sdds_type: The SDDS data type for which the size is wanted. Must be one
of the constants (defined in SDDS.h) SDDS_LONGDOUBLE, SDDS_DOUBLE,
SDDS_FLOAT, SDDS_LONG, SDDS_ULONG, SDDS_SHORT, SDDS_USHORT,
SDDS_CHARACTER, or SDDS_STRING
return value: On success, returns a positive integer giving the size of the data type in bytes. On failure, returns -1
and records an error message.