mySQL Table Metadata

[Michael42]

Is it possible to store metadata for each field natively on mySQL?

I need to store some text properties (madatory, defaultvalue etc.) associated with mySQL fields.

Thanks,

Michael42

 

[sleipnir214]

"mandatory" can be inferred from setting the "not null" property of a field.

"default value" can be inferred from the "default" property of a field.

For other metadata there is no method for storing the information in MySQL as a part of the table itself.

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[Michael42]

sleipnir214,

Thanks for responding - you are correct.
1. Can you test ifor a required field from PHP? Do you have a snippet?
2. Also, how can you extract the default mySQL value to PHP?

This is where I am headed (I am new to PHP).

If not I'd like to handle these at the PHP level also adding some others (Title, ControlType, onLister, onForm etc.).

In short, I am playing with creating a RAD app for PHP.


Thanks again,

Michael42

 

[sleipnir214]

From PHP, you can simply issue a query like:

DESCRIBE tablename

which will then return data similar to:

+-----------+------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field     | Type             | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+-----------+------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| id        | int(10) unsigned |      | PRI | NULL    | auto_increment |
| lastname  | varchar(10)      | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| firstname | varchar(10)      | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| thedate   | date             | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| isAlive   | set('Y','N')     | YES  |     | Y       |                |
+-----------+------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+

This data is manipulated just like any other SELECT query you might issue.

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