How to save form data into database in android sdk - java

I need help with adding a database in my app for android. What I want to do is save name, address, if certain checkboxes are checked and textbox data. so far this is what I have in my main activity xml and java (download links):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vp4fg0f5kx0p5it/activity_main.xml?dl=1
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p2dkqtoe8h1dl85/MainActivity.java?dl=1
All the other questions and tutorials just don't seem able to be grasped by my mind. I want to save the "name", "address", "AirSealing", "airsealnotes", "DuctSealing", "BlowerDoor", "ductsealnotes", "blowdoornotes", "Light", "lightnotes", "othernotes", "HPD", "HPGJGNY", "Placeholder", and the save button to save data.

There's a lot of boilerplate code associated with creating and handling an SQLite database (even just one with a single table), so don't feel bad about not getting it right away.
Here's the tutorial I personally used to grasp SQLite databases in Android:
http://www.androidhive.info/2011/11/android-sqlite-database-tutorial/
Essentially, you'll want to follow the tutorial, only replacing their columns (a name and phone number) with the data you want to store. The custom helper class isn't mandatory - you can simply take the code they put in the DB handler class and write it in your main activity class instead - but it makes writing and retrieving data a lot easier.
Also, a word of warning: you won't be able to store every type of data in a database out of the box. For instance, if you want to store a boolean (which would be your checkboxes), you'll have to do it by storing, say, an integer or a string, instead of an actual boolean.

Related

Can i replace my table-arranged dummy values with actual data froma database?

[So as you can see in the picture, i'm a newbie in android programming and i just had an assignment concerning creating a management system app for university.
The views you see in the picture are just customly made with xml(Table layout) and the data are just dummy data placed on the respective textviews in the tables. I desire to create a database for students and all those data e.g names, gender, should be fetched from the database or sent. Remember, as for courses the number of courses would differ from one degree prog to another(imagine a student with less ormore courses than the tables i sampled there).
How do i acomplish this
As for database, im thinking of using SQLite or Firebase ]1
There are many ways to approach this, depending on the requirements of your program. If you need to share data between multiple people or devices, you probably want a database that lives on a web server, and you would write an API (application programming interface) which you would call from your app, and it would go and get the data from the database and return it to your app.
If your app is meant to be 'stand alone', where you could use it without being connected to the internet, then yes, a SQLite database is a good solution and it is pretty easy to integrate into your app.
To create a SQLite database, you can download the free tool SQLiteStudio. Once you create the database (usually saved with a .db file extension) you can add it to your project in the Assets folder (create it if it doesn't exist). The folder lives at the same level as the bin and gen folders in your project.
Next, search for a class called DatabaseHelper.java, it has a number of methods for opening, closing and querying a SQLite database, copy that to your project.
At the start of your program, you should check to see if you have a copy of the database in your local data/databases folder in your App's file storage area. If you don't have a copy there, which on the first execution of your program, it will not be there, then you have to copy the database .db file from your Assets folder to the data/databases folder, then open it there. If it is found, you've already done this, so, just open it.
When you want to read data into your app, you execute a SELECT statement to retrieve data from your database into a Cursor object, and return that cursor from your DatabaseHelper class to your activity. In your activity, you will iterate through the Cursor, reading one row at a time, and copy the data into program variables. Sometimes, you will create a class object to hold one record, with attributes that match a row from your query, and you'll create an instance of your class, fill it with the data from the Cursor, then add that object to an Array List of objects which your program can use at a later time, say, to display a list of people or whatever it is you queried for. Once the Cursor has been read to the end, you close the Database by calling a close method in the DatabaseHelper class.
That's the general idea. If you search for a copy of the DatabaseHelper.java class, that will get you started. Then, search for some example projects that use that DatabaseHelper.java class so you can figure out how to use it.
Good luck!!

Necessity of storing variables in Firebase Database

So I am wondering about how necessary it is to store variables in the realtime firebase database if I want all Users at access the same dynamic variable.
So for instance, I have a arraylist that stores the list of open games, and if I want this list to update in realtime for every user should this List in firebase realtime database?
Sorry for the simplicity of the question
Yes, it may be a simple question, but it surely pops in head of everyone, once.
I think for updating any list dynamically in real time, would require you to access any kind of database.
It is not necessary to have it on Firebase database, but any database online, that can tell every open instance of your app that the list has to be updated at a particular instant.
The main reason of why you need it to be on database is updating it in real time and that too dynamically.
If it's not dynamic, meaning the content that you need, can be hardcoded then one way would be placing everything you need in your code and using timer or something like that to fire at particular moments to update things in your app.
Also that aside, sorting, storing and changing data is much simpler using a database, which also becomes one more reason for you to use a database like Firebase to keep content of your app that has to be updated frequently in real time.
You can know more about database in this Google link, I found.

Android: What data structure to use to save app's data

So I have a simple android app which is like this: It has a list of Car Manufacturers such as Honda, Ford, Mazda etc.
Then when one of the manufacturer is chosen, I need to display their car models. So if user selects Honda, I would display "Civic, CRV, Odyssey" etc.
And when user selects a specific model, I would display another list with more information.
So what kinda of data structure would be simple and easy to implement in my android app. I was thinking about using nested ArrayLists.
Also, can you please provide a link to an example on how to save the data internally using android studio and get the data when I need to.
Note: The list is dynamic, meaning that the user will have the option to add or delete any item from any of lists.
Thanks :)
This is practically what databases are for (of course I'm talking about SQLite here). I'm assuming you will have loads of data that are interconnected in a way.
I do not know how well you know database design, but you should have a table called Manufacturer which will hold the data about those (think about what data you want to save and therefore create proper columns of the table) and a table called CarModel which will have a foreign key which connects it to the Manufacturer (called manufacturer_id). These two tables need to have Many-To-One relationship -> Each manufacturer can have Many models, but each model can be produced by only One manufacturer.
This is just a basic idea which you can still improve to your own liking, but this should cover everything that you asked for very easily. For example, to get a list of Manufacturers, you'd simply Select * from Manufacturer. When you click a particular manufacturer and wanna display it's models, you'd just write a quite simple query Select * from CarModel where manufacturer_id = id (id being the parameter you pass to some function, the id of the manufacturer you want the models for. The models you select can have arbitrary amount of data like additional information about that model.
If you're not that good with raw queries, there are useful query builder which can make your life a whole lot easier.
I think that the most approaches to implement data in Android is based on SQLite. If you don't have enough experience with it i strongly recommend to investigate following tutorials with content provider:
Content-provider basics
Content-provider creating
You are right that it is very time consuming (even for experienced developers) just because this approach needs to specify entire database scheme using simple strings. But there are a few ORM-solutions you can use, such as ORMLite, but it still demanding task to investigate.
In addition i would reccomend Realm, that significantly simpler to implement, but, in my opinion, has many features you should consider (such as multithreading work)
Hope, it'll help.

How to save images provided by a user to a database using Java

I am planning how I to write a GUI Java application that displays a form to the user to add information about themselves. One of the things I want to include is the ability for the user to add a picture to the form. Upon submission the picture and the rest of the info will then be saved to a database. Being new to java I was hoping for some instructional Links or tips as to how to accomplish this. I was thinking of setting one of my columns in my table as a 'BLOB' type and then saving them to it, but that is just a shot in the dark. I really don't know what the column type should be (byte, blob, ect...), or how to code so that the picture will be saved to my database for display later. I guess my question is how to get and save a picture to a database from a form. I am going to attempt this using eclipse, and am still unsure what I will use for the database. Sorry about any confusion, and thanks for reading!!
Drew
If you really want to store your image in the database, BLOB seems to be the most adapted type for the column holding the image.
But IMHO, those types of files do not have to be stored in a database. Just store them somewhere in a directory and just keep the image names (or a generated id) in your database.
You will need two columns in the database: a BLOB to hold the binary image data, and a text type (VARCHAR most likely) to store the file format. If you plan to use an API that automatically detects the image format you can use just the BLOB.

XML or Database for Auto form generation

So I'm creating a program that auto generates forms for data entry. The form is created by a user (its a simple table setup with the ability to merge cells). Some of the cells contain text views, others contain text inputs (all based on how the user draws it).
This form is then sent to another application that draws it back out. I was wondering what the best method is to represent the form. I though either use XML to represent the form or use a database that would basically function as a grid and row 1 column 1 in the database would match the form cell row 1 column 1 and so on (kind of an odd way to use a database).
The form creation program is made in C++ and the form regeneration program is created in Java.
Is there an even better way to do this?
Thanks,
I am also thinking the same thing because I am in to creating dynamic forms for my framework to. So I will share some thoughts with you. Using database to add new forms like adding a record in one table that specifies the form and its fields in another having the ability to select it's field types to, or creating one table for each form and each time create a new table or altering its fields (sound messy).. or create a folder with a bunch of xmls that are used for the structure of your forms?
When it comes to database:
Your application is stricted with a specific database application
like sql server 2008 or mysql or mysqli or oracle etc.
Your application is causing network traffic, not that bad but it is
doing it eveytime you need to create or use a form.
You need a panel that creates those forms using the database, and
can be accessed if its web even from your mobile.
When it comes to XML:
Your application is free from database version restrictions.
you need the impersonator to have the right to create files in a
spesific directory in your frameowork.
You don't need a panel even though you can create one, because XML are human readable files. So you can make one while eating your dinner and serve it to your system,
and wala, you have your form generated.
These are my thoughts for now.
How about the methods that will be used in the form? will those also be dynamic? How can you specify what calls what? this is also what you need to take in account.
I think that XML is a much better choice here. Using database as a grid could be more of a headache than needed. You will have to deal with all the problems related to having the database and not really get any benefits of the database. The industry decides to go with xml more often than not as well (xbrl being one example).

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