueidentifier/datetimeoffset, MariaDB UUID/INET4/INET6, and more) not covered here.

How a dataset field’s text becomes a typed value of one of these types — nulls, empty strings, the [TEXT|BASE64|FILE|URL] and [now…] bracket syntaxes, UUID literals, booleans and numbers from strings — is covered in Dataset Values.

Type	Java Type	Notes
`BigIntegerDataType`	`java.math.BigInteger`	The default mapping for SQL `BIGINT`.
`BinaryStreamDataType`	`byte[]`	Reads via `ResultSet.getBinaryStream()` instead of `getBytes()`. Not registered by default — used by vendor factories for large binary values, e.g. Oracle’s `LONG RAW` and streamed `BLOB` (`OracleDataTypeFactory`/`Oracle10DataTypeFactory`).
`BitDataType`	`Boolean`	The default mapping for SQL `BIT`; extends `BooleanDataType`.
`BlobDataType`	`byte[]`	The default mapping for SQL `BLOB`. See Dataset Values for the `[TEXT\|BASE64\|FILE\|URL]` load syntax.
`BooleanDataType`	`Boolean`	The default mapping for SQL `BOOLEAN`.
`BytesDataType`	`byte[]`	Abstract base for the binary types above/below; not itself registered for any SQL type.
`ClobDataType`	`String`	The default mapping for SQL `CLOB`; extends `StringDataType`.
`DateDataType`	`java.sql.Date`	The default mapping for SQL `DATE`. See Dataset Values for literal and relative (`[now…]`) date syntax.
`DoubleDataType`	`Double`	The default mapping for SQL `DOUBLE` and SQL `FLOAT` — see the naming note under `FloatDataType`.
`FloatDataType`	`Float`	The default mapping for SQL `REAL`. Confusingly, SQL `FLOAT` maps to `DoubleDataType`/Java `Double` while SQL `REAL` maps here, to Java `Float` — this mirrors `java.sql.Types`, not a dbUnit choice.
`IntegerDataType`	`Integer`	The default mapping for SQL `TINYINT`, `SMALLINT`, and `INTEGER`.
`LongDataType`	`Long`	An alternate `BIGINT` mapping using Java `Long` instead of `BigInteger`. Not registered by default (`DataType.BIGINT` uses `BigIntegerDataType`); wire it in yourself via a custom `IDataTypeFactory` if you prefer `Long`.
`NumberDataType`	`java.math.BigDecimal`	The default mapping for SQL `NUMERIC`/`DECIMAL`.
`NumberTolerantDataType`	`java.math.BigDecimal`	A `NumberDataType` variant comparing within a tolerance instead of requiring an exact match. See NumberTolerantDataType below.
`StringDataType`	`String`	The default mapping for SQL `CHAR`, `VARCHAR`, `LONGVARCHAR`, `NCHAR`, `NVARCHAR`, and `LONGNVARCHAR`.
`StringIgnoreCaseDataType`	`String`	A `StringDataType` variant comparing case-insensitively. See StringIgnoreCaseDataType below.
`TimeDataType`	`java.sql.Time`	The default mapping for SQL `TIME`. See Dataset Values for literal and relative (`[now…]`) time syntax.
`TimestampDataType`	`java.sql.Timestamp`	The default mapping for SQL `TIMESTAMP`. See Dataset Values for literal and relative (`[now…]`) timestamp syntax.
`UuidAwareBytesDataType`	`byte[]`	The default mapping for SQL `BINARY`/`VARBINARY`/`LONGVARBINARY` — a `BytesDataType` variant additionally recognizing a UUID literal. See UuidAwareBytesDataType below and Dataset Values for the syntax.

NumberTolerantDataType

NumberTolerantDataType JavaDoc

A NumberDataType that accepts a value within a tolerated delta instead of requiring an exact match — comparable to JUnit’s assertEquals(double, double, double delta). The delta can be an absolute amount or a percentage of the expected value.

Register a tolerance per table/column by adding a ToleratedDeltaMap.ToleratedDelta to a DefaultDataTypeFactory (or a vendor factory extending it):

DefaultDataTypeFactory factory = new DefaultDataTypeFactory();
// allow ACCOUNT.BALANCE actual/expected values to differ by up to 0.01
factory.addToleratedDelta(new ToleratedDeltaMap.ToleratedDelta("ACCOUNT", "BALANCE", 0.01));
config.setProperty(DatabaseConfig.PROPERTY_DATATYPE_FACTORY, factory);

Pass true as a fourth constructor argument to treat the delta as a percentage of the expected value instead of an absolute amount. For comparisons that don’t need per-column DataType registration, see the ValueComparer-based tolerance implementations instead — ValueComparer Comparison.

StringIgnoreCaseDataType

StringIgnoreCaseDataType JavaDoc

A StringDataType that compares values with String.compareToIgnoreCase() instead of exact equality. Like NumberTolerantDataType, register it for specific columns through a custom IDataTypeFactory (or by returning it directly from createDataType() for the columns that need case-insensitive comparison) set via DatabaseConfig.PROPERTY_DATATYPE_FACTORY — see the DataType Factory property.

UuidAwareBytesDataType

UuidAwareBytesDataType JavaDoc

The default DataType for SQL BINARY/VARBINARY/LONGVARBINARY columns. It behaves like BytesDataType, plus recognizes a UUID literal so UUIDs stored in binary columns need not be base64- or hex-encoded by hand. The uuid'…' field syntax is documented in Dataset Values.