Configuration data: single-row table vs. name-value-pair table

Posted by Heinzi on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Heinzi
Published on 2012-09-04T14:48:19Z Indexed on 2012/09/04 15:52 UTC
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Filed under:

database-design

|

data-structures

|

configuration

Let's say you write an application that can be configured by the user. For storing this "configuration data" into a database, two patterns are commonly used.

The single-row table

  CompanyName  |  StartFullScreen  |  RefreshSeconds  |  ...
---------------+-------------------+------------------+--------
  ACME Inc.    |        true       |       20         |  ...

The name-value-pair table

  ConfigOption   |   Value
-----------------+-------------
 CompanyName     | ACME Inc.
 StartFullScreen | true (or 1, or Y, ...)
 RefreshSeconds  | 20
 ...             | ...

I've seen both options in the wild, and both have obvious advantages and disadvantages, for example:

The single-row tables limits the number of configuration options you can have (since the number of columns in a row is usually limited). Every additional configuration option requires a DB schema change.
In a name-value-pair table everything is "stringly typed" (you have to encode/decode your Boolean/Date/etc. parameters).
(many more)

Is there some consensus within the development community about which option is preferable?

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