phpmyadmin: Part of Row is flagged red

[Kage Kazumi]

I created a table in phpmyadmin called "members" and it has a row called "name" which I have it set as such:

Name = name | Type = INT | Length/Values = 100 |

Now when I type in "admin" in the "name" section for inserting content the type box highlights red. I click save and it turns "admin" into "0."

Also phpmyadmin is also auto adding a Collation of "latin1_swedish_ci" to "varcar" how can I stop it from adding this or is this normal?

phpmyadmin Version: 3.5.3 (extended features not activated)

[traq]

why are you trying to save string data into an INT field?

Yes, you can change the collation. Look in the [Operations] tab. You can change the DB's default charsets and collation, also.

I always specify them when creating the table, so this is never a problem:

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `tablename`(
   `id` INT(11) UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT 
   --etc., etc..
   ,PRIMARY KEY(`id`)
) DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

# while setting the defaults for your whole DB is a good idea 
#   (and setting it to utf8 is an even better idea!),
#   setting it explicitly when you create the tables makes your code more portable.

# you can specify a default collation also, 
#   however, mysql will automatically use the default collation for the specified charset,
#   so it's not really necessary unless you want a particular, off-the-wall collation.

[Kage Kazumi]

why are you trying to save string data into an INT field?

So a username field should be varchar? Also it was how I saw someone set up the database in their video.

Yes, you can change the collation. Look in the [Operations] tab.

Yes I know this. The issue is if I do not choose anything phpmyadmin is auto doing it and sometimes when I change it it changes back to what it was previously.

[traq]

So a username field should be varchar?

probably the best choice in this case. VARCHAR fields have a maximum size of 255 characters.

...The issue is if I do not choose anything phpmyadmin is auto doing it and sometimes when I change it it changes back to what it was previously.

it shouldn't be changing back on its own. are you sure your changes are being saved?

Edit: A thought: are you sure you're changing the correct setting? phpmyadmin has a very prominent collation option that applies to *the connection*, and is reset every session. Make sure you're changing the option for the database itself. The surest way is to use a query.

ALTER TABLE `myTable`
CHARSET utf8
COLLATE utf8_general_ci;

you can change the default charset/collation on a database-level basis:

ALTER DATABASE `myDatabase` 
DEFAULT CHARSET utf8 
DEFAULT COLLATE utf8_general_ci;