Patent ID: 7284010

Claim:
In a computer system in which an object that is an instance of a user defined type can be persisted in a database store, wherein a definition of the user defined type comprises a plurality of fields, each of said plurality of fields being assigned any one of a plurality of data types supported by the database store, at least one of said plurality of fields of the definition being designated as containing data that is to be stored as a file outside of the database store separately from the data of the other of said plurality of fields of the type definition while maintaining the assigned data type of said at least one designated field, a method comprising: creating a unique dedicated directory within a file system of the computer system for storing files containing the data of said at least one designated field of instances of the user defined type; receiving requests to store objects that are different instances of the user defined type, and for each such request to store an object that is an instance of the user defined type: determining from the designation of said at least one field of the instance of the user defined type that the data of that field is to be stored as a file outside of the database storing the data of said at least one designated field of the instance of the user defined type as a respective file within the created directory; and storing the data in each of the other fields of said plurality of fields of the instance of the user defined type within the database store.