Datatypes for Variables and Parameters

Variable and parameter data can be scalar values or complex objects:

Scalar Types	string
	number
	date (deprecated, use datetime instead)
	datetime
	boolean
Complex Types (objects)	document
Complex Types (objects)	Any token that identifies a named type from a specific mashable information source. The service attribute must be used with named types. With this complex type, mashable metadata provides type information for the token.

Variables that are implicitly declared always have a document type. For more details, see also:

Valid Date Formats for MashZone NextGen Mashables and Mashups

Commonly Supported Output Character Encodings

For example:

Document type variables are represented in XML and must be well-formed. The MashZone NextGen Server automatically converts the results of component mashable information sources to XML for any variable that holds complex objects, unless the variable has a subtype specified.

Document-type variables can also contain well-formed HTML or JSON by specifying a subtype. These subtypes:

Allow mashups or macros to properly parse HTML. See Handling HTML Responses for examples.

Allow mashups or macros to prevent conversion of JSON responses or input parameters to XML. See Handling JSON Responses or Inputs for examples.

You can also construct complex data for variables or parameters as literal XML. See Default and Constructed Values for information and examples on constructing data.