Cordova/PhoneGap SQLitePlugin

Native interface to sqlite in a Cordova/PhoneGap plugin for Android/iOS/WP8, with HTML5 Web SQL API

License for Android & WP8 versions: MIT or Apache 2.0

License for iOS version: MIT only

WARNING: breaking change for Android version

The automatic ".db" database file extension is now removed for the Android version, for consistency with the iOS & WP8 versions. For an existing app, you may have to open an existing database like:

var db = window.sqlitePlugin.openDatabase({name: "my.db"});

Status

WP(8) version is experimental, unsupported and subject to change.
Please use the Cordova-SQLitePlugin forum for community support
Commercial support is available for SQLCipher integration with Android & iOS versions

Announcements

Fixes to work with PouchDB by @nolanlawson
WP version added by:
- @nadyaA (Nadezhda Atanasova) with proper DLL integration
- @Gillardo (Darren Gillard) with failure-safe transaction semantics working
Forum renamed to: Cordova-SQLitePlugin forum
New location: https://github.com/brodysoft/Cordova-SQLitePlugin
iOS version can now be built with either ARC or MRC.

Highlights

Works with Cordova 3.x tooling
Drop-in replacement for HTML5 SQL API, the only change should be window.openDatabase() --> sqlitePlugin.openDatabase()
Failure-safe nested transactions with batch processing optimizations
As described in this posting:
- Keeps sqlite database in a user data location that is known, can be reconfigured, and iOS will be backed up by iCloud.
- No 5MB maximum, more information at: http://www.sqlite.org/limits.html
Android & iOS working with SQLCipher for encryption (see below)
Android is supported back to SDK 10 (a.k.a. Gingerbread, Android 2.3.3); Support for older versions is available upon request.

Apps using Cordova/PhoneGap SQLitePlugin

Get It Done app by marcucio.com
Larkwire (iOS version): Learn bird songs the fun way

Known issues

For iOS version: There is a memory leak if you use this version with background processing disabled. As a workaround, the iOS version has background processing enabled by default.
Background processing and deleting a database are not implemented for WP8 version.

Other limitations

The db version, display name, and size parameter values are not supported and will be ignored.
The sqlite plugin will not work before the callback for the "deviceready" event has been fired, as described in Usage.
For Android version, there is an issue with background processing that affects transaction error handling and may affect nested transactions.
Background processing model could be improved for the Android version, with one background thread per database connection.
For iOS, iCloud backup is NOT optional and should be.
Missing db creation callback

Other versions

Pre-populated database support for Android & iOS: https://github.com/RikshaDriver/Cordova-PrePopulated-SQLitePlugin
Original version for iOS, with a different API: https://github.com/davibe/Phonegap-SQLitePlugin

Using with SQLCipher

for Android version: this blog posting & enhancements to SQLCipher db classes for Android
for iOS version: this posting

NOTE: This documentation is out-of-date and to be replaced very soon.

Usage

The idea is to emulate the HTML5 SQL API as closely as possible. The only major change is to use window.sqlitePlugin.openDatabase() (or sqlitePlugin.openDatabase()) instead of window.openDatabase(). If you see any other major change please report it, it is probably a bug.

Opening a database

There are two options to open a database:

Recommended: var db = window.sqlitePlugin.openDatabase({name: "my.db"});
Classical: var db = window.sqlitePlugin.openDatabase("myDatabase.db", "1.0", "Demo", -1);

IMPORTANT: Please wait for the "deviceready" event, as in the following example:

// Wait for Cordova to load
document.addEventListener("deviceready", onDeviceReady, false);

// Cordova is ready
function onDeviceReady() {
  var db = window.sqlitePlugin.openDatabase({name: "my.db"});
  // ...
}

NOTE: The database file name should include the extension, if desired.

Background processing

To enable background processing on a permanent basis, open a database like:

var db = window.sqlitePlugin.openDatabase({name: "my.db", bgType: 1});

NOTE: the iOS version has background processing enabled by default as a workaround for a memory leak described under Known limitations. To disable background processing, open a database like:

var db = window.sqlitePlugin.openDatabase({name: "my.db", bgType: 0});

Sample with PRAGMA feature

This is a pretty strong test: first we create a table and add a single entry, then query the count to check if the item was inserted as expected. Note that a new transaction is created in the middle of the first callback.

// Wait for Cordova to load
document.addEventListener("deviceready", onDeviceReady, false);

// Cordova is ready
function onDeviceReady() {
  var db = window.sqlitePlugin.openDatabase({name: "my.db"});

  db.transaction(function(tx) {
    tx.executeSql('DROP TABLE IF EXISTS test_table');
    tx.executeSql('CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS test_table (id integer primary key, data text, data_num integer)');

    // demonstrate PRAGMA:
    db.executeSql("pragma table_info (test_table);", [], function(res) {
      console.log("PRAGMA res: " + JSON.stringify(res));
    });

    tx.executeSql("INSERT INTO test_table (data, data_num) VALUES (?,?)", ["test", 100], function(tx, res) {
      console.log("insertId: " + res.insertId + " -- probably 1");
      console.log("rowsAffected: " + res.rowsAffected + " -- should be 1");

      db.transaction(function(tx) {
        tx.executeSql("select count(id) as cnt from test_table;", [], function(tx, res) {
          console.log("res.rows.length: " + res.rows.length + " -- should be 1");
          console.log("res.rows.item(0).cnt: " + res.rows.item(0).cnt + " -- should be 1");
        });
      });

    }, function(e) {
      console.log("ERROR: " + e.message);
    });
  });
}

Sample with transaction-level nesting

In this case, the same transaction in the first executeSql() callback is being reused to run executeSql() again.

// Wait for Cordova to load
document.addEventListener("deviceready", onDeviceReady, false);

// Cordova is ready
function onDeviceReady() {
  var db = window.sqlitePlugin.openDatabase("Database", "1.0", "Demo", -1);

  db.transaction(function(tx) {
    tx.executeSql('DROP TABLE IF EXISTS test_table');
    tx.executeSql('CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS test_table (id integer primary key, data text, data_num integer)');

    tx.executeSql("INSERT INTO test_table (data, data_num) VALUES (?,?)", ["test", 100], function(tx, res) {
      console.log("insertId: " + res.insertId + " -- probably 1");
      console.log("rowsAffected: " + res.rowsAffected + " -- should be 1");

      tx.executeSql("select count(id) as cnt from test_table;", [], function(tx, res) {
        console.log("res.rows.length: " + res.rows.length + " -- should be 1");
        console.log("res.rows.item(0).cnt: " + res.rows.item(0).cnt + " -- should be 1");
      });

    }, function(e) {
      console.log("ERROR: " + e.message);
    });
  });
}

This case will also works with Safari (WebKit), assuming you replace window.sqlitePlugin.openDatabase with window.openDatabase.

Delete a database

window.sqlitePlugin.deleteDatabase("my.db", successcb, errorcb);

NOTE: This is not implemented for WP8.

Installing

NOTE: This plugin is now prepared to be installed using the cordova tool.

Easy install with cordova tool

npm install -g cordova # if you don't have cordova
cordova plugin add https://github.com/brodysoft/Cordova-SQLitePlugin

Source tree

SQLitePlugin.coffee.md: platform-independent (Literate coffee-script, can be read by recent coffee-script compiler)
www: SQLitePlugin.js now platform-independent
src: Java plugin code for Android; Objective-C plugin code for iOS; C-sharp code & DLLs for WP8
test-www: simple testing in index.html using qunit 1.5.0
Lawnchair-adapter: Lawnchair adaptor, based on the version from the Lawnchair repository, with the basic Lawnchair test suite in test-www subdirectory

Manual installation - Android version

These installation instructions are based on the Android example project from Cordova/PhoneGap 2.7.0. For your first time please unzip the PhoneGap 2.7 zipball and use the lib/android/example subdirectory.

Install www/SQLitePlugin.js from this repository into assets/www subdirectory
Install src/android/org/pgsqlite/SQLitePlugin.java from this repository into src/org/pgsqlite subdirectory
Add the plugin element <plugin name="SQLitePlugin" value="org.pgsqlite.SQLitePlugin"/> to res/xml/config.xml

Sample change to res/xml/config.xml for Cordova/PhoneGap 2.x:

--- config.xml.orig	2013-07-23 13:48:09.000000000 +0200
+++ res/xml/config.xml	2013-07-23 13:48:26.000000000 +0200
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
     <preference name="useBrowserHistory" value="true" />
     <preference name="exit-on-suspend" value="false" />
 <plugins>
+    <plugin name="SQLitePlugin" value="org.pgsqlite.SQLitePlugin"/>
     <plugin name="App" value="org.apache.cordova.App"/>
     <plugin name="Geolocation" value="org.apache.cordova.GeoBroker"/>
     <plugin name="Device" value="org.apache.cordova.Device"/>

Before building for the first time, you have to update the project with the desired version of the Android SDK with a command like:

android update project --path $(pwd) --target android-17

(assume Android SDK 17, use the correct desired Android SDK number here)

NOTE: using this plugin on Cordova pre-3.0 requires the following change to SQLitePlugin.java:

--- src/android/org/pgsqlite/SQLitePlugin.java	2013-09-10 21:36:20.000000000 +0200
+++ SQLitePlugin.java.old	2013-09-10 21:35:14.000000000 +0200
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@
 
 import java.util.HashMap;
 
-import org.apache.cordova.CordovaPlugin;
-import org.apache.cordova.CallbackContext;
+import org.apache.cordova.api.CordovaPlugin;
+import org.apache.cordova.api.CallbackContext;
 
 import android.database.Cursor;

Manual installation - iOS version

SQLite library

In the Project "Build Phases" tab, select the first "Link Binary with Libraries" dropdown menu and add the library libsqlite3.dylib or libsqlite3.0.dylib.

NOTE: In the "Build Phases" there can be multiple "Link Binary with Libraries" dropdown menus. Please select the first one otherwise it will not work.

SQLite Plugin

Drag .h and .m files into your project's Plugins folder (in xcode) -- I always just have "Create references" as the option selected.

Take the precompiled javascript file from build/, or compile the coffeescript file in src/ to javascript WITH the top-level function wrapper option (default).

Use the resulting javascript file in your HTML.

Enable the SQLitePlugin in config.xml (Cordova/PhoneGap 2.x):

--- config.xml.old	2013-05-17 13:18:39.000000000 +0200
+++ config.xml	2013-05-17 13:18:49.000000000 +0200
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
     <content src="index.html" />
 
     <plugins>
+        <plugin name="SQLitePlugin" value="SQLitePlugin" />
         <plugin name="Device" value="CDVDevice" />
         <plugin name="Logger" value="CDVLogger" />
         <plugin name="Compass" value="CDVLocation" />

Manual installation - WP8 version

TODO

Quick installation test

Make a change like this to index.html (or use the sample code) verify proper installation:

--- index.html.old	2012-08-04 14:40:07.000000000 +0200
+++ assets/www/index.html	2012-08-04 14:36:05.000000000 +0200
@@ -24,7 +24,35 @@
     <title>PhoneGap</title>
       <link rel="stylesheet" href="master.css" type="text/css" media="screen" title="no title">
       <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="cordova-2.0.0.js"></script>
-      <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="main.js"></script>
+      <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="SQLitePlugin.js"></script>
+
+
+      <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">
+      document.addEventListener("deviceready", onDeviceReady, false);
+      function onDeviceReady() {
+        var db = window.sqlitePlugin.openDatabase("Database", "1.0", "Demo", -1);
+
+        db.transaction(function(tx) {
+          tx.executeSql('DROP TABLE IF EXISTS test_table');
+          tx.executeSql('CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS test_table (id integer primary key, data text, data_num integer)');
+
+          tx.executeSql("INSERT INTO test_table (data, data_num) VALUES (?,?)", ["test", 100], function(tx, res) {
+          console.log("insertId: " + res.insertId + " -- probably 1"); // check #18/#38 is fixed
+          alert("insertId: " + res.insertId + " -- should be valid");
+
+            db.transaction(function(tx) {
+              tx.executeSql("SELECT data_num from test_table;", [], function(tx, res) {
+                console.log("res.rows.length: " + res.rows.length + " -- should be 1");
+                alert("res.rows.item(0).data_num: " + res.rows.item(0).data_num + " -- should be 100");
+              });
+            });
+
+          }, function(e) {
+            console.log("ERROR: " + e.message);
+          });
+        });
+      }
+      </script>
 
   </head>
   <body onload="init();" id="stage" class="theme">

Common traps & pitfalls

The plugin class name starts with "SQL" in capital letters, but in Javascript the sqlitePlugin object name starts with "sql" in small letters.
Attempting to open a database before receiving the "deviceready" event callback.

Support

Reporting issues

If you have an issue with the plugin please check the following first:

You are using the latest version of the Plugin Javascript & platform-specific Java or Objective-C source from this repository.
You have installed the Javascript & platform-specific Java or Objective-C correctly.
You have included the correct version of the cordova Javascript and SQLitePlugin.js and got the path right.
You have registered the plugin properly in config.xml.

If you still cannot get something to work:

Make the simplest test program you can to demonstrate the issue, including the following characteristics:
- it completely self-contained, i.e. it is using no extra libraries beyond cordova & SQLitePlugin.js;
- if the issue is with adding data to a table, that the test program includes the statements you used to open the database and create the table;
- if the issue is with retrieving data from a table, that the test program includes the statements you used to open the database, create the table, and enter the data you are trying to retrieve.

Then you can post the issue to the Cordova-SQLitePlugin forum or raise a new issue.

Community forum

If you have any questions about the plugin please post it to the Cordova-SQLitePlugin forum.

Support priorities

High priority:

Stability is first: immediate resolution or workaround for stability issues (crashing) is the goal.
Correctness: any issue with correctness should result in a new testcase together with the bug fix.

Low priority: issues with the API or application integration will be given lower priority until the Cordova 3.0 integration is finished for Windows Phone 8. Pull requests are very welcome for these kinds of issues.

Professional support

Available for integration with SQLCipher.

Unit test(s)

Unit testing is done in test-www/. To run the tests, simply do either:

./bin/test.sh ios

or in Android:

./bin/test.sh android

Lawnchair Adapter Usage

Common adapter

Please look at the Lawnchair-adapter tree that contains a common adapter, which should also work with the Android version, along with a test-www directory.

Included files

Include the following js files in your html:

lawnchair.js (you provide)
SQLitePlugin.js
Lawnchair-sqlitePlugin.js (must come after SQLitePlugin.js)

Sample

The name option will determine the sqlite filename. Optionally, you can change it using the db option.

In this example, you would be using/creating the database at: Documents/kvstore.sqlite3 (all db's in SQLitePlugin are in the Documents folder)

kvstore = new Lawnchair { name: "kvstore" }, () ->
  # do stuff

Using the db option you can create multiple stores in one sqlite file. (There will be one table per store.)

recipes = new Lawnchair {db: "cookbook", name: "recipes", ...}
ingredients = new Lawnchair {db: "cookbook", name: "ingredients", ...}

It also supports bgType argument:

users = new Lawnchair {name: "users", bgType: 1, ...}

Contributing

IMPORTANT NOTE: It is better to push your change(s) from a separate branch. Sometimes they need to be reworked before acceptance. Otherwise your master branch could become a real mess if rework is needed.

Testimonials of apps that are using this plugin would be especially helpful.
Reporting issues to the Cordova-SQLitePlugin forum can help improve the quality of this plugin.
Patches with bug fixes are helpful, especially when submitted with test code.
Other enhancements welcome for consideration, when submitted with test code and will work for all supported platforms. Increase of complexity should be avoided.
All contributions may be reused by @brodybits (Chris Brody) under another license in the future. Efforts will be taken to give credit for major contributions but it will not be guaranteed.
Project restructuring, i.e. moving files and/or directories around, should be avoided if possible. If you see a need for restructuring, it is best to ask first on the Cordova-SQLitePlugin forum where alternatives can be discussed before reaching a conclusion. If you want to propose a change to the project structure:
- Make a special branch within your fork from which you can send the proposed restructuring;
- Always use git mv to move files & directories;
- Never mix a move/rename operation and any other changes in the same commit.

Files

README.md

Latest commit

History