[Zope] db type conversion question

[Sam Gendler]

Is there a way to get zope to automatically keep fields returned from a
SQL query as the correct type.  Currently. my int fields are converted
to string, which I then wind up having to convert back to int for
comparisons, etc.  I thought I saw some mention of a type dictionary in
the db connection string, but I couldn't find any examples.  I could
have been mistaken, too.  Someone please illuminate me.  I am using
MySQL by the way.

--sam