How to store multiple dynamic values within one field in MySQL? - php

Question

How can I go about storing multiple values (numbers and words) within one field of a MySQL database and then extracting them again as and when I need them using MySQL and PHP?
For example, I want to store the dynamic values a user will enter using a form for example 1, 2, foo, tree, and monkey all in the same field in a database.
Then I want to extract it and put them on separate lines for example:
1
2
foo
tree
monkey
Any ideas?

Answer 1

MySQL 5.7.8 has a new data type that is JSON. You can store a JSON string with all the user information in that column.
Example:
CREATE TABLE table1 (jsonString JSON);
INSERT INTO table1 VALUES('{"car": "bmw", "year": "2006", "key": "value" }');
MySQL Reference

Answer 2

You can put all the values into an array and then serialize it:
$string = serialize(array(1, 2, 'foo', 'tree', 'monkey');
This will give you a string which you store in your database. Later, you can recover your array with de-serializing it:
$array = unserialize($string);

Answer 3

If you're referring to a datatype which can handle a whole slew of stuff, you can use text otherwise this is a bad idea and this is not how you should be storing data in a normalized relational database. Can you please provide information on what you're storing?
I'm a SQL noob myself so if any guru has a better schema strategy, let me know.. this is what I came up with:
Dump:
/*
Navicat MySQL Data Transfer
Date: 2009-10-20 03:01:18
*/
SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0;
-- ----------------------------
-- Table structure for `job_scores`
-- ----------------------------
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `job_scores`;
CREATE TABLE `job_scores` (
`job_id` int(2) NOT NULL,
`user_id` int(2) NOT NULL,
`rating` tinyint(2) NOT NULL
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 COLLATE=utf8_unicode_ci;
-- ----------------------------
-- Records of job_scores
-- ----------------------------
INSERT INTO `job_scores` VALUES ('1', '1', '10');
-- ----------------------------
-- Table structure for `jobs`
-- ----------------------------
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `jobs`;
CREATE TABLE `jobs` (
`id` int(2) NOT NULL auto_increment,
`name` varchar(50) collate utf8_unicode_ci default NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=2 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 COLLATE=utf8_unicode_ci;
-- ----------------------------
-- Records of jobs
-- ----------------------------
INSERT INTO `jobs` VALUES ('1', 'plumber');
-- ----------------------------
-- Table structure for `users`
-- ----------------------------
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `users`;
CREATE TABLE `users` (
`id` int(2) NOT NULL auto_increment,
`name` varchar(50) collate utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=2 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 COLLATE=utf8_unicode_ci;
-- ----------------------------
-- Records of users
-- ----------------------------
INSERT INTO `users` VALUES ('1', 'John');
Example query:
SELECT
jobs.name as job_name, users.name as user_name, job_scores.rating
FROM
job_scores
INNER JOIN jobs ON jobs.id = job_scores.job_id
INNER JOIN users on users.id = job_scores.user_id
WHERE
user_id = 1
Result:
plumber John 10