Datatypes

The datatype Property field provides a hint to Openexus and users as to what kind of thing a Property can hold. This in turn steers what a Property can connect to and interact with. datatypes are useful indicators on how properties can communicate with other properties.

Here's just a small example smattering of datatype usage...

properties.yaml

view:
  datatype: web-view
slot:
  datatype: web-view[]
some_datatype_I_have:  
  datatype: text
some_action:
  datatype: action
  properties:
    id:
      datatype: text
some_trigger:
  datatype: trigger
your_secret:
  datatype: secret

Default Type

If no datatype is specified for a Property, the default type of any is used. As we mention above, it is undesirable to use the any type, so please avoid not providing a datatype for properties.

Datatypes & Connections

Datatypes provide a useful hint as to how Nodes can communicate with each other, similar to typing in a programming language. Some common rules are:

• any can always connect with any other Property, irregardless of datatype.
• trigger datatypes can only be connected with action datatypes.

Platforms that implement the spec can decide how to treat connections with different datatypes. On openexus, when different datatypes are connected (For example: number to text), we will provide a warning to the user and also try our best to cast the datatypes accordingly.

Quick Reference

You can view a quick reference for all datatypes here: Quick Reference