Develop Reference

how to upgrade database version with new rows with SQLiteAssetHelper

i have developed a tutorial app in which i have saved more than 500 questions and answers.
their is one more table called favourites. which is for user input.
now, i want to update my app with new questions and answers.
but i dont want to erase the data of favourites table (in case, user has marked some questions favourites, so those questions should not be erased from favourites)
so how can i do it?
because, i have used SQLassethelper library for database connectivity.
my old db contains:
data table(static table)
favourites table(local table)
so, according to sqliteassethelper documentation i added my new db:
that contains: updated data table. i didnt inserted favourites table here coz it will be created in script file.
and stored that db in assets>>databases folder.
then
i created a script fild
db.db_upgrade_1-2.sql
alter table "favourites" rename to "favourites_tmp";
create table "favourites" (
"id" Integer not null primary key autoincrement unique,
"question" text,
"answer" text,
"category" text,
"catid" integer
);
insert into "favourites" ("id","question","answer","category","catid") select from "favourites_tmp" "id","question","answer","category","catid" from "favourites_tmp";
drop table "favourites_tmp";
so i think here favourites table will be created with old data.
but
when i run the project, it says: no such tabld favourites.

The documentation tells you to
create a text file containing all required SQL commands to upgrade the database from its previous version to it's current version.
You can use any SQL commands, not only ALTER TABLE, but also INSERT.
The database file in the assets folder is used only if there is no old data (if the app is installed for the first time). If there is old data, SQLiteAssetHelper executes the SQL upgrade script instead.
The SQLiteAssetHelper project contains an example that shows how such a script would look like.
To keep the data in the favourites table, you do not need to do anything.
To add the new question/answers, use a bunch of INSERT statements.
(For how to get those INSERT statements, see How to compare two SQLite databases.)

finally i got answer for my questions.
as i said i am using SQLiteAssetHelper library.
and now i want to add new records and want to release the update version.
so i was finding the feature by which i can store new updated db in assets folder. and this library will update the old db in user's phone. with keeping particular table in old db.
but currently this library doesnt offers such feature.
the upgrade script can be use only to make changes is old db. we can add new updated db and copy the data from new one.
if we want to add new data and also dont want to erase local data table.
then we need to write insert queries in upgrade script as described in documentation of that library.
but if we have to add 100 queries then their is no shortcut for it.
we have to write 100 insert statements in upgrade script.
and in case if we gate a error saying
cannot upgrade read only database from version x to y then
here is the solution for it:
SQLITE cant upgrade read-only database from version 1 to 2

Handling database changes when app version number changes

I'm trying to figure out the best way to handle database upgrades and versioning.
At the moment I delete the database and log users out when I do a point release, which isn't a great experience.
Can anyone recommend any tips for doing this?

Your database version is independent of your app version. If your database schema doesn't change at all, you shouldn't need to do anything to your database during an update.
When your database schema changes, you should handle database updates in onUpgrade() of your SQLiteOpenHelper. This method is called when you try to access your database and you have updated your database version, as described in the Data Storage Options documentation.
If you are using a third party library to handle your databases, it should either handle the upgrade for you or provide similar functionality.
There is no universal strategy for upgrading your database here. What you do depends completely on what your schema looked like before the upgrade and what the new schema looks like. Depending on what changed, you might create new tables or columns, delete tables or columns, update rows in the database, or move data between tables. If you have a specific question about how to migrate your data, create a new question describing the new and old schemas.

The way we do it is that we run a routine every time the app starts that calls a stored proc on the server to get SQL that upgrades the database if it is necessary. (The sql can be quite involved: dropping tables and recreates them with new structures and inserting new values). We store the version of the database in the database itself and upgrades to the new version.
We don't use the onUpgrade() call.

Adding additional columns to SQLite from previous Android app version

In my android app, I was using a standard SQLite database with a helper class that had 1 table with 3 columns. In the most recent update I had to add another column of to the table, but some users have reported crashes, which (judging by the stack trace) I think comes from the new version trying to read from a column that does not exist because the data is from the old version. How can I protect the users' data between updates short of a manual backup and restore?
Here is the link to the complete updated database class:
https://github.com/cjbrooks12/scripturememory/blob/working/src/com/caseybrooks/scripturememory/databases/VersesDatabase.java

SQLiteOpenHelper will handle the database versioning, you will just have to provide it with proper database version numbers and overridden callbacks. Looking at your code:
Your DB_VERSION is 1. When you change the database schema between released versions, you should increment this number. The version number is stored in the database file, and if the version provided in code is different from the one stored in file, onUpgrade() or onDowngrade() will be called accordingly. In your case, since the database file already exists, no onCreate() was called and since the version numbers matched, no upgrade was performed.
Your onUpgrade() drops the table and then recreates it. In some cases this might be ok, say, it's just a cached copy of data stored elsewhere, but usually as a user, I don't want an app upgrade to delete my data. Implement onUpgrade() so that it does the necessary schema modifications while preserving data. Some generic strategies for this:
If it's just adding some columns ALTER TABLE and put some suitable default values.
If it's more complex schema change, rename the old tables to temporary names, create new tables and then migrate data from the temp tables.
In any case, after onUpgrade() the database schema should be in the same shape it would be if onCreate() was called to create a new database, but with existing data preserved.

Update application SQLite database created by Assets DB

I have Database in my application which is created by just coping the SQLite database file from the assets folder but now in the next release I want to update the database without losing the previous data.
Is there any Logic or way to copy the previous data and create a new database through SQLiteOpenHelper so that in near future I will not face this problem.
Thanks

Use this gist
In the OnUpgrade method, copy your previous data from the old database.
In the doUpgrade method, use your copied data to update the new database.

Previous data will be kept by default when users update to a new version. but you must keep in mind there will be new users never get a former version app. So you should add complete database in the assets folder.

Updgrading database downloading it from a server

I have an app that creates a database and do some stuff. I am wondering if i upload a new db to a server and download it to the exact folder where the older one exists it will be overwritten and i am good to go? Or there will be a problem. Assuming it has the same name, same column names, etc. Of course i am reffering to sqlite.

In Android, when performing a database update you should be using onUpgrade inside of the SQLiteOpenHelper. One way of doing this is to download text files that include the sql instructions needed to modify the current database or update rows with new data. The reason you have to do this is because Android will only create the database once. After the initial creation the call to onCreate for the database will not occur.