Database Design For Developing 'Quiz' Web Application using PHP and MySQL

Question

So, I\'m trying to learn PHP and MySQL (I have a basic understanding of both; I\'ve read the first half of both Head First SQL and Head First PHP & MySQL) and I figure t

Answer 1

I would start with 4 simple tables:

 * User
   - user_id    auto integer
   - regtime    datetime
   - username   varchar
   - useremail  varchar
   - userpass   varchar
 * Question
   - question_id   auto integer
   - question      varchar
   - is_active     enum(0,1)
 * Question_choices
   - choice_id        auto integer
   - question_id      integer
   - is_right_choice  enum(0,1)
   - choice           varchar
 * User_question_answer
   - user_id      integer
   - question_id  integer
   - choice_id    integer
   - is_right     enum(0,1)
   - answer_time  datetime

My thought on this table design is:

• table User is for storing registered user.
• table Question is for storing all your questions. It has is_active so that you can selectively display only active questions (using WHERE is_active = '1')
• table question_choices is for storing all available options. It has is_right_choice which defines what choice is the right answer for particular question.
• Table User_question_answer is for storing answer from your user. It has is_right for faster lookup, to see whether that particular question and answer choice is right (based on is_right_choice previously defined). It also has answer_time just to note when that particular user answer the question.