> Could someone please tell me how I might determine the column type (char
> vs. integer is good enough) if I know the column name?

If you are doing so from PHP, there is a separate function for that. In
SQL, the command:

SHOW FIELDS FROM <table name>

Will get you the column details.

Best regards,
--
Willem Bogaerts

Application smith
Kratz B.V.
http://www.kratz.nl/