SO I am trying to create a way to structure my database to be able customize forms.

I looked into EAV pattern and here is my db structure:

Table form - form_id - form_name - form_added_on - form_modified_at

Table: form_fields - field_id - form_id - field_type (TEXT, RADIO etc..) - field_default_value - field_required

Table: form_data - data_id - field_id - form_id - field_value

so now I can store any custom form into the database and if I want to get the values for an individual form I can simply join it by "form_id" ..

the problem:

I want to be able to search through all the forms for a specific field value.

How can I do that with EAV model?

Also, I thought about just storing the custom data as a serialized (JSON) object but then I am not sure how can I query that data.

Please note that I am using Codeigniter with MYSQL. So if conversation can use Codeigniter libraries if needed.