Datatype Conversion

Switchboard has the ability to convert data from one type to another.

Natively, Switchboard supports the following datatypes:

• string: A string of characters, equivalent to a the TEXT format in SQL.
• integer: A non-decimal. 
• float: A decimal value.
• boolean: “true” or “false”
• datetime.
• date.
• json: A JSON object, can be a nested record
• url: A special type for URL formats

A typecast may be used to parse a string. If the string cannot be parsed, the typecast will produce null. A typecast may also be used to assert that a JSON value has a particular type, for example:

import t1 from {...} using {c: json;}
    table t2 is select c.field[0]: integer as f0 from t1;

Examples

Convert a column to boolean datatype

table my_new_table is select
   string_column:boolean as boolean_column
from original_table;

Convert an column to an integer datatype

table my_new_table is select
   string_column:integer as integer_column
from original_table;