User inputable SQL fields

jamesl73

I'm sure there's another term for this, because "user inputable SQL fields" gives me nothing in google. The idea is, say I have an inventory system. I have some predefined fields that I know will be needed, but I want to give the ability for the user to add additional fields that they need to track as well.

I'm looking for pointers to a tutorial or a guide that will help me do the coding for this, or at least a common industry term for it so I can do more intelligent searches.

Thanks,
James

Shrike

Adding additional fields to a database table dynamically is most definitely not the way to go. If you need configurable "types" in your inventory then why not just create a table which can describe them?

jamesl73

That's what I'm looking for. I figure I need three tables. A inventory table. A field definition table that will have two fields, field_id and field_desc. Those are the user inputable fields. Then I will need another table that holds the field value and links it to a record in the inventory table. It would be three fields, field_id to link to the field definition table. inventory_id to link to the inventory table and a value field.

I need help with the logic to tie all these together for doing inserts and updates.

jamesl73

Your mention of "configurable types" at least got me a better google search for what I'm looking for.

Still doing more research, but this looks useful.

http://www.adaniels.nl/articles/an-alternative-way-of-eav-modeling/