mysql custom global defined variable

Question

In my database design, I tend to store some variable that is meant to be acting as a ROLE or TYPE as SMALLINT. For example :

Answer 1

Since MySQL 5.5 it's not possible to set a global user-defined variable.

A work-around might be to create a stored procedure that would return what you need.

DROP PROCEDURE IF EXISTS HOUSE_SMALL_TYPE;
DELIMITER //
CREATE PROCEDURE HOUSE_SMALL_TYPE ()
BEGIN 
SELECT 0;
END//
DELIMITER ;

and then call it.

CALL HOUSE_SMALL_TYPE();

The DROP statement is required in order to be able to modify it.