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PODatabase design for dynamic form field validation
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2010-10-11T21:59:56.263
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In my application, I allow users to create a form containing any HTML form field they want (e.g. text input, textarea, select, etc.). I want to give the users the ability to define 0 or more cumulative validation rules for each field (there might be up to 25 different validation rules). How should I model this? Here's a potential solution: <pre><code>============================================================ | Id | FieldId | ValidationRuleType | ValidationRuleDetail | ============================================================ | 1 | 25 | Required | NULL | ------------------------------------------------------------ | 2 | 26 | Minimum Length | 5 | ------------------------------------------------------------ | 3 | 26 | Maximum Length | 12 | ------------------------------------------------------------ ... </code></pre> Using the above design, maybe in most cases, the ValidationRuleType could just be "Regex" (or a value from a lookup table, such as ValidationRuleTypeId = 1 for "Regex"), and use the following for ValidationRuleDetail: <pre><code>// Added bonus of this approach is that users who know regex could define their own patterns .{1,} // Any character, 1 or more times. Use for "Required" .{5,} // Any character, 5 or more times. Use for "Minimum Length = 5" .{,12} // Any character, 12 or less times. Use for "Maximum Length = 12" </code></pre> The problem is that this solution is EAV. That's a bad thing, right? Another potential solution: <pre><code>============================================================= | Id | FieldId | Required | Minimum Length | Maximum Length | ============================================================= | 1 | 25 | TRUE | NULL | NULL | ------------------------------------------------------------- | 2 | 26 | NULL | 5 | 12 | ------------------------------------------------------------- ... </code></pre> Is this better? I'm conflicted on which approach to use. Any guidance I can get is much appreciated.
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<mysql><database><erd><database-design>
Title
Database design for dynamic form field validation
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