Change how custom fields are stored

[watdaflip]

Hi,

I am working on a member search but I have run into an issue with searching certain custom fields. Basically there is a multiple selection box, but all of the selections have an index value that is stored in a bitfield. But then other ones are storing the string value. How can I get it to store a string list of the selected values instead of a bitfield. (And even then, why are some stored on way and other a different way).

If I can't get it to store as a list of the selected options in a string, whats the most efficient way to search through each members selections. The only ways I can think of are either to search for all possible combinations, or first querying a list of all the members selections, breaking it up into a list of the actual selections, and then searching through each members selection list.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.