Handling enums [edit: and sets]

[eluser]Keph[/eluser]
@Zaatar:
they have been defined in the database.

@tonanbarbarian:

The last option you propose is something I have been initially considering. However, because it's an internal CMS for a small company without the budget for Oracle etc., it is not likely that the system will have to run on anything other than mySQL. So, I figured, there'd be no harm in harnessing the options available in SQL. I will probably have to settle for translation arrays, but still: I'd like to know if there's an elegant way of retrieving possible enum values.

On a somewhat different note (and I might have to alter the topic of this discussion), what about sets? Because I'll also be needing the ability to search for different, multiple criteria. Does CI handle sets?