we use (b) with additional column VALUE_TYPE to give u a hint where the data
actually is
>
> a--------------
> param_name value(text)
> 'length' 30
> 'color' green
>
> with type casting on the queries or
>
> b--------------
> param_name value(text) value(numeric)
> 'length' 30
> 'color' green
>
> with some function for the choice of the column ?
>