Question

I have a table structure with columns id, user, and a dozen of other columns. I have to opt my users to select which day they want to receive the notifications and I can’t make up my mind about how to do that.

I don’t want to just add 7 more columns to the existing table as that just seems like a bad practice.

I thought of adding another table and then link these two together, but this would include a lot of rework on the existing code (and the speed in which I have to deliver this solution is a great factor).

I also thought of for example adding just one column to the existing table which would have the 7 character string like for example 1000100 which would basically mean accept the notification on monday and friday (you get the point – the position of the 1 or 0 in the array determines if that day I should send the notification to that email.

Can you suggest what would you do?

Answer 1

You should add another table. If adding one simple table is a lot of work, then you are doing something wrong.

create table user_notification_preference (
  user_id bigint not null references user (id),
  day_of_week smallint not null check (day_of_week between 0 and 6),

  primary key (user_id, day_of_week)
);