ATTACH sqlite database in Android with SQLiteOpenHelper

Question

I'm in the process of creating a database that references keys in another database. Essentially, I have an import of data that I want to keep separate from one that will change, but if possible, I would like to reference the other keys via a FOREIGN KEY. So far as I know, I need to attach the database first to make that happen. Here's teh relevant code so far:

public class LogDatabaseHelper extends SQLiteOpenHelper {

    private static final String DATABASE_NAME = "log.db";
    private static final int DATABASE_VERSION = 1;
    private String namesDb;

    public LogDatabaseHelper(Context context) {
        super(context, DATABASE_NAME, null, DATABASE_VERSION);
        namesDb=getNamesDbPath();

    }

    @Override
    public void onCreate(SQLiteDatabase db) {
        db.execSQL("ATTACH DATABASE ? AS names",new String[]{namesDb});
        StringBuilder query=new StringBuilder();
        query.append("CREATE TABLE log (");
    }
}

However, this doesn't seem to work, as I'm getting the following error:

11-21 17:35:58.176: E/SQLiteLog(9984): (1) statement aborts at 5: [ATTACH DATABASE ? AS names] cannot ATTACH database within transaction
11-21 17:35:58.176: D/AndroidRuntime(9984): Shutting down VM
11-21 17:35:58.176: W/dalvikvm(9984): threadid=1: thread exiting with uncaught exception (group=0x41a21700)
11-21 17:35:58.191: E/AndroidRuntime(9984): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
11-21 17:35:58.191: E/AndroidRuntime(9984): android.database.sqlite.SQLiteException: cannot ATTACH database within transaction (code 1)
11-21 17:35:58.191: E/AndroidRuntime(9984):     at android.database.sqlite.SQLiteConnection.nativeExecuteForChangedRowCount(Native Method)
11-21 17:35:58.191: E/AndroidRuntime(9984):     at android.database.sqlite.SQLiteConnection.executeForChangedRowCount(SQLiteConnection.java:734)
11-21 17:35:58.191: E/AndroidRuntime(9984):     at android.database.sqlite.SQLiteSession.executeForChangedRowCount(SQLiteSession.java:754)
11-21 17:35:58.191: E/AndroidRuntime(9984):     at android.database.sqlite.SQLiteStatement.executeUpdateDelete(SQLiteStatement.java:64)
11-21 17:35:58.191: E/AndroidRuntime(9984):     at android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDatabase.executeSql(SQLiteDatabase.java:1674)
11-21 17:35:58.191: E/AndroidRuntime(9984):     at android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDatabase.execSQL(SQLiteDatabase.java:1603)
11-21 17:35:58.191: E/AndroidRuntime(9984):     at com.kd7uiy.hamfinder.LogDatabaseHelper.onCreate(LogDatabaseHelper.java:27)
11-21 17:35:58.191: E/AndroidRuntime(9984):     at android.database.sqlite.SQLiteOpenHelper.getDatabaseLocked(SQLiteOpenHelper.java:252)
11-21 17:35:58.191: E/AndroidRuntime(9984):     at android.database.sqlite.SQLiteOpenHelper.getWritableDatabase(SQLiteOpenHelper.java:164)

How can I make this work?

Answer 1

I figured out a way to make it work, that I'm not particularly proud of, but it does the job. If you can't be in a transaction when attaching a database, then end the transaction first.

db.setTransactionSuccessful();
db.endTransaction();
db.execSQL("ATTACH DATABASE ? AS names",new String[]{namesDb});
db.beginTransaction();