What is the best way to store parsed json data - android

i would like to ask, how to store json data. I have a JSON file, which i parse using JSON Library. Now i got the data from a file. But i want to store them and show them later again.
The question is, whats the best way to store data? And is it even worth to store them?
I'm thinking about sql database, because its simple and most used.
Official android docs have few examples, so far i searched but if u have better guide, let me know.
Thank you! :)
EDIT1:
Ok, i have json file with data, which i can add to my app using RAW resources. Those data wont change, its a list of recipes, i dont have to download it. I can read the data like this:
InputStream is = mContext.getResources().openRawResource(R.raw.package_01);
Writer writer = new StringWriter();
char[] buffer = new char[1024];
try {
Reader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(is, "UTF-8"));
int n;
while ((n = reader.read(buffer)) != -1) {
writer.write(buffer, 0, n);
}
is.close();
//catchblock
.....
}
and then i can parse the data trought JSONLibrary like this:
try {
//representing []JSON
JSONArray jsonArray = new JSONArray(writer.toString());
if(jsonArray != null){...}
...}
Im sending a HashMap to ListView, which includes name and id. And if the user clicks the ListView/GridView item, there is new Activity started, which shows all parsed data. I need to get match those parsed data with the id.
There are about 200 recipes in the file. The data are parsed on start of the Activity, while Splashscreen is displayed. I´m not sure, if its good idea to parse the data everytime when app starts.
So, is it effitient to parse data everytime the app starts? And if yes, how to keep the parsed data "together"? Should i use HashMap?
I hope i clarified my question :) Thanks for help.
EDIT2:
So after i knew what to do, i tried the suggested solution to use HashMap. Problem was there i got Failed Binder Exception. I have images encoded in Base64, that means i have a very long String, example here. That is a lot of data, there is limit:
The Binder transaction buffer has a limited fixed size, currently 1Mb, which is shared by all transactions in progress for the process.
I´ve tried to save it to
Set<String> titles = new HashSet<String>();
and then to SharedPreferences but the data for each recipe gets mixed.
**So, here it comes again, should i save the data to SQLite database or is there another effective option i can use? **
Thank you!

It really depends on a number of things like: How much data do you have now, how much will you have later, how complicated is the data. You could use something as simple as an array or hashmap; or something as complex as a database. You need to consider what you are trying to do , and find the simplest solution. If you are trying to persist data, you could use shared preferences, database, and internal/external storage (options outlined here).
Without more information it's hard to say what exactly to do. Keep it simple though. If you are getting JSON from a web service, I'd use an ArrayList or HashMap to store the data, rather than persisting it. It is simpler to implement and does the job.
EDIT:
To answer your question: Yes, using a HashMap and parsing each time is fine. You only have 200 fields, and you don't have images, so the time it will take to parse is minimal. Regardless of how you store the data, there is going to some level of "parsing" done. For example, if you store the data in a database, you are going to have to still pull the data, and put it into a HashMap.

Related

Storing a data - Benefit and cons of each storage types

I have this kind of data. This can be or don't be an array. Just for easy reference.
ArrayName = Array1, Array2, Array3
Array1 = abc, cde, fgh
Array2 = abc, cde
Array3 = abc, cde, fgh, ijk, lmn
So, what are the best method to store this kind of data.
If I want to
Add or delete Array1 and all things inside
Add or delete item in Array2(eg. adding fgh or remove cde)
Methods I discovered:
SharedPreference Android Shared preferences example
Arrays
SQLite Android SQLite Example
Text file
Please share the pro and cons of why you choose the method.
Please also share if there are better ways to store this kind of data.
Kindly edit this if you found a better link or sample for other to reference.
Here are pros and cons for each solutions:
1) SharedPreference
You save simple key-value pairs here. So it is very hard to save array and complex structures in SharedPreference. So the solution will not work with arrays and arrays of arrays. It will be extremely(but not impossible) difficult to achieve what you want.
2) Arrays
Absolutely not! It is memory storage, so when you close app, or on process death, you will lose all data
3) SqlLite
I would add to this other Databases for android, like Realm.
Good solution. It is structured storage for collection of data. It will be very easy for storing/retrieving data when it is structured as rows. Furthermore you can delete rows easily. You don't have to read whole structure (other arrays) when you need particular row, or particular array (table in this case)
4) TextFile
I don't recommend to store in a text file, but it is possible to do so, you can serialize those arrays to text file, and deserialize. But every time you have to do this, and to read whole structure and parse it even if you want only e.g. Array2. It can be slow when your data becomes bigger.
It's incredibly hard to give advice with such vague requirements, you apparently have data structured as an array of arrays of strings, and you want to store it persistently on Android - and that's basically all we know.
In addition to the solutions mentioned, I would consider using GSON to store this as JSON to disk. While read/write may not have optimal performance, it's very easy to model documents with things like arrays of arrays, and we have no way of knowing your performance requirements vs ease of use.
class MyData {
public List<List<String>> data;
}
If you then have a MyData object, you could simply serialize it to a string, which could be written to a file on disk:
String json = new Gson().toJson(myData);
This would produce something like
{
"data": [
["abc", "cde", "fgh"],
["abc", "cde"],
["abc", "cde", "fgh", "ijk", "lmn"]
]
}
which could easily be written to disk using e.g. standard File and BufferedWriter. You can then read it back and deserialize using:
MyData myData = new Gson().fromJson(json, MyData.class);

use stored JSON instead of Core Data

There are lots of tutorials out there describing how to fetch JSON objects from the web and map them to Core Data.
I'm currently working on an iOS (later: Android as well) app which loads json objects from web and displays them to the user. In my opinion all this mapping from and to Core Data is an overhead in this case, it would be much easier to save the JSON objects directly and use them as "cache" in the app. Are there libraries/documented ways how to achieve fetching json objects, save them locally and fetch them with a predefined identifier?
I would love to fetch e.g. 10 objects, show them to the user and save the data locally. The next time the user is on that list the local data is shown and in the background the json-file is fetched again to be up-to-date. I guess this is a common use case but I didn't find any tutorials/frameworks enabling exactly this.
You can simply use NSURLCache to cache http responses instead saving JSONs
http://nshipster.com/nsurlcache/
There are many ways to implement this. You can implement cache using either file storage or database depending on the complexity as well as quantity of your data. If you're using files, you just need to store JSON response and load it whenever activity/fragment is crated. What I have done sometimes is store the JSON response in the form of string in a file, and then retrieve it on activity/fragment load. Here's an example of reading and writing string files:
Writing files:
FileOutputStream outputStream = context.openFileOutput("myfilename",Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
String stringToBeSaved = myJSONObject.toString();
outputStream.write(stringToBeSaved.getBytes());
Reading from files
FileInputStream inputStream= context.openFileInput("myfilename");
int c;
String temp="";
while( (c = inputStream.read()) != -1){
temp = temp + Character.toString((char)c);
You can convert this string to JSONObject using :
JSONObject jsonObject = new JSONObject(temp);
Or you can use the string according to your needs.

Converting multiple datas into a single string for uploading using json in android

I have to submit data from 30 pages into the server.These datas from 30 pages are to be made into a single string and that i have to upload that single string into the server using json.
Each page may contain many answers tht may be either in plain text(value we receive from edit text),from check boxes(yes or no) and so on.....please suggest me a way to add all these data into a single string and upload it using json.
Based on the comment I suspect that you believe that you need to treat these "pages" as strings that you concat. However, what I think you're overlooking is that JSON is pretty versatile in how you add objects to it.
So, let's say you have the thing that you want to ship to your server and you call it
JSONObject myEntireFile = new JSONObject();
you can now add stuff to it at any time like this...
JSONObject page1 = new JSONObject();
myEntireFile.put("page1", page1);
meanwhile you can put whatever you want IN page 1 (cause that's just another serialized container).
You can keep doing this until you're ready to send it, at which time you just call
myEntireFile.toString();
which will convert your object into one long, well formatted, JSON string, that you can then open store for later use.

android how to keep large List<String[]> while application runs

What is the best way to keep a List<String[]> while my application runs? I am having problems with my approach. It most of the time gives me an OutOfMemory Error since the list is too big.
The List<String[]> is the result of parsing a csv file that I have downloaded online. What I do is parse the csv in an activity then save its result in a static class member like:
String url = "http://xxx/pdf/pms/pms_test.csv";
try {
InputStream input = new URL(url).openStream();
CSVReader reader = new CSVReader(new InputStreamReader(input));
SchedController.sched = reader.readAll();
input.close();
}
...then access ClassName.sched on different activities.
I am doing this so that the parsed data will be available in every activity... And I don't have to parse again. What can I do to improve it?
I think you can have 2 approaches.
You save the file and parse it in a lazy loading way
You create a database and save your data.
I suggest you to create a database, this is not difficult and let you to manage well your data. You can do easily lazyLoading with cursor, or use a ORM (ORMLite / Greendao)... I think this is the best way and the fastest to load your data.
Hope this will help you.
Just to add to Paresh's comment.
I can suggest something similar I used in my app.
For example I need to display list of Items in a store. (Each item will have ID, name and cost).
To achieve this I first make a request to server to get number of items, say itemCount.
Now I set a limit to number of items displayed in a page say 100.
If the itemCount is greater than 100, I display an alert saying only 100 items will be displayed and a next button can be added to download next set of items.
Or if it is a search you can ask user to go back and refine the search.
If itemCount is less than 100 then you will not have any issues
This way Paging can be implemented to avoid OutOfMemory issues

Create list in android app

I want to know a good way to create a list in my android app. I have all info in my DB and want to load data from it each time I start the app and make a list from it (id and title).
What is the best approach?
Should I make a PHP-script that responds with a JSON encoded array with all list items or should I make an XML-file that generates each time the data in the DB changes that I import to the app each time it starts? or any other good way to do it?
Since all stuff are made by XML-files in android it feels like importing a XML would be a good thing, is it? And how do I import an XML-file from a web server into the app?
// Daniel
You can use either JSON or XML.
You can use the web service approach or you can include your db with your application.
In fact, I most often choose to create a sqlite3 database of my data and include it in the assets folder, which can be copied to the app's data folder on startup.
As for copying your sqlite3 database from assets/ to the db data directory, I found these instructions helpful.
In your situation I would pick JSON over XML for all the reason's stated in the following post: http://ajaxian.com/archives/json-vs-xml-the-debate
Plus, in android, there are JSON Array's built in by default so you don't have to do any extra passing of the code.
return new JSONArray("my json string goes here...");
Since we are talking about a mobile device, I would always generate changes in your php script rather than have a full sync as this will be a lot smaller in size that a full sync. However, you will need to give your user a option to do a full re-sync if this is applicable to your app. I would use a SQLite database to store the data and only update the changes in that.
To also make the stream smaller, you can gzip compress your output from php as this can be natively read by the android device. In my app, I compress 500kb down to ~110kb before transmitting, a huge saving on performance. Here a partial example of how to read the stream:
InputStream in = null;
HttpURLConnection httpConn = null; // you will have to write your on code for this bit.
if (httpConn.getContentEncoding() != null)
{
String contentEncoding = httpConn.getContentEncoding().toString();
if (contentEncoding.contains("gzip"))
{
in = new GZIPInputStream(httpConn.getInputStream());
}
}
else
{
in = httpConn.getInputStream();
}
I hope that this all makes sense, it's been a long day programming :)
Stu

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