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App can't find sqlite table for specific user

I'm having an odd issue of a user of my companies internal app not running an sqlite query. It crashes with the following error:
android.database.sqlite.SQLiteException: no such column: intCol3 (code 1 SQLITE_ERROR): , while compiling: SELECT primaryKey, intCol1, textCol1, intCol2, textCol2, textCol3, intCol3 FROM table WHERE intCol4='1' LIMIT 100
intCol3 and intCol4 are new columns added to this table for the new version I'm trying to install. However, if I remove intCol3 it has an error with intCol4 and if I remove that as well, it has an issue with the primaryKey..
Initially I thought this was related to him being the only user who has android 9 on his phone but when trying it on a different android 9 device it works fine. It seems to be the second he links his google account to the device it breaks this query.
I've tried freshly installing the app and clearing all app data and anything cached to his phone and it still throws this exception.
I've also tried adding to the code to try creating the "Missing" columns each time he tries to log in but it doesn't make a difference.
Has anyone came across anything similar or be able to point me in the correct direction as to where to look?
This is my onCreate and onUpgrade
#Override
public void onCreate(SQLiteDatabase db) {
try {
createTables();
} catch (Exception e) {
Log.d("Error:","Failied to build tables:" + e);
}
}
#Override
public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db, int oldVersion, int newVersion) {
Log.v("*! dbHelper upgrade", "Update contacts");
db.execSQL("DROP TABLE IF EXISTS contacts");
onCreate(db);
}
public void createTables() {
SQLiteDatabase db = this.getWritableDatabase();
Log.v("*! dbHelper create", "Create contacts");
db.execSQL(
"create table contacts " +
"(cnId integer primary key, cnName text, cnDate date)"
);
db.execSQL(
"create table parts " +
"(primaryKey integer primary key, intCol1 integer, textCol1 text, intCol2 integer, textCol2 text, textCol3 text, intCol3 integer, intCol4 integer)"
);
}

Two problems:
Your createTables() calls getWritableDatabase(). You cannot do that - it leads to a "called recursively" exception. Use the SQLiteDatabase passed as an argument to onCreate() instead.
Your onCreate() swallows the exception. Since onCreate() returns normally, the framework thinks database setup was successful. You need to let exceptions bubble up from SQLiteOpenHelper.

upgrade sqlite database in my app

So, I already have my app on playstore....
Now, I want to add a column to the database in my app. For this, I must upgrade my databse which can be done by changing the database version.
The users will already have some stuff in the database and when I will upload the updated version of my app (with changed version of the databse), it will create a new databse and user will loose all the stuff he/she has in his/her database.
What is the solution for this issue? And how to backup / restore contents of the old databse to new database? (I know how to backup the database by simply copy pasting the database to external storage programatically).

You can use onUpgrade() method for handling this.
Something like this:
public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db, int oldVersion, int newVersion) {
if (oldVersion == 1 && newVersion == 2) {
db.execSQL("create temporary table people_tmp ("
+ "id integer, name text, position text, posid integer);");
db.execSQL("insert into people_tmp select id, name, position, posid from people;");
db.execSQL("drop table people;");
db.execSQL("create table people ("
+ "id integer primary key autoincrement,"
+ "name text, posid integer);");
db.execSQL("insert into people select id, name, posid from people_tmp;");
db.execSQL("drop table people_tmp;");
}
}
So. You are creating temporary table and saving all needed info inside that table. Next you dropping your table, creating new one and inserting values to it from your temporary table. You can add additional fields and feel free to put there all what you want.
UPDATE:
After a little googling i found an easier solution:
#Override
public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db, int oldVersion, int newVersion) {
// If you need to add a column
if (newVersion == 2) {
db.execSQL("ALTER TABLE foo ADD COLUMN new_column INTEGER DEFAULT 0");
}
}
Alter table method will change your database structure without loosing data.

If you are only adding a new column, you can alter existing table instead of create new table. An example:
#Override
public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db, int oldVersion, int newVersion) {
if(oldVersion<2){
db.execSQL("ALTER TABLE "+this.getTableName()+" ADD COLUMN "+COLUMNS.NAME+ " integer default 0;", null);
db.execSQL("UPDATE "+this.getTableName()+ " SET "+COLUMNS.NAME+ "="+COLUMNS.NAMEVALUE+";", null);
}
};
Here is Android documentation on ALTER TABLE use case in onUpgrade(). So in this case, if you are not rename or remove existing table, you don't need to backup old table.
If you add new columns you can use ALTER TABLE to insert them into a
live table.
Also see: https://stackoverflow.com/a/8291718/2777098

Green Dao onUpdate. How can I add new columns to old tables?

When using green dao there is some code customisation needed for updating from one schema to the next. For my earlier needs it was sufficient to add any new tables using code like this in DaoMaster.java:
if(oldVersion==SCHEMA_VERSION_OLD_VERSION&& newVersion==SCHEMA_VERSION){
Log.i("greenDAO", "Upgrading schema from version " + oldVersion + " to " + newVersion + " by adding language & checklist table");
boolean ifNotExists = true;
NewTableDao.createTable(db, ifNotExists);
NewTable2Dao.createTable(db, ifNotExists);
}
And so far it's worked great. However for my current schema I have added more connections between the tables, and after updating from the old version, I get crashes indicating that the new columns don't exist.
Is there a way in greendao to add new columns? do I need to write the sqlite code in a old school fashion to get this going?
(Any code samples are A LOT of welcome)
Thanks in advance

Have a look at the SQL code for creating your table (located in the DAO-class).
Extract the relevant change in the SQL.
Update your exiting table manually.
Example:
#Override
public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db, int oldVersion, int newVersion) {
Log.i(TAG, "Update Schema to version: "+Integer.toString(oldVersion)+"->"+Integer.toString(newVersion));
switch (oldVersion) {
case 1:
/* v1->v2: all changes made in version 2 come here */
db.execSQL("ALTER TABLE "+MyDao.TABLENAME+" ADD COLUMN 'NEW_COL_1' INTEGER;");
db.execSQL("DROP TABLE IF EXISTS 'MY_OLD_ENTITY'");
/* break was omitted by purpose. */
case 2:
/* v2->v3: all changes made in version 3 come here */
MyNewDao.createTable(db, true);
db.execSQL("ALTER TABLE "+MyDao.TABLENAME+" ADD COLUMN 'NEW_COL_2' TEXT;");
/* break was omitted by purpose. */
}
}

Why does SQLiteOpenHelper drop the table in "onUpgrade" method?

I learned a way which use SQLite3 on Android OS recently.
But it has a non acceptable part.
I can't understand why drop the table when called "onUpgrade" method of SQLiteOpenHelper.
Why need "onUpgarde" method?
If code executes "drop table", table data of old version DB will be removed, isn't it?
Why delete existing data of old DB?
How to restore existing DB data when drop the table?
[Here is learned code]
public class MySQLiteOpenHelper extends SQLiteOpenHelper {
final String CONFIRMED_SHEETS_TABLE = "confirmed_sheets";
public MySQLiteOpenHelper(Context context, String name, SQLiteDatabase.CursorFactory factory, int version) {
super(context, name, factory, version);
}
#Override
public void onCreate(SQLiteDatabase sqLiteDatabase) {
String sql = "create table" +
CONFIRMED_SHEETS_TABLE +
"_id integer primary key autoincrement, " +
"group text, " +
"num001 text, " +
"num002 text, " +
"num003 text, " +
"num004 text, " +
"num005 text, " +
"num006 text, " +
"date text)";
sqLiteDatabase.execSQL(sql);
}
#Override
public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase sqLiteDatabase, int oldVersion, int newVersion) {
// non acceptable part //
String sql = "drop table if exists " + CONFIRMED_SHEETS_TABLE;
sqLiteDatabase.execSQL(sql);
onCreate(sqLiteDatabase);
}
}

If code executes "drop table", DB table data of old version DB will be
removed, isn't it?
Yup
Why need "onUpgrade" method?
If you are switching databases (for example because you added a new column), your app (usually) now depends on that change. Increasing the database version in your Helper class calls onUpgrade(), which allows you to take care of any migration to prepare the app to use your new schema.
Did you know why learned code executes "drop table"?
Convenience. It's not necessarily the right approach, but a database change can make it hard to take old data and merge it in the new table. Thus, it is easier logic-wise to simply start anew.
If you want to merge an existing and new table, have a look at this question.

You do not need to perform a DROP TABLE in onUpgrade(), as it is currently written in your code. The purpose of onUpgrade() is for your app to check if a new version of your app's database is being installed on a user's device, and if so, if there are any changes to your database, such as adding a new column, you can make those changes within onUpgrade(). If you never change your database schema, you never need to do anything in onUpgrade().
For more information and a introductory tutorial on Databases in Android, refer to the Notepad sample code here.
EDIT: also, here's an example of an onUpgrade() I wrote for one of my apps:
/**
* Handle upgrades to the database.
*/
#Override
public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db, int oldVersion, int newVersion) {
if(DBG) Utils.log(TAG, "DBHelper: onUpgrade()...");
// Logs that the database is being upgraded
Utils.log(TAG, "w", "Upgrading database from version " + oldVersion + " to "
+ newVersion);
/*
* Every time you add new columns to the database in the phone, you will want
* to increment the Database version above and then add a condition in here for
* upgrading to it. Otherwise it will cause upgrading users to be nontrivial and
* lead to unnecessary crashes or upgrade instructions.
*/
if (newVersion > oldVersion && newVersion <= 4) {
db.execSQL("ALTER TABLE " + TrackerDb.SomeTable.TABLE_NAME + " ADD COLUMN "
+ TrackerDb.SomeTable.COLUMN_NAME_DATE_MODIFIED + " TEXT");
}
}

OnUpgrade() is called when db versions "old and new" does not match; which means that the user wants to change Database Structure (Dropping a table, Adding new Table, Modifying Table definition).
So the OnUpgrade() should contain the logic as:
Take Backup of the existing data (e.g. Generate insert statements for existing
data).
Modify Database Structure accordingly.
Restore the data from the backup.

onCreate not being called after getWritableDatabase/getReadableDatabase

My app's got a database with three tables in it: one to store the names of the people it tracks, one to track an ongoing event, and one - for lack of a better term - for settings.
I load the first table when the app starts. I ask for a readable database to load in members to display, and later I write to the database when the list changes. I've had no problems here.
The other two tables, however, I can't get to work. The code in the helper classes is identical with the exception of class names and column names, and (at least until the point where I try to access the table) the code to use the table is nearly identical as well.
Here's the code for my helper class (I've got a separate helper for each table, and as I said, it's identical except for class names and columns):
public class db_MembersOpenHelper extends SQLiteOpenHelper
{
public static final String TABLE_NAME = "members_table";
public static final String[] COLUMN_NAMES = new String[] {
Constants.KEY_ID,
"name",
"score"
};
private static final String TABLE_CREATE = "CREATE TABLE " + TABLE_NAME + " ("
+ COLUMN_NAMES[0] + " INTEGER PRIMARY KEY autoincrement, "
+ COLUMN_NAMES[1] + " TEXT, "
+ COLUMN_NAMES[2] + " INTEGER);";
public db_MembersOpenHelper(Context context)
{
super(context, Constants.DATABASE_NAME, null, Constants.DATABASE_VERSION);
}
#Override
public void onCreate(SQLiteDatabase db) { db.execSQL(TABLE_CREATE); }
#Override
public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db, int oldVersion, int newVersion)
{
Log.w("TaskDBAdapter", "Upgrading from version " + oldVersion + " to " + newVersion + ".");
// Do nothing. We do not have any updated DB version
}
}
Here's how I use it successfully:
db_MembersOpenHelper membersDbHelper = new db_MembersOpenHelper(this);
SQLiteDatabase membersDb = membersDbHelper.getReadableDatabase();
Cursor membersResult = membersDb.query(TABLE_NAME, null, null, null, null, null, null);
members = new HashMap<String, Integer>();
membersResult.moveToFirst();
for(int r = 0; r < membersResult.getCount(); r++)
{
members.put(membersResult.getString(1), membersResult.getInt(2));
membersResult.moveToNext();
}
membersDb.close();
And here's where it fails:
db_PlayersOpenHelper playersDbHelper = new db_PlayersOpenHelper(this);
final SQLiteDatabase playersDb = playersDbHelper.getWritableDatabase();
if(newGame)
{
for(String name : players)
{
ContentValues row = new ContentValues();
row.put(COLUMN_NAMES[1], name);
row.put(COLUMN_NAMES[2], (Integer)null);
playersDb.insert(TABLE_NAME, null, row);
}
}
The first one works like a charm. The second results in ERROR/Database(6739): Error inserting achievement_id=null name=c
android.database.sqlite.SQLiteException: no such table: players_table: , while compiling: INSERT INTO players_table(achievement_id, name) VALUES(?, ?);
...
I did do some testing, and the onCreate method is not being called at all for the tables that aren't working. Which would explain why my phone thinks the table doesn't exist, but I don't know why the method isn't getting called.
I can't figure this out; what am I doing so wrong with the one table that I accidentally did right with the other?

I think the problem is that you are managing three tables with with three helpers, but only using one database. SQLiteOpenHelper manages on database, not one table. For example, it checks to see whether the database, not table, exists when it starts. It already does, so onCreate() does not fire.
I would manage all tables with one helper.

Let me see if I get this right. You are trying to create one database with three tables. But when you create the database, you create just one table; you are somehow instantiating the same database at a different place and wonder why its onCreate method doesn't get called. Is this a correct interpretation?
My strategy would be to try and create all three tables in the single onCreate() method.

If you are working with multiple tables, then you have to create all of the tables at once. If you have run your application first and later you update your database, then it will not upgrade your DB.
Now delete your application, then run it again.

There is one more solution but it is not proper. You can declare onOpen method in which you can call onCreate. And add IF NOT EXISTS before table name in your create table string. – Sourabh just now edit