I am developing an android application. I want to update the local SQLite database with MySQL database on server. I am not able to figure out that what is the most appropriate and standardized way to do so?
Create a webservice (REST is probably best) and serialize your SQLite/MySQL data and PUT/POST/GET it to/from your web service. This will give you a nice layer of abstraction in case you decide to switch from MySQL to something else server side.
You may want to take a look at fyrecloud.com/amsler This is source code for a demonstration Android application that implements MySQL replication between a MySQL server and the SQLite db on an Android device.
Amsler rests on two pillars:
It communicates with the MySQL server using the MySQL Client/Server protocol in order to connect to the server for authentication and for receiving replication events as they occur.
It uses the Antlr lex and parse software in order to lex and parse incoming replication events and then to translate the MySQL commands into equivalent SQLite commands.
This is great for one-way replication. You can simulate two-way replication by modifying the MySQL server indirectly via RESTful type methods and then watching while MySQL sends a new replication event back.
Accessing a server via REST is easy enough. However, modifying an existing MySQL installation in order to support serialization presents too many headaches to enumerate here. Amsler takes advantage of pre-existing replication services. REST also depends upon some polling strategy in order to keep the local device reasonably up-to-date. Again, many problems with this approach. Amsler maintains a TCP/IP connection to the server which enables server-push notification of updates.
The most difficult part of Amsler is in figuring out the lexing/parsing. The Syntax between MySQL, SQLite, and the various versions of the same have many subtle differences. So many differences that it's impractical to provide a shrink-wrap translator and instead you must resort to modifying the grammar yourself.
Nevertheless, good, bad, or ugly, here it is. Take a look and maybe the glove fits.
This is probably going to be helpful: sync databases Mysql SQLite
The real answer is that there is no standard or built in magic way to just copy a MySQL database that lives on a server somewhere to a device. You will have to implement either a webservice or somehow convert the MySQL db on the server to the android sqlite implementation and download that file into your app's data directory (not a route I'd recommend taking).
Late to the party, but http://www.symmetricds.org/ is a good solution.
Java, runs on Android too.
LGPL.
Can handle 10,000's of clients.
There is no standard way. Depending on your needs you can e.g. use webservices in REST or SOAP protocols or more binary data exchange.
Related
my application needs to store data locally on sqlite DB and user can upload data on server once the internet connection is available.
I assume I need to do some DB replication, how to accomplish that?
Is there any android built in facility?
Or I need to use some third party tool for that?
I read many answers on this but I am still not clear about it, I will use KSOAP2 web service for communicating with server.
Using KSOAP2 how can I Sync my sqlite data on SQL Server?
below are few links I read.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18207021/opensource-replication-tool-for-sqlite
Regarding sqlite replication
Does SQLite support replication?
Thanks in advance.
You shouldn't use dumps to copy the whole database back and forth. Android is running on mobile devices and datatransfer is likely to cost money or to be limited by speed or volumne or other means.
Therefore you should build your own webserver and upload/download only the changed entries. This means you will probably have to implement your own replication-logic, since I don't know any tools for that.
For example you can send a timestamp and the server replies with a set of changed data.
I'd recommend building a Restful-Webservice and using HttpUrlConnection to build POST, PUT, GET and DELETE requests.
GreenDao proposes a project for client/server-synchronization. But there is no estimation on when it will be available. If you do something yourself, you could try doing it as greendao-feature. A lot of people will thank you for that (myself included :D).
You can also have a look at symmetricDS, which should work on android.
i was trying to build an app which takes the data from server database and use it in android app ( in may case for reading the gprs coordinates available on database).
after a lot of search, i came across RESTfull services for implementing this. but there is a simpler way also, that is accessing the server database directly from android app by using a driver (jtds) and running mysql on server side.
i am actually confused which one to use. Why restful service which is highly platform independent and have a wide range or directly accessing the mysql database from server. which is most extensively used and why? giving below examples of both scenarios.
through restful service - http://avilyne.com/?p=105 and directly by accessing sql server database- http://amitku.wordpress.com/2011/08/03/how-to-connect-and-access-sql-database-server-from-android-app/
please let me know which is better and mostly used and why?
I would strongly encourage using the REST approach, and although there are many reasons, two or three come immediately to mind:
1.) Security. By using a REST approach, any data on the server side can only be accessed by server-side code, which can provide a protective layer between the data and the outside world.
2.) Scalability. A direct connection, such as the example at your link, hooks into a particular instance of a database. If that database already has a large number of connections, there will be performance issues or worse.
3.) Server side flexibility. If the underlying database structure or technology needs to change, a REST approach will allow for that. All the client side cares about is posting or requesting to a server that will respond via REST protocol.
I would think that a REST approach is much more widely used than a direct client-server approach.
I have experience building android applications but now I would like to start building applications that interact with some sort of web database to push and pull data.
What type of database should i set up on a remote server for my application to interact with? From what i understand I need a database on the remote server and some service that my android app can communicate with?
What can i read that will clear up how this works and how i can get started?
The easiest (and often most flexible) combination in my opinion is PHP and MySQL. PHP as the scripting language which is called (via http) from the app, and handles all the database access. MySQL as the database. PostgreSQL is also an option for the database, of course. And if you have access to .NET, JSP or something like that, that's also an option. But a web server with Apache, PHP and MySQL is free, powerful and easy to maintain, and most/many web hosts have them.
The way it works (which is the same no matter what kind of webbased services/servers you chose), is this:
- The database is installed on the server
- You have a web area (on the web server) which has access to the database (this is how it will be with a typical web hotel solution)
- You place your scripts (f.ex. PHP) in the web area
- The web scripts access the databse, with functions for fetching and/or storing information
- Your app uses httpclient or something similar to send http GET or POST requests to the PHP scripts, either sending information or asking for information, or both
It's also quite possible to write database access code directly in your app (this is very easy in Java and C#, compared to languages like C og C++). However, most hosts don't allow remote access to their database servers, so you'd most likely have to set up a database server yourself. Also, accessing the database server directly is a security risk, and I wouldn't recommend it.
As to what you can read, there's lots and lots of tutorials, howtos and concrete examples on the net. Search for "php access mysql databse", f.ex., for ideas on how to write php scripts that handles the database transaction(s). If you have a more detailed decription, I might be able to point you to something more specific.
I strongly suggest adding web service layer between your application and database, using i.e. JSON or XML. Exposing DB directly ma be security risk and is rarely the way to go.
I want to insert, update, show records from an android app to a database (online) which will be installed on an android mobile.
So,my question is; which database is perfect?
MySQL
SQLite3
Any other
It's impossible to use MySQL in Android. Other SQL types neither. The best way is to use a MySQL database and get the information via PHP. Encode it to JSON in PHP. You can get the Web page in Android and decode it in Android.
Is mysql db is network database
MySQL (like many other database servers including Postgres and Oracle) can be accessed either through a local socket or via TCP/IP. (You also mentioned SQLite, this is a file based database and does not have a network server AFAIK).
There may be libraries for Android that implement a MySQL client, but a few minutes with Google didn't turn any up for me.
Generally speaking, network access to MySQL should be limited to private networks and not end clients anyway.
If you want to access a database from a client application over a network, you are usually better off by building an HTTP based API (preferably one that is RESTful) and letting the client software connect to that. This gives you more control over what clients are allowed to do with the database.
You can build such an API in just about any language you like. If you are working with Android, you might prefer Java. My preference would be Perl. Python is a good option, etc, etc.
which database is perfect?
Nothing is perfect. Giving a recommendation for a specific database would be drifting into "Not Constructive" territory, even if you were more specific about your requirements.
I am trying to develop a real-time Android application where all contents are stored in server. So, they are available whenever a connection to Internet is available. Also, the application provides communication between users and conversations are stored in the server as well. Nothing is locally stored.
However, I am still cannot decide which database type I can use. I intended to use SQLite but I am not sure if I can really use it or not.
Could you please guide me to the proper database type to my application.
Appreciate your time and efforts.
As its upto you which database you use.
you may Install Lamp (For Linux) or WAMP(for window) . This is a nice database tool and very easy to handle and easy linked with PHP for various database function
I recently developed something similar to what you are talking about and here is what I would suggest you to go for.
Use SQL server to manage the data on your desktop and create a web-service in .Net on Visual Studio.
(Note that as others have already mentioned, it really does not matter what is the database you are using in your server end, because eventually the data is going to come to the Android application from the server in form of either xml or json in the web-service., regardless of what database you are using. So it is totally your wish which database you want to use.)
Then connect to the web-service in your application and set/get data from the remote Database, using SOAP.
Link on how to make a web-service in .NET (does not include the implementation in Android).
Links on how to connect your service with Android : this, this and this.