Rows are represented as columns in a View - mysql

Question

for my sense, I've a creative way of saving userdata. Let me explain:
I do not know which data is going to be saved in this database. For example, someone wants to save his icq number and i didn't know it before, where could he write it into? He dynamically creates a new field and in background there is an insert done in fields and an insert in user_fields where the new value of the new option is stored.
Table user:
id username
1 rauchmelder
Table fields:
id name
1 firstname
2 lastname
Table user_fields: (old values are stored as well as current, only youngest entry should be used)
id user_id fields_id value date
1 1 1 Chris 1.Mai
1 1 2 Rauch 1.Mai
1 1 1 Christopher 2.Mai
Result should be a View:
user.id user.username fields.firstname fields.lastname
1 rauchmelder Christopher Rauch
Firstly, does it make sense at all?
Secondly, should I solve it in MySQL or within the application?
Thridly, how to solve this in MySQL as a View?

Answer 1

In order to get the data into your columns, you can use an aggregate function with a CASE expression to convert the row data into columns.
If your fields are known ahead of time, then you can hard-code the values in your query:
select u.id,
u.username,
max(case when f.name = 'firstname' then uf.value end) firstname,
max(case when f.name = 'lastname' then uf.value end) lastname
from user u
left join
(
select uf1.*
from user_fields uf1
inner join
(
select max(date) maxDate, user_id, fields_id
from user_fields
group by user_id, fields_id
) uf2
on uf1.date = uf2.maxdate
and uf1.user_id = uf2.user_id
and uf1.fields_id = uf2.fields_id
) uf
on u.id = uf.user_id
left join fields f
on uf.fields_id = f.id
group by u.id, u.username;
See SQL Fiddle with Demo
But since you are going to have unknown fields, then you will need to use a prepared statement to generate dynamic SQL to execute. The syntax will be similar to this:
SET #sql = NULL;
SELECT
GROUP_CONCAT(DISTINCT
CONCAT(
'max(CASE WHEN f.name = ''',
name,
''' THEN uf.value END) AS `',
name, '`'
)
) INTO #sql
FROM fields;
SET #sql
= CONCAT('SELECT u.id,
u.username, ', #sql, '
from user u
left join
(
select uf1.*
from user_fields uf1
inner join
(
select max(date) maxDate, user_id, fields_id
from user_fields
group by user_id, fields_id
) uf2
on uf1.date = uf2.maxdate
and uf1.user_id = uf2.user_id
and uf1.fields_id = uf2.fields_id
) uf
on u.id = uf.user_id
left join fields f
on uf.fields_id = f.id
group by u.id, u.username');
PREPARE stmt FROM #sql;
EXECUTE stmt;
DEALLOCATE PREPARE stmt;
See SQL Fiddle with Demo