Re: [PHP] I need a fresh look at storing variables in MySQL

On Sun, Mar 14, 2010 at 2:10 AM, tedd <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi gang:
>
> I just completed writing a survey that has approximately 180 questions in
> it and I need a fresh look at how to store the results so I can use them
> later.
>
> The survey requires the responder to identify themselves via an
> authorization script. After which, the responder is permitted to take the
> survey. Everything works as the client wants so there are no problems there.
>
> My question is how to store the results?
>
> I have the answers stored in a session variable, like:
>
> $_SESSION['answer']['e1']
> $_SESSION['answer']['e2']
> $_SESSION['answer']['e2a']
> $_SESSION['answer']['e2ai']
> $_SESSION['answer']['p1']
> $_SESSION['answer']['p1a']
> $_SESSION['answer']['p1ai']
>
> and so on. As I said, there are around 180 questions/answers.
>
> Most of the answers are integers (less than 100), some are text, and some
> will be null.
>
> Each "vote" will have a unique number (i.e., time) assigned to it as well
> as a common survey id.
>
> My first thought was to simply record the "vote" as a single record with
> the answers as a long string (maybe MEDIUMTEXT), such as:
>
> 1, 1268501271, e1, 1, e2, 16, e2a, Four score and ..., e2a1, ,
>
> Then I thought I might make the data xml, such as:
>
> <survey_id>1</survey_id><vote_id>1268501271</vote_id><e1>1</e1><e2>16</e2><e2a>Four
> score and ...</e2a><e2ai></e2ai>
>
> That way I can strip text entries for <> and have absolute control over
> question separation.
>
> Then I thought I could make each question/answer combination have it's own
> record while using the vote_id to tie the "vote" together. That way I can
> use MySQL to do the heavy lifting during the analysis. While each "vote"
> creates 180 records, I like this way best.
>
> Then I thought, what would you guys do? So, what would you guys do?
>
> Keep in mind that this survey must evaluated in terms of answers, such as
> "Of the ones who answered e1 as 1 how did they answer e2?"
>
> If there is something wrong with my preference, please let me know.
>
> Thanks,
>
> tedd
>
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Hi Ted,

How about saving the array in serialize variable to TEXT column

$answer = serialize($_SESSION['answer']);

to get the original array value simply unserialize the value from the
database..

Paragasu