Develop Reference

Does cursor adapter query db multiple times or does it cache the full result?

I'm new to android dev (xamarin) and trying to undestand the basics. So as you scroll through a list, does it hit the db as you go, or does it pick up rows from a cache.
-If it does hit the db, why would most docs say that it is more efficient than say supplying a base adapter with an ilist. At least this way I only hit the db once.
-If it doesnt and puts everything in a cache, then its similar to using a base adapter with supplied with a full list.
I'm still confused as to why most people say the cursor adapter is more efficient ?
Thanks,
Mick

No, it caches the full result.
If anyone wants to find out more about CursorAdapter he can look here: https://developer.xamarin.com/guides/android/user_interface/working_with_listviews_and_adapters/part_4_-_using_cursoradapters/

Loading a BIG SQLiteDatabase in a ListActivity

I'm working on an Android project I need to finish very fast.
One of the app's features is loading a SQLite database content and listing it in a ListView inside a ListActivity.
The database contains a few tables, among which 2 are very large.
Each item in the database has many columns, out of which I need to display at least 2 (Name, Price), although preferably is 3.
This might seem a pretty easy task, as all I need to do in this part of the app is read a database and list it. I did this without any problems, testing the app versus a small sample database.
In my FIRST version, I used a Cursor to get the query, then an ArrayAdapter as the list's adapter, and after the query I simply loop the cursor from start to end, and for each position I add the Cursor's content to the adapter.
The onItemClickListener queries the database again versus other parameters (basically I open categories) so it clears the adapter, then loops the Cursor and adds its content to the adapter all over again.
The app worked like a charm, but when I used a real-life, big database (>300MB) I suddenly got my app taking very long to display the contents, and sometimes even blocking.
So I did some research and started using a SimpleCursorAdapter that automatically links the contents of a Cursor to the ListView using the usual parameters (String[] from, int[] to etc., where I used android.R.layout.simple_list_item_2 and android.R.id.text1 and text2).
Problem is, is doesn't change much the time to load.
I've came across some suggested solutions on different web sites and tutorials, most of them using, in one way or another, the AsyncTask class. I tried implementing this manually myself but it's hard to keep track of multiple threads and I failed.
Tutorials keep telling how to do this with content providers, but I found nothing clear bout my specific situation: very big SQLite database -> read to ListView.
Now my head is filled in with notions like LoaderManager, LoaderAdapter etc, all mixed up and confused in my head.
Can anybody please provide me a complete, nice, clean solution to do this "simple" task?
Again: I want to read a BIG SQLiteDatabase and display it in a ListView. I want the app NOT to block.
I need a class that has a member function that takes as parameter a query and the ListActivity's context and takes itself care of displaying the result of the query in the view.
Please don't provide me abstract answers. I'm running out of time and I'm very confused right now and I need a clean complete solution.
You're my only hope.

If you query such large database it will take tym, you need to find a smart way,
Like limit you database query to get first 10 or 30 items and then maintain,once last item is reached query rest 30 items and bind them
Refer this tutorial, it will teach you how to add data dynamically in a list view
http://p-xr.com/android-tutorial-dynamicaly-load-more-items-to-the-listview-never-ending-list/
The above list has expired chk this
http://mobile.dzone.com/news/android-tutorial-dynamicaly

If you query large database it will take time to fetch data and show it on List View. So it is better to populate data at run time. You can use Lazy Adapter concept to load data . This link1 may be useful for You.
Thanks

you can also use :
public class TodosOverviewActivity extends ListActivity implements
LoaderManager.LoaderCallbacks<Cursor>
check this link for more details.

Pagination with filtering using CursorLoader, AutocompleteTextView, CursorAdapter, ContentProvider in android

I have some trouble when using CursorLoader... I want to download data from inet API page by page, however;
I also want to make pagination of the listview. It means that data should be downloaded page by page when the end of listview is reached.
I also want to filter my listview inputing constraint-text in AutocompleteTextView.
Each of these features works properly when I use them separately, but when I want use them together it works not pretty well. I want to implement such a scenario: if I entered filter-text in AutocompleteTextView my listview was invalidated (that works fine) and downloading process would start until listview size reach the end of screen.
The problem is I don't know how to organize the cursor update through CursorLoader, when I should restart loader and when should't I? Should I restart loader only when I set filter (setFilterQueryProvider, method runQuery(CharSequence constraint)) or should I do it when give new portion of data from inet?
Now when process was started I found out that callback onLoadFinished wasn't called and listview wasn't updated...
Maybe anybody give me some working example...

You could change your CursorLoader for an AsyncTaskLoader to fetch new information when no records found according to the filter criteria. With the AsyncTaskLoader you could handle DB and UI operations to manage the Activity's state when it is downloading data or querying it locally.
Hope it helps.

Utterly confused about loading SQLite data in Honeycomb (Android)

I am new to android development and I've hit a hurdle when trying to load SQLite data to populate a ListFragment. In previous versions of android one made a new instance of the cursor class, made an SQLite query to place the cursor in the appropriate position, called startManagingCursor, made a new SimpleCursorAdapter and finally called setListAdapter. Pretty darn simple (too bad about the UI thread)!
Now almost all of these methods are deprecated and I have no idea how to populate my poor ListView. The documentation says I should use CursorLoader but here on StackOverflow people advise against using it for SQLite queries. How do I tell my cursor to populate the ListView?
Thanks a lot in advance!

You need to convert you DbAdapter into a Content Provider if you want to use CursorLoaders. and put android:exported= false as a property of your content provider so that it is private. Android team is favoring this approach as they say Content Provider is better suited to handle logic. That is why they are bent on deprecating our old ways( was hard on me too). But I have changed my dbadapters to content providers and now gleefully using cursor loaders( they are too cool not to be used). Try it, generally you will do fine with some more boilerplate code of Content Providers in adition to that of DBadapter and sqliteHelper. GO for it!

Android listing design problem with cursors

I have a following situation in my android app.
I have an app that fetches messages from inbox, sent items and drafts based on search keywords. I use to accomplish this by fetching cursors for each manually based on selection by user and then populating them in a custom data holder object. Filter those results based on given keywords and then manually render view with respective data.
Someone suggested that I should use a custom Cursor adapter to bind view and my cursor data. So I tried doing that. Now what I am doing is this:
Fetch individual cursors for inbox, sent items and drafts. Merge them into one using Merge cursor and then pass that back to my CursorAdapter implmentation.
Now where or how do I filter my cursor data based on keywords; because now binding will ensure that they are directly rendered to view on list. Also, some post fetching operation like fetching sender's contact pic and all will be something that I do not want to move to adapter. If I do all this processing in adapter; it'll be heavy and ugly.
How could I have designed it better such that it performs and the responsibilities are shared and distributed.
Any ideas will be helpful.

Using cursors and adapters does not work out well for the most part. Our experience as led down a different technique.
Your best bet is to "pump" the cursors in an AsyncTask into an ArrayList<data-holding object>, then you can do processing and then sort that list as necessary with Collections.sort() and the Comparator of your own construction, and then use ArrayAdapter to present the resulting list. This releases cursors ASAP and stays off the UI thread while doing it and you can sort however you feel like.
Remember always process in the background and avoid ANR!
We use this in all of our apps (14 on The Market) and it works like Butter.