1. A computer-implemented method comprising: storing data from an application operating on an application server in an application format defined by an application custom data type and an application custom data structure in a database operating on a database server, the database server further comprising a hard disk drive storing other data in a database format that is different from the application format; retrieving the data from the database in response to a request to access the data; receiving the application custom data structure in the database; transforming the other data stored in the hard disk drive from the database format to the application format using the application custom data structure processed by a database engine; and sending transformed other data from the database in the application format.