From: Martijn Tonies
Date: December 31 2003 9:46am
Subject: Re: Create Tables In MySQL
List-Archive: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql/156562
Message-Id: <010e01c3cf82$f27d4560$0e02a8c0@martijn>
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Hi Caroline,


> Hi, I have several simple questions regarding creating
> tables in the MySQL.
>
> 1. For a variable of Java primitive int type, I should
> use INT or INTEGER? Do I have to specify the length of
> the field?
> CREATE TABLE message_thread( thread_id INT or INTEGER
> NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY);

There's no difference in INT or INTEGER - see
http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/Column_types.html

> 2. A field in my table is for storing articles.
> Articles could be very long in variable length. I
> should use VARCHAR or TEXT? What about the length of
> the field?

VARCHAR has a maximum length of 255 characters, although I
think this is increased in a later MySQL version. If you want to
store "unlimited" amounts of text, use a blob (or blob like) column
type, eg: MEDIUMTEXT or LONGTEXT
See http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/Column_types.html for details.

> 3. For a variable of the Timestamp type, do I specify
> CREATE TABLE message_thread( thread_creation_date
> TIMESTAMP NOT NULL );
> What about the length of the field?

To store date/time values, use the DATETIME type. See
http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/DATETIME.html

With regards,

Martijn Tonies
Database Workbench - developer tool for InterBase, Firebird, MySQL & MS SQL
Server.
Upscene Productions
http://www.upscene.com