Data Type for Checkbox and OptionButton

Hey

I am building my 1st MySQL database and have 2 questions:

1) If I want to have a checkbox linked to a field in a table, what Data Type
do I set for that field?

2) If I want to have 2 optionbuttons linked to 2 seperate fields in a table,
what Data Type do I set for those fields?



Thanks
Todd

Todd Huttenstine wrote:
> Hey
>
> I am building my 1st MySQL database and have 2 questions:
>
> 1) If I want to have a checkbox linked to a field in a table, what Data Type
> do I set for that field?

TINYINT should be okey, use 0 for unchecked and 1 for checked (makes it easier
in if-statements).


> 2) If I want to have 2 optionbuttons linked to 2 seperate fields in a table,
> what Data Type do I set for those fields?

TINYINT should be okey, use 0 for unselected and 1 for selcted option (makes
it easier in if-statements).



--

//Aho

Todd Huttenstine wrote:
> Hey
>
> I am building my 1st MySQL database and have 2 questions:
>
> 1) If I want to have a checkbox linked to a field in a table, what Data Type
> do I set for that field?
>
> 2) If I want to have 2 optionbuttons linked to 2 seperate fields in a table,
> what Data Type do I set for those fields?
>
>
>
> Thanks
> Todd
>
>

Actually, it's irrelevant.

You want to check/uncheck the box based on some condition. That is that
condition? It might be true or false (1 or 0), in which case a tinyint
would do.

However, it may some completely different condition. For instance, if
you're building a bulletin board system, you might want to allow or
disallow the user access to one or more topics on the board. In this
case you wouldn't even have a column for that checkbox. You would have
a link table which has userid's and topicid's. If the userid/topicid
pair is in the table, the checkbox would be checked. If it isn't in the
table, the checkbox would be unchecked.

IOW - don't get hung up on checkboxes. The display of the information
should be is independent of the storage of the information. What you
need to do is determine what the column needs to hold based on how it
will be used in the rest of the program. After all, a column to just
check/uncheck a box and do nothing else is worthless.

Base the type of data for that column (or even the presence/absence of
the column) on the logic in your code and what you need to store there.
Then determine in your language of choice how to check/uncheck the box
based on the actual data conditions.

--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================