Offline access - SQLite or Indexed DB?

Question

I am in the R&D phase of developing an application, with the following key requirements:

• HTML5 web application - which will also have a hybrid version
• Forms data will be stored locally, when no Internet connection

I cannot use web storage due to quota limitations - I am comparing SQLite and Indexed DB.

• SQLite seems to be best fit, but it is deprecated
• Indexed DB is a good alternative, but there's no Safari support - A hybrid application is supposed to be run on the iPad and on an Android device in the future.

I am confused in the selection of API. Is there some other alternative to SQLite or support of Indexed DB expected on Safari?

Answer 1

I think abandoning IndexedDB would be a bad idea, because it's probably the format of the future, so Safari might stop supporting WebSQL.

It appears there are various JavaScript solutions to bridge the gap between the two - saving in whichever is available on the user's browser: JavaScript Library to Bridge IndexedDB and WebSQL I think this is probably your best solution.

Answer 2

First of all, the one that has been deprecated by W3C is WebSQL not SQLite

IndexedDB -

• It is incompatible with many types of mobile OS and is only compatible with certain types of versions of mobile OS
• Developers cannot use SQL with IndexedDB. They can with SQLite and WebSQL
• Most developers actively avoid using IndexedDB as much as they can

WebSQL -

• It has been deprecated by W3C which means it is no longer maintained or developed
• It requires another plugin called Polyfill to enable mobile applications to work with popular mobile OS such as Google Android and Apple iOS

SQLite -

• It received an award from Google
• SQLite has its official website. IndexedDB and WebSQL do not
• On Google, SQLite returns 4.3 million results. WebSQL returns a bit less than 700K results and IndexedDB returns 282K results.

If you want a quick tutorial on SQLite,

Storage of SQLite database using Android and Phonegap