One of the most powerful features in Adobe AIR is the native integration of SQLite that was introduced in Beta 2. Since Beta 2 it's integration has been improved, and it is now a viable local database capable of storing application data or syncing with a database server. The implementation provided with AIR is powerful and provides two distinctly different ways to access the database. There are nineteen different classes that can be used with this API, and in the next few articles I will dissect the ones that you need to know.

What is SQLite

SQLite is an open-source lightweight relational database system developed by D. Richard Hipp. SQLite differs from traditional server based databases in several ways. First, an SQLite database is completely self-contained in a single cross-platform file. This works well for AIR, because the same database file can work on a Windows, Mac, or Linux machine. Second, SQLite handles column types in a different manner. Essentially, SQLite types the fields as well as the columns. This allows fields in a column to be of different data types.

Asynchronous vs. Synchronous

As I mentioned earlier, there are two different modes in which you can use to connect to an SQLite database in AIR: synchronous and asynchronous.

Synchronous: This method requires much less code. With this method you don't have to use event handlers when retrieving data. If you have a method call below your database query, you can be sure that it will not execute until the query has been completed. This seems like a great thing, but a synchronous call will also keep any other methods from executing during your query. In this case, the user's experience is basically 'paused' during your query. To avoid this undesirable effect, you will need to use the asynchronous mode.

Asynchronous: This method will take more code. You will have to add event listeners and event handlers. The benefit is that the user experience will be uninterrupted during your query. This is ideal for most situations except for very simple instances.

For these tutorials I will be using asynchronous calls. If you can master the programming used with asynchronous calls, using synchronous calls will be very easy.

SQLite Administration Resources

There are many different tools that you can use to administer your SQLite databases. I have listed three of these below. You will need one of these tools for the upcoming tutorials. I use both of the first two that I have listed (and I had the third one recommended by another developer).

SQLite Admin AIR Application
SQLite Manager Firefox Extension
SQLite Database Browser

Next Tutorial: In the next article, I will cover connecting to a pre-existing database and executing a simple query on that database. As always let me know if you have any specific questions.