Save filter criteria on a SQL database - sql

Question

I have a Products table as follows:
create table dbo.Product (
Id int not null
Name nvarchar (80) not null,
Price decimal not null
)
I am creating Baskets (lists of products) as follows:
create table dbo.Baskets (
Id int not null
Name nvarchar (80) not null
)
create table dbo.BasketProducts (
BasketId int not null,
ProductId int not null,
)
A basket is created based on a Search Criteria using parameters:
MinimumPrice;
MaximumPrice;
Categories (can be zero to many);
MinimumWarrantyPeriod
I need to save these parameters so later I know how the basket was created.
In the future I will have more parameters so I see 2 options:
Add MinimumPrice, MaximumPrice and MinimumWarrantyPeriod as columns to Basket table and add a BasketCategories and Categories tables to relate a Basket to Categories.
Create a more flexible design using a Parameters table:
create table dbo.BasketParameters (
BasketId int not null,
ParameterTypeId int not null,
Value nvarchar (400) not null
)
create table dbo.ParameterType (
Id int not null
Name nvarchar (80) not null
)
Parameter types are MinimumPrice, MaximumPrice, Categories, MinimumWarrantyPeriod, etc.
So for each Basket I have a list of BasketParameters, all different, having each on value. Later if I need for parameter types I add them to the ParameterType table ...
The application will be responsible for using each Basket Parameters to build the Basket ... I will have, for example, a Categories table but will be decoupled from the BasketParameters.
Does this make sense? Which approach would you use?

Answer 1

Your first option is superior (especially since you are using a relational data store. I.e. SQL Server), since it is properly referential. This will be much easier to maintain and query as well as far more performant.
Your second solution is equivalent to an EVA table: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entity%E2%80%93attribute%E2%80%93value_model
Which are usually a terrible idea (and if you need that type of flexibility you should probably use a Document Database or other NoSQL Solution instead). The only benefit to this is if you need to add/remove attributes regularly or based on other criteria.