SQLite Databases using External DB

This is tutorial for accessing external DB from assets folder. In android We can create sqlite database by using SQLite Database Browser. Now the question is how to access this database in source code. The answer is very simple. Store the database in assets folder that is placed in project folder.

Then we can access this database in dbhelper class using

context.getAssets().open(DB_NAME);

After this we should copy this database to our root directory. Why because our SQLiteOpenHelper reads data from root directory only. for this we have to open new empty file in root directory by using.

private String DB_PATH = "/data/data/" + context.getPackageName() + "/" + "databases/";
String DB_NAME = "database";
String outFileName = DB_PATH + DB_NAME;
OutputStream myOutput = new FileOutputStream(outFileName);

then we have to copy our data to this empty file by using.

byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
int length;
while ((length = myInput.read(buffer)) > 0) {
myOutput.write(buffer, 0, length);
}

Now we can access our data from root directory db to our project easily. Sample project to implement external sqlite database access in android.

DBHelper.java

package com.android.sqlite;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import android.content.Context;
import android.database.Cursor;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDatabase;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteOpenHelper;

public class DBHelper extends SQLiteOpenHelper {

 private static String DB_NAME = "database";
 private SQLiteDatabase db;
 private final Context context;
 private String DB_PATH;

 public DBHelper(Context context) {
  super(context, DB_NAME, null, 1);
  this.context = context;
  DB_PATH = "/data/data/" + context.getPackageName() + "/" + "databases/";
 }

 public void createDataBase() throws IOException {

  boolean dbExist = checkDataBase();
  if (dbExist) {

  } else {
   this.getReadableDatabase();
   try {
    copyDataBase();
   } catch (IOException e) {
    throw new Error("Error copying database");
   }
  }
 }

 private boolean checkDataBase() {
  File dbFile = new File(DB_PATH + DB_NAME);
  return dbFile.exists();
 }

 private void copyDataBase() throws IOException {

  InputStream myInput = context.getAssets().open(DB_NAME);
  String outFileName = DB_PATH + DB_NAME;
  OutputStream myOutput = new FileOutputStream(outFileName);
  byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
  int length;
  while ((length = myInput.read(buffer)) > 0) {
   myOutput.write(buffer, 0, length);
  }

  // Close the streams
  myOutput.flush();
  myOutput.close();
  myInput.close();

 }

 public Cursor getData() {
  String myPath = DB_PATH + DB_NAME;
  db = SQLiteDatabase.openDatabase(myPath, null,
    SQLiteDatabase.OPEN_READONLY);
  Cursor c = db.rawQuery("SELECT * FROM master", null);
   // Note: Master is the one table in External db. Here we trying to access the records of table from external db.
  return c;
 }

 @Override
 public void onCreate(SQLiteDatabase arg0) {
  // TODO Auto-generated method stub
 }

 @Override
 public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db, int oldVersion, int newVersion) {
  // TODO Auto-generated method stub
 }
}

And
ExternalDBActivity.java

package com.android.sqlite;

import java.io.IOException;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.database.Cursor;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.SimpleCursorAdapter;

public class ExternalDBActivity extends Activity {
 /** Called when the activity is first created. */
 DBHelper dbhelper;

 @Override
 public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
  setContentView(R.layout.main);
  
  String[] from = new String[] { "_id", "columnName1", "columnName2" };
  int[] to = new int[] { R.id.TextView1, R.id.TextView2, R.id.TextView3 };

  dbhelper = new DBHelper(this);
  try {
   dbhelper.createDataBase();
  } catch (IOException e) {
   // TODO Auto-generated catch block
   e.printStackTrace();
  }

  Cursor c = dbhelper.getData();
  
  SimpleCursorAdapter adapter = new SimpleCursorAdapter(
    getApplicationContext(), R.layout.list, c, from, to);
  
   ListView list = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.ListView1);
  
   list.setAdapter(adapter);
 }
}

main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?<
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" <

    <ListView
        android:id="@+id/ListView1"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" <
    </ListView<

</LinearLayout<

list.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:gravity="center" >

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/TextView1"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="10dp" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/TextView2"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="10dp" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/TextView3"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="10dp" />

</LinearLayout>

Related article How to create and use SQLite database dynamically

Reduce your work by using SQLiteHelper.jar

Thank You