How to make AUTO_INCREMENT on Android SQLite database?

Question

Hey I want to create a database with an AUTO_INCREMENT column. But I don't know how to parse the value in the method insert. I just don't know what to parse to an AUTO_INCREMENT argument, and I parsed 1 where should be auto_increment, but I know its not that I should parse.

Here is the CallDatHelper.java class where I declare the method insert, and the method that creates the database.

package com.psyhclo;

import android.content.Context;
import android.database.Cursor;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDatabase;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteOpenHelper;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteStatement;
import android.util.Log;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class CallDataHelper {

private static final String DATABASE_NAME = "calls.db";
private static final int DATABASE_VERSION = 1;
private static final String TABLE_NAME = "contact_data";

private Context context;
private SQLiteDatabase db;

public CallDataHelper(Context context) {
    this.context = context;
    OpenHelper openHelper = new OpenHelper(this.context);
    this.db = openHelper.getWritableDatabase();
}

public boolean insert(Integer cId, String cName, String numType,
        String cNum, String dur, String date, String currTime) {
    this.db.execSQL("insert into "
            + TABLE_NAME
            + "(id, contact_id, contact_name, number_type, contact_number, duration, date, current_time, cont) "
            + "values( ? ," + cId + ", " + cName + ", " + numType + ", "
            + cNum + ", " + dur + ", " + date + ", " + currTime + ", ? )");
    return true;        
}

public void atualiza(String word) {
    this.db.execSQL("UPDATE words SET cont = cont + 1 WHERE (word= ?)",
            new String[] { word });
}

public void deleteAll() {
    this.db.delete(TABLE_NAME, null, null);
}

public boolean select(String wrd) {

    String word;
    Cursor cursor = this.db.query(TABLE_NAME, new String[] { "word" },
            "word like ?", new String[] { wrd }, null, null, null);
    if (cursor.moveToFirst()) {
        do {
            word = cursor.getString(0);
        } while (cursor.moveToNext());
    }
    if (cursor != null && !cursor.isClosed()) {
        cursor.close();
        return true;
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}

public List<String> selectAll() {
    List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>();
    Cursor cursor = this.db.query(TABLE_NAME, new String[] { "word" },
            null, null, null, null, "cont desc");
    if (cursor.moveToFirst()) {
        do {
            list.add(cursor.getString(0).toUpperCase());
        } while (cursor.moveToNext());
    }
    if (cursor != null && !cursor.isClosed()) {
        cursor.close();
    }
    return list;
}

private static class OpenHelper extends SQLiteOpenHelper {

    OpenHelper(Context context) {
        super(context, DATABASE_NAME, null, DATABASE_VERSION);
    }

    @Override
    public void onCreate(SQLiteDatabase db) {
        db.execSQL("CREATE TABLE "
                + TABLE_NAME
                + "(id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT, contact_id INTEGER, contact_name VARCHAR(50), number_type VARCHAR(50), contact_number VARCHAR(50), duration TIME, date DATE, current_time TIME, cont INTEGER)");

    }

    @Override
    public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db, int oldVersion, int newVersion) {
        Log.w("RatedCalls Database",
                "Upgrading database, this will drop tables and recreate.");
        db.execSQL("DROP TABLE IF EXISTS " + TABLE_NAME);
        onCreate(db);
    }
}
}

And here is where I call the insert method parsing the data I want to insert.

this.dh.insert(1 , 1, contactName, numType, contactNumber,
                    duration, callDate, currTime);

Answer 1

You don't have to specifically write AUTO_INCREMENT as in MYSQL.

Just have to define the primary key Field as _id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY.

It will not work, if have define the Primary key field with INT when creating the table. It Should be INTEGER and thats it.

When you don't pass any value for the primary key filed when inserting records, it will automatically increase the value to be a unique value( same way MYSQL AUTO_INCREMENT works )

Answer 2

You don't have to parse anything. If the column was created as AUTOINCREMENT, just pass the other values:

db.execSQL("insert into "
        + TABLE_NAME
        + "(contact_id, contact_name, number_type, contact_number, duration, date, current_time, cont) "
        + "values( "+ cId + ", " + cName + ", " + numType + ", "
        + cNum + ", " + dur + ", " + date + ", " + currTime + ", ? )");

By the way, it's always recommended to insert data using the Android's insert method:

ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
values.put("contact_id", cId);
values.put("contact_name", cName);
// etc.
db.insert(TABLE_NAME, null, values);