Data Types

Choose the most appropriate data type and size for each column

• SQL Server provides data types for strings, numbers, dates, and others

Specify an appropriate size that will support all data without wasted space

• Some data types can be implicitly converted, others must be explicitly converted SQL Server provides functions to perform data conversion

Character Strings

• Fixed length
• Variable length
• Large text
• Unicode

Numbers

• Integers
• Exact decimals
• Approximate decimals

Temporal Values

• Dates
• Times
• Date and Time
• Offsets

Others

• Bit (True/False)
• Binary
• Unique Identifier
• XML
• Spatial
• Timestamp