Enums are a hack for the fact that MySQL didn't have proper referential integrity until recently. In this case, the better answer is probably to put your column in a seperate table which is linked to with a foreign key. You can use a subselect (another thing MySQL only recently got) to get the data back out:
CREATE TABLE payment_types (
id int primary key auto_increment,
name blob not null unique
) type = InnoDB; -- Because InnoDB doesn't suck
CREATE TABLE order ( -- or whatever you call it
id int primary key auto_increment,
pay_type int not null,
-- other columns
FOREIGN KEY (pay_type) REFERENCES payment_type (id)
ON DELETE RESTRICT
) type = InnoDB;
-- Example insert
INSERT INTO order (pay_type) VALUES (
(SELECT id FROM payment_type WHERE name = 'VISA')
)
Yes, there is a performance hit. It's also a much cleaner implementation.
Update: s/FOREGIN/FOREIGN/. Thanks to cLive ;-).
----
: () { :|:& };:
Note: All code is untested, unless otherwise stated
-
Are you posting in the right place? Check out Where do I post X? to know for sure.
-
Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags. Currently these include the following:
<code> <a> <b> <big>
<blockquote> <br /> <dd>
<dl> <dt> <em> <font>
<h1> <h2> <h3> <h4>
<h5> <h6> <hr /> <i>
<li> <nbsp> <ol> <p>
<small> <strike> <strong>
<sub> <sup> <table>
<td> <th> <tr> <tt>
<u> <ul>
-
Snippets of code should be wrapped in
<code> tags not
<pre> tags. In fact, <pre>
tags should generally be avoided. If they must
be used, extreme care should be
taken to ensure that their contents do not
have long lines (<70 chars), in order to prevent
horizontal scrolling (and possible janitor
intervention).
-
Want more info? How to link
or How to display code and escape characters
are good places to start.
|