How to use a prepopulated SQLite database with PhoneGap / Cordova 2.0?

Question

I want to use a pre populated database with my web-app, so that my app works offline. How can i do this with the newest version of PhoneGap / Cordova (2.0)?

I know that this question has been asked before, but all answers seem to be out of date relative to the current version of cordova and iOS

https://github.com/atkinson/phonegap-prepopulate-db has not been updated for two years https://github.com/davibe/Phonegap-SQLitePlugin has not been updated for 7 months and is for 1.7

I found a post here: http://www.raymondcamden.com/index.cfm/2012/7/27/Guest-Blog-Post-Shipping-a-populated-SQLite-DB-with-PhoneGap is this the only way?

Also, i should note that i use iOS 6

Answer 1

I have used the following plugin for Cordova 2.7 with iOS6 and I see it was just updated a day ago. https://github.com/pgsqlite/PG-SQLitePlugin-iOS

They also have an Android version here as well. Part of the problem is PhoneGap changes so often keeping plugins up to date can be time consuming so they lapse. Here is the code for the init method in the AppDelegate.m I use in this project http://www.binpress.com/app/conference-core-ios-for-phonegap/1483

Keep in mind that you sometimes need to wipe the iOS Simulator so it reloads the files related to the application.

- (id)init{

NSHTTPCookieStorage* cookieStorage = [NSHTTPCookieStorage sharedHTTPCookieStorage];

[cookieStorage setCookieAcceptPolicy:NSHTTPCookieAcceptPolicyAlways];

int cacheSizeMemory = 8 * 1024 * 1024; // 8MB
int cacheSizeDisk = 32 * 1024 * 1024; // 32MB

if __has_feature(objc_arc)

    NSURLCache* sharedCache = [[NSURLCache alloc] initWithMemoryCapacity:cacheSizeMemory diskCapacity:cacheSizeDisk diskPath:@"nsurlcache"];

else

    NSURLCache* sharedCache = [[[NSURLCache alloc] initWithMemoryCapacity:cacheSizeMemory diskCapacity:cacheSizeDisk diskPath:@"nsurlcache"] autorelease];

endif

[NSURLCache setSharedURLCache:sharedCache];

databaseName = @"SomeCoolDatabase.db";

NSLog(@"databaseName: %@", databaseName);

databasePath = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex: 0];
NSLog(@"databasePath: %@", databasePath);

databaseFile = [databasePath stringByAppendingPathComponent:databaseName];
NSLog(@"databaseFile: %@", databaseFile);
// Execute the "checkAndCreateDatabase" function
[self checkAndCreateDatabase];

self = [super init];
return self;

}

-(void)checkAndCreateDatabase {

// Check if the SQL database has already been saved to the users phone, if not then copy it over
BOOL success;
// Create a FileManager object, we will use this to check the status
// of the database and to copy it over if required
NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
// Check if the database has already been created in the users filesystem
success = [fileManager fileExistsAtPath:databaseFile];
// If the database already exists then return without doing anything
if(success){
    NSLog(@"Database Present");
    return;
} else {
    NSLog(@"database not present");
}
// If not then proceed to copy the database from the application to the users filesystem
// Get the path to the database in the application package
NSString *databasePathFromApp = [[[NSBundle mainBundle] resourcePath] stringByAppendingPathComponent:databaseName];

// Create the database folder structure
[fileManager createDirectoryAtPath:databasePath withIntermediateDirectories:YES attributes:nil error:NULL];
// Copy the database from the package to the users filesystem
[fileManager copyItemAtPath:databasePathFromApp toPath:databaseFile error:nil];
[fileManager release];

}

Hope this helps...