---
url: /statelake/scripting-reference/data-types/variant.md
---

# Variant

**Variant** is a special data type that is capable of holding any type of data.

For instance, a variable defined as a **Variant** could be set to a numeric value, a **boolean**, or a **String** value.

.Value is used to get or set the value of the field as a **Variant**. When referencing a field using this .Value property, you will have the field returned as a **Variant**, which means along with any actual data, it could also contain the value of *empty* or *null*.

But be mindful that a *null* value is different from an *empty* value.

As well as using .Value, you can reference the field using either .AsString, .AsInteger, or .AsFloat to have any *null* values converted into a blank **String**, zero (0), or 0.0000 respectively.

Any database field that contains a *null* value will be returned as *null*.

Check out the section on [Testing For Null (empty or blank) Values](/statelake/scripting-reference/data-types/testing-for-null-empty-or-blank-values) for additional details.

For example, using **MyVariant** as the variable name, the variable is set to be a blank **String** using MyVariant := ''; , while the variable is set to *null* with MyVariant := null; as below.

```pascal
// To set a variable as a blank string
MyVariant := '';

// To set a variable as a null string
MyVariant := null;
```

You will receive errors if passing a *null* variant to a function that expects parameters to be a specific data type, such as **Integer** or **String** etc. Please also refer to [Scripting Reference](/statelake/scripting-reference/) for more information.

Once you give a **Variant** a value and therefore a data type, an internal flag is set which indicates what data type the **Variant** represents. From that point onwards, you should not try and change the data type, but should treat the **Variant** as only that particular data type which was originally set.

There is a potential danger when concatenating strings and numbers without explicit conversion - refer to [String (String, Widestring)](/statelake/scripting-reference/data-types/string-string-widestring) for more detail.

For instance if you set a **Variant** value to **123.45**, it is flagged as a floating-point number and therefore you should explicitly convert it when concatenating to a **String**.

**Declaration**: var myvariable : variant

This example shows four different data types being set.

```pascal
procedure ScriptEvent (var Value : variant);
 var myvariable : variant;
begin
  myvariable := 123.45;                 //A floating-point value
  myvariable := 'This is some text';    //A string
  myvariable := Date;                   //Setting it as a date variable
  myvariable := null;                   //Setting it with a null value
  myvariable := '';                     //An empty string
  myvariable := '  ';                   //A blank string
end;
```

You can work with **Variants** using the available **Variant** functions. [Variant Functions](/statelake/scripting-reference/functions-and-procedures/variant-functions/) will provide more guidance.

For a list of the available **variant** data types, please review [TVarType](/statelake/scripting-reference/data-types/enumerations/tvartype).