Key/Value pairs in a database table

Question

I need to design a Key/value table in my database and I\'m looking for guidance on the best way to do this. Basically, I need to be able to associate values to a dynamic se

Answer 1

It seems to me like you might have a couple design choices.

Choice 1: A two table design you hinted at in your answer

Keys (
 id int not null auto_increment
 key string/int
)
values (
 id int not null auto_increment
 key_id int
 value string/varchar/int
)

Choice 2: perhaps as sambo99 pointed out you could modify this:

keys (
 id int not null auto_increment
 key string/int
 hash_code int -- this would be computed by the inserting code, so that lookups would effectively have the id, and you can look them up directly
)

values (
 id int not null auto_increment -- this column might be nice since your hash_codes might colide, and this will make deletes/updates easier
 key_id int -- this column becomes optional
 hash_code int
 value string/varchar/int...
)

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