Best way to do custom fields?

[Tokhra]

Hi all,

Im writing a application that should allow the user to define custom fields, aswell as system ones. For example this is what i've come up with:

Property
-----------
PropertyID
.. Blah ..

Facility
-----------
FacilityID
Name
IsSystem

FacilityPropertyLink
-----------------------
PropertyID
FacilityID
Value

So, the facility table stores things like "Bedrooms", "Bathrooms" etc, some are marked as system and therefore cannot be deleted.

Then to assign these values to a property you use the FacilityPropertyLink table, where you enter the propertyid, facilityid for the value you are entering, and the value.

I just wanted to know if anyone has any comments on this?

Is this a good solution? or is there a more standard method of doing stuff like this?

I thought it would be bad practice to actually edit the table programatically?

Matt.