Corticon uses seven basic data types: Boolean, Decimal, Integer, String, DateTime, Date, and Time. An attribute must use one of these types. You also have the option of creating custom data types that “extend” any one of these basic seven.

You define and maintain Custom Data Types in a Vocabulary by selecting the Vocabulary name in the tree view.

Data Type Name

When defining a custom data type, you must give it a name with no blank spaces. The name must comply with standard entity naming conventions (see the Quick Reference Guide for details), and must not overlap (match) any of the base data types, any other custom data type names, or the names of any Vocabulary entities.

Base Data Type

The selection in this field determines which base data type the custom data type extends.

You already used this feature in the custom data type containerType, a String, in the Basic Rule Modeling Tutorial . The following figure lists its labels and values.

Figure 1. Vocabulary Editor Showing the Custom Data Type containerType

Enumeration or Constraint Expression?

Enumeration—When the Enumeration for a Custom Data Type is set to Yes, as shown in the preceding figure, the Constraint Expression field is disabled, and the Label and Value columns are enabled.

Constraint Expression—When the Enumeration for a Custom Data Type is set to No, the Constraint Expression field is enabled, and the Label and Value columns are disabled.

The following sections explore each of these features.