I think that I'd set up a varchar column and store a tab separated
list in it.
Then parse it upon retrieval.
Curtis
Dan Buettner wrote:
> Waynn, I've used
both schemes 1 and 2 as you describe, and in my
> experience
> 2 is the best way to go. It's easy to scale up as you add users
and
> settings, and it's easy to make changes if the meaning of
settings should
> change (i.e. you need to do a backend change to
people's settings).
>
> #1 is harder to make those kind
of back end updates on, and harder for
> someone troubleshooting
to make sense of the data.
>
> #3 may not scale well -
you would end up having to track too many tables,
> I
>
think.
>
> What I'm doing in my current project is using
a data model that has a
> method
> for each preference
setting, and returns a sensible value by default if
> the
> user has no pref set for a given lookup key; otherwise, I return
what the
> user has set. This means adding a method every time I
add a preference
> setting, which on the one hand means adding
code - on the other hand,
> chances are very high that if I am
adding the ability for a user to set a
> preference, I'm already
adding code somewhere to ensure that preference
> has
> an
effect.
>
> HTH,
> Dan
>
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 9:50 AM, Waynn Lue
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> I'm looking for
a good way to store user preferences. The most
>>
straightforward way is just to add a column to the Users table for
>> each preference we're looking to store. Downside is that it
requires
>> an ALTER TABLE which gets prohibitively expensive
as it gets larger,
>> as it's fairly inflexible. I've come up
with a few alternatives, and
>> I'm wondering if people have
ideas or suggestions, as this has to be a
>> common problem. A
quick Google search didn't turn up anything.
>>
>>
1. Store the preferences as a binary blob on the Users table. This
>> blob could be either a blob, or an integer that I use
application
>> logic to read/write from, or I could use the SET
datatype.
>> 2. Store the preferences in normalized form, with
a new table called
>> UserPreferences that has UserId, Setting,
Preference and we add a row
>> for each setting of that
user.
>> 3. Create a separate table each time we want to add a
new setting,
>> UserId, WhateverTheNameOfThePreferenceIs.
>>
>> Anyone have any experience with this, or better
suggestions?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Waynn
>>
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>
>
--
Curtis
Maurand
Head Honcho
Xyonet Hosting Services
Biddeford, ME
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