Schema to support dynamic properties

Question

I\'m working on an editor that enables its users to create \"object\" definitions in real-time. A definition can contain zero or more properties. A property has a name a type. O

Answer 1

You must accept that relational databases are not good at providing this kind of functionality. They CAN provide it, but are not good at it. (I hope I'm wrong). Relational databases lend themselves better to defined interfaces, not changing interfaces.

--EAV tables give dynamic fields but suck on performance. Sucks on indexing. And it is complex to query. It gets the job done in many situations, but can fall apart on big tables with lots of users hitting the system.

--"Regular" tables with several place holder columns are OK for performance, but you get non-descriptive column names and are limited in the number of columns you can "add". Also it does not support sub-type separation.

--Typically you create/modify tables at development time, not run time. Should we really discriminate against modifying the database at run time? maybe, maybe not. Creating new tables, foreign keys, and columns at run-time can achieve true dynamic objects, while giving the performance benefits of "regular" tables. But you would have to query the schema of the database, then dynamically generate all of your queries. That would suck. It would totally break the concept of tables as an interface.