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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-12T19:35:51+00:00

I’m trying to implement a custom form builder, similar to those provided by Wufoo

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I’m trying to implement a custom form builder, similar to those provided by Wufoo and Google.

While I’ve created a simple UI to create these custom forms with, my issues lie in the database design. Upon creating the form, a JSON implementation is saved in the database (would like to improve this) and referenced to build the form that a user would see.

Upon submission, I’d like to store all of the fields of the form in a database. Following the JSON structure used for designing the database, this is easy enough. However I’d like each individual field to be searchable.

The questions:

  1. Is there a better way to store the form design?
  2. What data structures/models would fit storage of the form’s results? I’ve seen that EAV could be a possiblity, but due to the different input types involved (drop-down, checkbox, text, textarea) this may become tedious.
  3. Which structure would allow easiest searching and permit the use of WHERE clauses? The JSON example given, doesn’t allow me to do this quite as nicely
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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    EAV is a valid option – it can be complex and awkward with what effectively becomes untyped data.

    XML with XPath would also be an option: http://dev.mysql.com/tech-resources/articles/xml-in-mysql5.1-6.0.html

    I would think that most cases would require you to generate dynamic SQL if the fields to search can vary.

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