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I am looking for some suggestions for creating a User Profile System. I have just finished a user management application with the usual controls like Login, Registration, Password Reset, Admin section for managing user accounts etc. The one thing that is missing is a user profile functionality.

My dilemma is that virtually every project requires the collection of different information about the users so creating a specific list does not work because it will have to be modified and added to anyways. How do I approach something like this?

It is becoming obvious to me that a dynamic system that allows the admin to define and change this information is needed but I'm not sure where to start. Any suggestions?

Thank you!

BalusC
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  • Start with a list of things you feel that users might want to share, such as their Website, Twitter, IM Contact, etc. Create the database, add the fields, and make a Profile view page. Not too difficult. – drudge Nov 24 '10 at 18:35
  • Yes, but that is a static system which I am trying to improve. –  Nov 24 '10 at 18:42
  • This is the easy part. The hard part will be making it support localization. So not only can you select what things users can enter, but what the labels should be in spanish. – DampeS8N Nov 24 '10 at 18:42
  • All these extra fields are **meta** fields. You will never ever write a SQL query on them. So define the important as database fields, and fold the rest into a XML or JSON blob. – mario Nov 24 '10 at 19:33

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Check out this article on Techportal about the EAV (Entity, Attribute, Value) model, sounds like it would fit your bill perfectly.

Shog9
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nnevala
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