I am developing a places of interest app which will display the list of places of interest in a location.
When user chooses one, it will display more information and address etc.
How do I store all this data? Currently I am using a text file to store all the data and subsequently when user chooses a place, it will parse the text file and retrieve the necessary data for display.
Any advice on what is a better way to do this? I looked at SharedPrefs, but it is more like storing "key-value" pair and in this case I need to store a large amount of data.
I want the info to be available even when the device is offline, thus I can't download from an online server upon request.
Any other way to do this?
You may store it to XML file using XML serializer, here is very good tutorial for learning that,
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/x-android/
and it can be easily parsed using Java XPath Api. Have a look at this at parsing XML files
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/x-javaxpathapi/
Use SQLite
It can store large data.
It is available offline.
All your problems will be sorted out.
Hre we have a wonderful tutorial for sq-lite
http://www.vogella.com/articles/AndroidSQLite/article.html
How about a relational database?
http://developer.android.com/training/basics/data-storage/databases.html
Take a look at Serialization. If you do not need database access, you could define a class what holds every information you need. Then, you can do the following:
when you need to save the datas, you serialize your object, dumping its content to a file, for example on the SD card
when you want to load the datas, you just load the above mentioned file, and get back everything from the dumped file
I am using this method in my app to cache some datas that would need internet access, so the user can still view it, and with proper implementation, this can work very nicely.
Use database, create table and insert all the data in it. When you need the data just fire the query, and you are done.
SQLite is fine for Android.
Depending on the type of data you want to store, you could use a SQLite Database (provided with Android) if it has a normal database structure. You could Serialize your data and save it in a raw or encrypted file, making you data implement Serializable.
Related
I want to store data locally in the phone after parsing it from JSON API and then make a button to synchronize that data whenever I need to so that the content can be used offline.
If you want to store data object locally, then you can make use of Realm DB. Below link explains how to use Realm DB https://www.androidhive.info/2016/05/android-working-with-realm-database-replacing-sqlite-core-data/
Right now, the best option to store bunch of data locally is using sqlite. You can search for it. There is a bunch of tutorials for it. Also, you can also use Room library which makes it really easy to create sqlite databases and interact with it.
Implementing and managing remote or cloud databases in Android Applications is new to me. I am currently making an app that would take in thousands of "entries" to a form, think of it as an attendance app. Right now I've decided to use JSON as my database type and Parse as my BaaS. I need some tips on my decision.
I don't actually see JSON suitable for this because it is a "text" file that can easily be modified or if I somehow accidentally append an extra bracket it would render the whole database corrupt whereas SQL use queries like INSERT which I think is more secure. I just picked JSON because it works well with Parse. Do you think this is a good idea?
Another is what if the JSON file will accumulate tens of thousands of entries, how do you manage this huge database? Do you split it into several files (eg. every 1k entries make another JSON file) or is it enough to just dump all the data in that one JSON database file?
When using BaaS do you just sync the data in that server or do you also make backups of some sort (I don't really know how to put this)?
Thanks in advance!
JSON is not a database, but a data interchange format. You can have a database that uses JSON for communication, for internal representation, etc. but that does not make JSON a database in itself.
Parse itself manages the organization of the data. You communicate using JSON but don't have to care about how it's stored, updated, etc. internally.
So in your app, you should use SQLite for storing such amounts of information, or, depending on the app, just send it to the Parse server and execute the queries against it. You can see how it's done in the Parse Android documentation.
Currently I have a text file where I store username/password on to a text file!
I want to store hashmap of username->{password,other user info}.
This is just initial prototype, finally I will use a SQL database to store these values.
I did some google searches and people are mostly talking about connecting to sql database, is it easier than attemping to store it temporarily ?
You might try marshalling/unmarshalling the data as JSON using a library like GSON. The data would be stored on disk. This approach will be lighter weight than SQLite for your prototype and shouldn't require too much throwaway code.
I am making an expense log application. The user can create a log by adding a picture of an object and then add the price and some comments to it.
I would like to know if I need to use database to store that data or i can store it directly to the phone.
There are several ways you can store data in Android application: SharedPreferences, files, SQLite databases, etc. Which one you choose, depends on your requirements, amount of data you need to store, etc. I suggest you read Data Storage section in the Android developer's guide to get started.
For your case a databse is the best fit. You could put all expenses in a String array in the SharedPreferences but this would be horrible to use. You would always need to load all expenses to memory if you are searching for one and so on. A database allows searching, filtering and ordering through SQL. It is a bigger initial amount to create the Database but the management of the data will be much nicer afterwards.
Demonick is right about the images, only store the path to the image file in the database and then retrieve the images from there. If you are storing images on the SD-Card the user or other apps can access and delete them so don't count on them to be available later.
Actually i want to know how to store data from my app in the device so that i can review the store data when i run the application again..
means in simple terms i want to say that suppose i have text box where i write some information..now when i click the submit button, this information will be save,so that when i open the application the stored data should be appear in the text box..
In all terms i want to say that i just want to stored data in the way that we are using database for storing data..so please anyone suggest me how that can be done in android.
if possible show with an example
Regards
Anshuman
If you have to store small amount of data, you can use SharedPreferences in Android.
If the data that you have to store is big/complex enough, try using SQLite database.
Still need help?
UPDATE: There's a tutorial that I wrote to demonstrate how to use SQLite database. check it out here. Although it copies existing database into device's memory, but other versions of it, which create database through code can also be devised from it.
A better tutorial is here : http://www.vogella.com/tutorials/AndroidSQLite/article.html
1) If you want to store data in table format then you can use SQLite database in android
2) If you don't want to store data in table format then you can store in SharedPreference
more info about SharedPreference here and here
Android comes with a built in SQLite database that you can use. I advice you to go trough this notepad tutorial. It teaches the basics of using Android SDK including different states of the android application as well as how to use SQLite with Android.
For storing simple key = value pairs, you can use Properties.
For data storage as in a database, you can use sqlite on android.
Android provides several options for you to save persistent application data. The solution you choose depends on your specific needs, such as whether the data should be private to your application or accessible to other applications (and the user) and how much space your data requires.
Your data storage options are the following:
Shared Preferences
Store private primitive data in key-value pairs.
Internal Storage
Store private data on the device memory.
External Storage
Store public data on the shared external storage.
SQLite Databases
Store structured data in a private database.
Network Connection
Store data on the web with your own network server.
Data Storage