Develop Reference

How to select the rows in an SQL database from a certain point to the end (in android)?

I have created a delete function and would like for the serial number (srno) of each row after the deleted one to be decremented by 1 so that continuity without gaps is maintained. Is there any way of doing this?
public void deleteContact(Contact contact) {
SQLiteDatabase db = this.getWritableDatabase();
int next = contact.getSrno() + 1;
db.delete(Util.TABLE_NAME, Util.KEY_SRNO + "=?", new String[]{String.valueOf(contact.getSrno())});
//updateList();
db.close();
}
I can use the loop:
for(Contact contact : allContacts){}
But this includes unwanted items. I just wanted to know if there is a method to retrieve the key value (srno) of the last item in the list.

unable to retrieve data of column from database

I am having a table named keywords in database.I want to retrieve data of alarm and location columns from this table and unable to retrieve them except for contact number.For now I am showing their values in a Toast but every time I run any query to show my alarm or location in Toast its empty.But my contact_number is always shown.Don't understand the cause of this problem .I have also checked my tables view and it is showing the values of alarm ,location in them.
Create Table keywords( contact_number text primary key , alarm text , location text )
and my insert function is
public boolean insertkeys (String alarm ,String location ,String contact){
SQLiteDatabase db = this.getWritableDatabase();
//ContentValues is a name value pair, used to insert or update values into database tables.
// ContentValues object will be passed to SQLiteDataBase objects insert() and update() functions.
// ContentValues contentValues = new ContentValues();
ContentValues contentValues = new ContentValues();
contentValues.put("alarm",alarm);
contentValues.put("location",location);
contentValues.put("contact_number",contact);
long ins = db.insert("keywords",null,contentValues);
long upd = db.update("keywords",contentValues,"contact_number = ?",new String[]{contact});
// db.close();
if(ins == -1 && upd == -1)
return false;
else
return true;
}
I am inserting plus updating my data every single time my save button is clicked.Can anyone here tell how can I write a query to retrieve data of these fields and set it to Toast or Edit text. I am new to Database and stuck here for about a week. Thanks in advance for help :)

You extract data via a SELECT query which is returned as a Cursor when using the Android SDK.
The Cursor is similar to a table in that it has a number of rows, each with a set number of columns as determined by what you select.
To get all rows the SELECT query would be along the lines of :-
`SELECT * FROM keywords`
To do this using the Android SDK you could use the SQLiteDatabase query convenience method e.g. for the above you could use :-
Cursor cursor = db.query("keywords",null,null,null,null,null,null);
check the links above for the values/parameters that can be passed and how they correlate with the SELECT statement.
You then traverse the returned cursor extracting the data, typically using the Cursor's move??? methods. Noting that most will return false if the move could not be made and also noting that the original position in the Cursor is before the first row
As such you could have a method that returns a Cursor as per :-
public Cursor getAllKeys(){
SQLiteDatabase db = this.getWritableDatabase();
return db.query("keywords",null,null,null,null,null,null);
}
You could then process all the rows using :-
Cursor csr = yourDBHelper.getAllKeys();
while (csr.moveToNext()) {
String current_contact_number = csr.getString(csr.getColumnIndex("contact_number");
String current_alarm = csr.getString(csr.getColumnIndex("alarm");
String current_location = csr.getString(csr.getColumnIndex("location"));
...... your code to Toast or use the retrieved values
}
csr.close(); //<<<<<<<<<< you should always close a Cursor when finished with it.
Additional
In regard to the comment :-
Cursor query which you have suggested I tried to make changes in it
like putting column and where clause but after that it returns me
nothing when I execute it.Could you tell me that query too.
The following could be a method to retrieve just the alarm according to a contact number.
public String getAlarmByContactNumber(String contactNumber){
String rv = "";
SQLiteDatabase db = this.getWritableDatabase();
Cursor csr = db.query(
"keywords", //<<<<<<<<<<<< the FROM clause (less the FROM keyword) typically the name of the table from which the data is to be extracted (but can include JOINS for example, for more complex queries)
new String[]{"alarm"}, //<<<<<<<<<< A String[] of the column names to be extracted (null equates to * which means all columns) (note can be more complex and include functions/sub queries)
"contact_number=?", //<<<<<<<<<< WHERE clause (less the WHERE keyword) note **?** are place holders for parameters passed as 4th argument
new String[]{contactNumber},
null, //<<<<<<<<<< GROUP BY clause (less the GROUP BY keywords)
null, //<<<<<<<<<< HAVING clause (less the HAVING keyword)
null //<<<<<<<<<< ORDER BY clause (less the ORDER BY keywords)
);
if (csr.moveToFirst()) {
rv = csr.getString(csr.getColumnIndex("alarm"));
}
csr.close();
return rv;
}
The above assumes that you would only have/want one alarm per contact number.
The above is in-principle code, it has not been run or tested and may therefore contain some minor errors.

sql always return the same data

In my project, I use SQL (SQLite since its android) to save my data.
I encountered some odd problem:
In my application, I have three tabs and in order to know which data belong to which tab I have in my chart a column for each tab. the number in the column (Integer) represent if and how many of that data suppose to be in this tab.
So, when the tab initialized, it reads from the chart, and using the relevant column, it can tell which data needs to be read and how many.
When I retrieve data from the server (the database of the server is not related to the problem at hand), I check if the data is new or that I already have a similar one in my SQL DB. If its new, I add it to the SQL chart and put 1 in the relevant column. If it already exists, it checks if the data in the SQL is updated (it update the data if necessary) and add 1 to the relevant column (the same column it puts 1 in it in case the data is not in the SQL DB).
now here's my problem:
when it reads from the SQL DB to see the number in the column, so it can add 1 to it and then update the chart, it always return 1 regardless the actual number that in the column in that moment (I know its not really 1 because when I read from the DB in the same column from other places in my app it does read the actual number).
Since in other places in my app it doesn't happen I tried to see what is the difference between the places but I did not find anything wrong (the only difference is that I used WritableDatabase instead of just ReadableDatabase in that time but that should not be an issue as far as I know, at least not in such case).
the code where the problem occurs (the problem is with COL_CART):
writable = db.getWritableDatabase();
Cursor cursor = writable.query(
ShopContract.ShopChart.TABLE_NAME,
new String[]{ShopContract.ShopChart.COL_NAME, ShopContract.ShopChart.COL_PRICE, ShopContract.ShopChart.COL_PIC, ShopContract.ShopChart.COL_CART},
ShopContract.ShopChart.COL_PROD_ID + " = '" + product.getProd_id() +"'",
null,
null,
null,
null
);
if(cursor.moveToFirst()){
//check if the data match, if not, replace.
if(!cursor.getString(cursor.getColumnIndex(ShopContract.ShopChart.COL_NAME)).equals(product.getName())){
ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
values.put(ShopContract.ShopChart.COL_NAME,product.getName());
update(values);
}
if(cursor.getDouble(cursor.getColumnIndex(ShopContract.ShopChart.COL_PRICE)) != product.getPrice()){
ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
values.put(ShopContract.ShopChart.COL_PRICE,product.getPrice());
update(values);
}
if(!cursor.getString(cursor.getColumnIndex(ShopContract.ShopChart.COL_PIC)).equals(product.getPicture())){
ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
values.put(ShopContract.ShopChart.COL_PIC,product.getPicture());
update(values);
}
//check how many there are already in cart (already in the cursor) and update it to be ++
Log.d(TAG, "run: the number in col_cart is: " + cursor.getInt(cursor.getColumnIndex(ShopContract.ShopChart.COL_CART)));
int inCart = cursor.getInt(cursor.getColumnIndex(ShopContract.ShopChart.COL_CART)) + 1; // because of the new product we just added
Log.d(TAG, "run: inCart = " + inCart);
ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
values.put(ShopContract.ShopChart.COL_CART,inCart);
Log.d(TAG, "run: change cart");
update(values);
edit:
here is the update method code (the writable is being initialized in the code above):
private SQLiteDatabase writable;
private void update(ContentValues values){
writable.update(ShopContract.ShopChart.TABLE_NAME, values, ShopContract.ShopChart.COL_PROD_ID + " = '" + product.getProd_id() +"'",null);
}

Fastest way to search through strings stored in sqlite database

I have large number of strings, approximately 15,000 that I stored in a SQLite database using the following code:
void addKey(String key, String value, String table) {
SQLiteDatabase db = this.getWritableDatabase();
ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
values.put(KEY_KEY, key); // Contact Name
values.put(KEY_VALUE, value); // Contact Phone
// Inserting Row
db.insert(table, null, values);
db.close(); // Closing database connection
}
And then i search through that database using the following method in order to pick out any strings that match the key im looking for:
public String searchKeyString(String key, String table){
String rtn = "";
Log.d("searchKeyString",table);
// Select All Query
String selectQuery = "SELECT * FROM " + table;
SQLiteDatabase db = this.getWritableDatabase();
Cursor cursor = db.rawQuery(selectQuery, null);
// looping through all rows and adding to list
if (cursor.moveToFirst()) {
do {
Log.d("searchKeyString","searching");
if(cursor.getString(1).equals(key))
rtn = rtn + "," + cursor.getString(2);
} while (cursor.moveToNext());
}
cursor.close();
db.close();
Log.d("searchKeyString","finish search");
return rtn;
}
The goal is to do this in real time as the user is typing on the keep board so response time is key and the way it stands now it takes over a second to run through the search.
I considered reading all of the items into an array list initially and sorting through that which might be faster, but i thought an array list of that size might cause memory issues. What is the best way to search through these entries in my database?

A couple of things you can do...
Change the return to a StringBuilder until the end.
Only use a readable version of the database (that's probably not making much difference though)
Do not get a new instance of the database every time, keep it opened until you don't need it anymore
Query for only what you need with the "WHERE" argument in the SQL query.
See the code below with some changes:
// move this somewhere else in your Activity or such
SQLiteDatabase db = this.getReadableDatabase();
public String searchKeyString(String key, String table){
StringBuilder rtn = new StringBuilder();
Log.d("searchKeyString",table);
// Select All Query
String selectQuery = "SELECT * FROM " + table + " WHERE KEY_KEY=?";
Cursor cursor = db.rawQuery(selectQuery, new String[] {key});
// you can change it to
// db.rawQuery("SELECT * FROM "+table+" WHERE KEY_KEY LIKE ?", new String[] {key+"%"});
// if you want to get everything starting with that key value
// looping through all rows and adding to list
if (cursor.moveToFirst()) {
do {
Log.d("searchKeyString","searching");
rtn.append(",").append(cursor.getString(2));
} while (cursor.moveToNext());
}
cursor.close();
Log.d("searchKeyString","finish search");
return rtn.toString();
}
Note even if you want this to happen in "real-time" for the user, you will still need to move this to a separate Thread or ASyncTask or you are going to run into problems....

You should consider using SELECT * FROM your-table LIMIT 50, for example. And you can put two buttons "Back", "Next" on your view. If every page has max 50 items, the user is at page 1, and he taps "Next", then you can use this query:
SELECT * FROM your-table LIMIT 50 OFFSET 50
If your table contains most of text-data, and you want to integrate search deeply into your app, consider using virtual table with FTS.

Let sqlite do the hard lifting.
First off, add an index to the field you're searching for, if you don't have one already. Secondly, don't do a SELECT all with manual table scan, but rather use a query in the form
SELECT column_value
FROM my_table
WHERE column_key LIKE "ABC%"
This returns the least amount of data, and the sql engine uses the index.

i dunno about better but maybe it'd be faster to make queries for the selected strings one by one.
public String searchKeyString(String key, String table){
String rtn = "";
Log.d("searchKeyString",table);
// Select All Query
String selectQuery = "SELECT * FROM " + table + "WHERE column_1 = " + key;
SQLiteDatabase db = this.getWritableDatabase();
Cursor cursor = db.rawQuery(selectQuery, null);
// looping through all rows and adding to list
if (cursor.moveToFirst()) {
rtn = rtn + "," + cursor.getString(2);
}
cursor.close();
db.close();
Log.d("searchKeyString","finish search");
return rtn;
}
EDIT:
Well i dunno how those custom keyboard apps do it, but those AutoCompleteTextViews are hooked up to adapters. you could just as easily make a cursorAdapter and hook your auto-complete view to it.
http://www.outofwhatbox.com/blog/2010/11/android-autocompletetextview-sqlite-and-dependent-fields/
http://www.opgenorth.net/blog/2011/09/06/using-autocompletetextview-and-simplecursoradapter-2/

Android/SQLite: Insert-Update table columns to keep the identifier

Currently, I am using the following statement to create a table in an SQLite database on an Android device.
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS 'locations' (
'_id' INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT, 'name' TEXT,
'latitude' REAL, 'longitude' REAL,
UNIQUE ( 'latitude', 'longitude' )
ON CONFLICT REPLACE );
The conflict-clause at the end causes that rows are dropped when new inserts are done that come with the same coordinates. The SQLite documentation contains further information about the conflict-clause.
Instead, I would like to keep the former rows and just update their columns. What is the most efficient way to do this in a Android/SQLite environment?
As a conflict-clause in the CREATE TABLE statement.
As an INSERT trigger.
As a conditional clause in the ContentProvider#insert method.
... any better you can think off
I would think it is more performant to handle such conflicts within the database. Also, I find it hard to rewrite the ContentProvider#insert method to consider the insert-update scenario. Here is code of the insert method:
public Uri insert(Uri uri, ContentValues values) {
final SQLiteDatabase db = mOpenHelper.getWritableDatabase();
long id = db.insert(DatabaseProperties.TABLE_NAME, null, values);
return ContentUris.withAppendedId(uri, id);
}
When data arrives from the backend all I do is inserting the data as follows.
getContentResolver.insert(CustomContract.Locations.CONTENT_URI, contentValues);
I have problems figuring out how to apply an alternative call to ContentProvider#update here. Additionally, this is not my favored solution anyways.
Edit:
#CommonsWare: I tried to implement your suggestion to use INSERT OR REPLACE. I came up with this ugly piece of code.
private static long insertOrReplace(SQLiteDatabase db, ContentValues values, String tableName) {
final String COMMA_SPACE = ", ";
StringBuilder columnsBuilder = new StringBuilder();
StringBuilder placeholdersBuilder = new StringBuilder();
List<Object> pureValues = new ArrayList<Object>(values.size());
Iterator<Entry<String, Object>> iterator = values.valueSet().iterator();
while (iterator.hasNext()) {
Entry<String, Object> pair = iterator.next();
String column = pair.getKey();
columnsBuilder.append(column).append(COMMA_SPACE);
placeholdersBuilder.append("?").append(COMMA_SPACE);
Object value = pair.getValue();
pureValues.add(value);
}
final String columns = columnsBuilder.substring(0, columnsBuilder.length() - COMMA_SPACE.length());
final String placeholders = placeholderBuilder.substring(0, placeholdersBuilder.length() - COMMA_SPACE.length());
db.execSQL("INSERT OR REPLACE INTO " + tableName + "(" + columns + ") VALUES (" + placeholders + ")", pureValues.toArray());
// The last insert id retrieved here is not safe. Some other inserts can happen inbetween.
Cursor cursor = db.rawQuery("SELECT * from SQLITE_SEQUENCE;", null);
long lastId = INVALID_LAST_ID;
if (cursor != null && cursor.getCount() > 0 && cursor.moveToFirst()) {
lastId = cursor.getLong(cursor.getColumnIndex("seq"));
}
cursor.close();
return lastId;
}
When I check the SQLite database, however, equal columns are still removed and inserted with new ids. I do not understand why this happens and thought the reason is my conflict-clause. But the documentation states the opposite.
The algorithm specified in the OR clause of an INSERT or UPDATE
overrides any algorithm specified in a CREATE TABLE. If no algorithm
is specified anywhere, the ABORT algorithm is used.
Another disadvantage of this attempt is that you loose the value of the id which is return by an insert statement. To compensate this, I finally found an option to ask for the last_insert_rowid. It is as explained in the posts of dtmilano and swiz. I am, however, not sure if this is safe since another insert can happen inbetween.

I can understand the perceived notion that it is best for performance to do all this logic in SQL, but perhaps the simplest (least code) solution is the best one in this case? Why not attempt the update first, and then use insertWithOnConflict() with CONFLICT_IGNORE to do the insert (if necessary) and get the row id you need:
public Uri insert(Uri uri, ContentValues values) {
final SQLiteDatabase db = mOpenHelper.getWritableDatabase();
String selection = "latitude=? AND longitude=?";
String[] selectionArgs = new String[] {values.getAsString("latitude"),
values.getAsString("longitude")};
//Do an update if the constraints match
db.update(DatabaseProperties.TABLE_NAME, values, selection, null);
//This will return the id of the newly inserted row if no conflict
//It will also return the offending row without modifying it if in conflict
long id = db.insertWithOnConflict(DatabaseProperties.TABLE_NAME, null, values, CONFLICT_IGNORE);
return ContentUris.withAppendedId(uri, id);
}
A simpler solution would be to check the return value of update() and only do the insert if the affected count was zero, but then there would be a case where you could not obtain the id of the existing row without an additional select. This form of insert will always return to you the correct id to pass back in the Uri, and won't modify the database more than necessary.
If you want to do a large number of these at once, you might look at the bulkInsert() method on your provider, where you can run multiple inserts inside a single transaction. In this case, since you don't need to return the id of the updated record, the "simpler" solution should work just fine:
public int bulkInsert(Uri uri, ContentValues[] values) {
final SQLiteDatabase db = mOpenHelper.getWritableDatabase();
String selection = "latitude=? AND longitude=?";
String[] selectionArgs = null;
int rowsAdded = 0;
long rowId;
db.beginTransaction();
try {
for (ContentValues cv : values) {
selectionArgs = new String[] {cv.getAsString("latitude"),
cv.getAsString("longitude")};
int affected = db.update(DatabaseProperties.TABLE_NAME,
cv, selection, selectionArgs);
if (affected == 0) {
rowId = db.insert(DatabaseProperties.TABLE_NAME, null, cv);
if (rowId > 0) rowsAdded++;
}
}
db.setTransactionSuccessful();
} catch (SQLException ex) {
Log.w(TAG, ex);
} finally {
db.endTransaction();
}
return rowsAdded;
}
In truth, the transaction code is what makes things faster by minimizing the number of times the database memory is written to the file, bulkInsert() just allows multiple ContentValues to be passed in with a single call to the provider.

One solution is to create a view for the locations table with a INSTEAD OF trigger on the view, then insert into the view. Here's what that would look like:
View:
CREATE VIEW locations_view AS SELECT * FROM locations;
Trigger:
CREATE TRIGGER update_location INSTEAD OF INSERT ON locations_view FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
INSERT OR REPLACE INTO locations (_id, name, latitude, longitude) VALUES (
COALESCE(NEW._id,
(SELECT _id FROM locations WHERE latitude = NEW.latitude AND longitude = NEW.longitude)),
NEW.name,
NEW.latitude,
NEW.longitude
);
END;
Instead of inserting into the locations table, you insert into the locations_view view. The trigger will take care of providing the correct _id value by using the sub-select. If, for some reason, the insert already contains an _id the COALESCE will keep it and override an existing one in the table.
You'll probably want to check how much the sub-select affects performance and compare that to other possible changes you could make, but it does allow you keep this logic out of your code.
I tried some other solutions involving triggers on the table itself based on INSERT OR IGNORE, but it seems that BEFORE and AFTER triggers only trigger if it will actually insert into the table.
You might find this answer helpful, which is the basis for the trigger.
Edit: Due to BEFORE and AFTER triggers not firing when an insert is ignored (which could then have been updated instead), we need to rewrite the insert with an INSTEAD OF trigger. Unfortunately, those don't work with tables - we have to create a view to use it.

INSERT OR REPLACE works just like ON CONFLICT REPLACE. It will delete the row if the row with the unique column already exists and than it does an insert. It never does update.
I would recommend you stick with your current solution, you create table with ON CONFLICT clausule, but every time you insert a row and the constraint violation occurs, your new row will have new _id as origin row will be deleted.
Or you can create table without ON CONFLICT clausule and use INSERT OR REPLACE, you can use insertWithOnConflict() method for that, but it is available since API level 8, requires more coding and leads to the same solution as table with ON CONFLICT clausule.
If you still want to keep your origin row, it means you want to keep the same _id you will have to make two queries, first one for inserting a row, second to update a row if insertion failed (or vice versa). To preserve consistency, you have to execute queries in a transaction.
db.beginTransaction();
try {
long rowId = db.insert(table, null, values);
if (rowId == -1) {
// insertion failed
String whereClause = "latitude=? AND longitude=?";
String[] whereArgs = new String[] {values.getAsString("latitude"),
values.getAsString("longitude")};
db.update(table, values, whereClause, whereArgs);
// now you have to get rowId so you can return correct Uri from insert()
// method of your content provider, so another db.query() is required
}
db.setTransactionSuccessful();
} finally {
db.endTransaction();
}

Use insertWithOnConflict and set the last parameter (conflictAlgorithm) to CONFLICT_REPLACE.
Read more at the following links:
insertWithOnConflict documentation
CONFLICT_REPLACE flag

for me, none of the approaches are work if I don't have "_id"
you should first call update, if the affected rows are zero, then insert it with ignore:
String selection = MessageDetailTable.SMS_ID+" =?";
String[] selectionArgs = new String[] { String.valueOf(md.getSmsId())};
int affectedRows = db.update(MessageDetailTable.TABLE_NAME, values, selection,selectionArgs);
if(affectedRows<=0) {
long id = db.insertWithOnConflict(MessageDetailTable.TABLE_NAME, null, values, SQLiteDatabase.CONFLICT_IGNORE);
}

Use INSERT OR REPLACE.
This is the correct way to do it.