not looking at this properly, i would say the only other way of doing it is to use an abstract.

Just to clear somthing up, doesnt a table have columns anyway (thinking from an object point of view, a table has columns and rows), so the table object should have the ability to add columns so i dont see the use in creating an extra object for columns, im sorry if im just being a bit thick if that isnt the case, i must be on one of my stupid head days.

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mysql> SELECT * FROM `users` WHERE `users`.`clue` > 0;
Empty set (0.00 sec)