Structured Data Types

A structured data type describes a data type that consists of several components. The component of a structured data type has a name, a data type, and a namespace as attributes.

The structured data types are used to generate structured data objects that represent a list of uniquely named components and their values. The components of a data structure themselves have data types that are elementary, structured, array, or enumeration data types. In this way it is possible to create deeply nested data structures. Structured data types can be derived from one another to map a type hierarchy.

The PCo data type repository also allows abstract structured data types. Abstract data types define basic components of derived data types, but data objects cannot be created from abstract data types. A structured data object of type System.Object can contain any number of components with any data types.