Support (offered by community volunteers) > Using Core CiviCRM Functions

alphanumeric vs integer custom select fields

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ChrisM:
When adding a custom 'select' field of alphanumeric labels, the underlying data type can be either alphanumeric or integer.  For example a selection of regions could be implemented as

Label, Value(alphanumeric)
North, north
South, south
East, east
West, west 

OR

Label, Value(int)
North, 1
South, 2
East, 3
West, 4

I am wondering what the design considerations are for selecting one approach or the other.  My take is that integers are generally better:
- query speed (faster with Int ?)
- database size (smaller with Int ?)
- import/export (doesn't matter, since CiviCRM will work for both labels and values in 1.8, http://issues.civicrm.org/jira/browse/CRM-1586 ?)
- ease of making future changes (maybe better with alphanumeric ?)

but, I'd like to make sure I'm not missing anything.

Thanks,
Chris

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