Where to store json datas instead of using sqlite in android? - android

I am accessing the datas from json, storing the datas from json in sqlite and then retrieving it and display them on screen. It takes too long time for this process. Which is the better way to reduce the time consumption instead of storing and retrieving the datas from sqlite? Can anyone help me in this issue?

You can store the JSON as plain text in a file.
A nice place to put them would be your application's cache directory.
https://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Context.html#getExternalCacheDir()
https://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Context.html#getCacheDir()

You can store a JSON Data in a File or in a Shared Preference. Check Saving data in android training

I also use the file system to store json. It can be easier for debugging as you can have the json.tostrong methods indent the json yo make it easier to read using the android file browser.
i make a filesystem class that accepts and returns json so apps just see the file system as a json store.

Related

Is it better to parse json every time in android

I am creating an android ecommerce app with WP REST API and the json I get from that API, I need to store it for offline purpose. So what is a better approach save parsed data in to sqlite and just show it from there or save the json string and parse it every time it needs to be shown?
No, you must only parse before adding that to sqlite. Why to do extra same work every time. Not only it is time consuming but also memory over head for conversion.
Parse JSON and store it into SQLite Database. Storing data into SQLite will be better to handle in Offline mode.

Storing JSON on android: sqlite vs SharedPreference

For an application which will allow members of my organisation to see data on their mobile device i need to store pre-formatted data on the device so they can see it offline as well. How they get the data is trough a JSON request-response.
The response is formatted as follows (anonymised ofc):
[{
"firstname":"John",
"lastname":"Smith",
"group":"1",
"age":11,
"installed":"Ja",
"medical":"Is aan zijn linker zijde verlamd geweest.",
"notes":"Heimee. \r\nBeschermend opgevoed. \r\nTerug getrokken persoonlijkheid.",
"Insignes":["test", "Test2"],
"Parents":[]
},
{
"firstname":"Emely",
"lastname":"Watson",
"group":"33",
"age":14,
"installed":"Ja",
"medical":"",
"notes":"Test",
"Insignes":["Veilig & Gezond I","CWO II","CWO III","Kampeertechnieken & Pionieren"],
"Parents":[
{
"name":"ouder ouder",
"address":"op | 0000AA Amsterdam",
"phone1":"",
"phone2":"0612345678",
"mail":"example#google.com"
}]
}]
I have read a couple of discussion on how to best store this:
Is it ok to save a JSON array in SharedPreferences?
How to save JSON Array in SharedPreferences?
Android: what is the best way to store JSON data offline for the app in android?
Android - how to add JSON object to sharedPreferences?
What is the advantage of Using SQLite rather than File?
From reading these I have gathered that SharedPreference files are "faster" than sqlite but are prone to corruption. SQLite is a database and since the data comes from one I am inclined to use that at the cost of processing speed.
Now I only need to store and then read the data, it wont be mutated unless there is an update on the "main server" in which case I will probably wipe the local data and repopulate it. In these threads i have read that storing JSON in sharedpreference is easy but difficult to read.
But after reading these (and more) discussions I am no closer to knowing/deciding what the best way to store my json is.
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
You can try the ORMs like Realm or sugarORM and store the json has object in the database. They also provide the Cipher options by which you can encrypt the data too, Which would be more flexible.
http://www.androidauthority.com/use-android-keystore-store-passwords-sensitive-information-623779/
http://www.androidhive.info/2016/05/android-working-with-realm-database-replacing-sqlite-core-data/
If you don't need to use any ORM by third parties then you can directly encrypt the JSON string with the android keystore keys and then can store the encrypted string in the normal sqlite.
This is opinion based answer. Android no I wouldn't store JSON in a DB or preferences. Store the json in a file. A file can be accessed as stream the same way you stream access json. Virtually no upper limit on size in a file. I might store a link to the json file in a DB or preferences. Depending on application I might just extract json into abstract elements and store in DB for ordering selection.
The data you have provided depending on sensitivity I would extract and insert into the contacts database for the device.
The best option is to go with a database approach, for one it sounds your dataset might be large are rather expected to be large. Database persist large sets of information, however I do not recommend using SQLITE , for it is sql based, no ORM and the operations can get tedious and time consuming and mainly it is slow(debatable). Rather use the hottest and latest no-sql database for android and ios, which Realm, realm is super fast, it is based on java annotations and ORM(like hibernate). To work with json in android I recommend familiarizing yourself with GSON, A Java serialization/deserialization library that can convert Java Objects into JSON and back.
Shared Preferenences are really convenient to store small key value pairs, If you have a relatively small collection of key-values that you'd like to save, you should use the SharedPreferences APIs. A SharedPreferences object points to a file containing key-value pairs and provides simple methods to read and write them. You would of to still work with gson here, I never heard of a shared preference getting corrupted, what I do know is that they are fragile,and live with the existence of your app installation.
Conclusion: If your dataset is large use a database approach to persist large dataset, maintenance and modifications are more fluent here, however if you know that whatever you are storing is relatively small, use a shared pref, and to manipulate json constructs in android to and fro use the google gson library.
SharedPreferences :
If you have small amount of data in Json then you have to store it in SharedPreferences.
You can easily store Json to SharedPreferences using Gson. Just using this :
Convert Json to String :
Gson gson = new Gson();
String jsonString = gson.toJson(jsonData);
Convert String to Json :
gson.fromJson(jsonString, TypeToConvert);
Sqlite Database :
If you have large amount of data in Json then just go with Sqlite.

Which file type should I use to store database data

I'm developing a little Android app which is going to be offline, and I need to store the SQLite base's data into a file, that I want to put into the apk's resources, I could use XML or JSON files, but I was wondering if there weren't a better solution.
Thanks in advance :)
If I understand you right you have some prepared data to include in app to use.
If you don't want to parse xml, json or raw file every time you need it in the app you could:
1. Parse the file and put contents into SQLite database on the first run of the app.
Then you can use SQLite to query for data.
You can check if this is first run by checking boolean flag in SharedPreferences upon start of application (in onCreate of your main activity or in Application class)
2. If data is not very big you could parse it once and keep it in memory in your custom data structure.
You can create a singleton to query for this data and parse it in case it is not loaded yet.

Is this good idea to save data like json in Preference?

In my android app I load some data (JSON) from wed server. And I need to store that data.
All data, which I want to save - it is fixed number (for ex. 5) of JSONObjects with 30-50 fields.
Is this good idea to save each JSONObject in Preference? Or will be better to use SQLite?
note: why I ask?
save in Preference - implementation take 10 minutes.
use SQLite - implementation take one or two days, and required to
edit database, when I will add new fields.
I'd prefer database, and if you need 2 whole days for a reasonably simple database setup, you should perhaps take any chance to practice with it.
However, if you're sure you're never going to have any advantage of (complexer) queries, then saving it into a database might not give you any real advantages.
I would prefer sharedpreference here , because size of data is not too big. If size of data was too big and had many fields then database would be first choice. You can save the whole json String into preference and use it after parsing at run time.
My implementation choice would be a database table that stores the object as something you can then transform into a native intermediate object. By keeping the local data stored as JSON you're potentially locking yourself into keeping a JSON parser within the app for the foreseeable future even if your web service changes its format.
For example, if your web service changes to XML you're still going to have to keep the JSON parser in the app to handle those users who upgrade the app and have to do a data migration.
You could save JSON directly in SQLite database. If you parse data and then save in database then it would take some time for you to make everything work. But think about saving JSON directly in database. It will require two fields only in database link and json response.
Advantages:
- Big time saving
- You could save the same solution in your future apps for saving JSON in database.
Disadvantages
- You will not be able to query data
- You will have to parse every-time

Storing a large amount of backend data in Android

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.

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