Question

I have a database table with several columns in it. I want to select certain rows by comparing a string entered by a user and select records based on their entry. I have the following code:

SearchbyIngredient.Java

    final Button searchbutton1 = (Button) findViewById(R.id.searchbutton1);
searchbutton1.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
    public void onClick(View v) {
Cursor temp = dbIngredientHelper.getDrinks(textView.getText().toString());
        String ingred = temp.getString(0);
        Context context = getApplicationContext();
        iadapter = new IngredientAdapter(temp);
        myListView.setAdapter(iadapter);
    }
});
}

IngredientHelper.Java

public Cursor getDrinks(String drinkName) throws SQLException{
    SQLiteQueryBuilder queryBuilder = new SQLiteQueryBuilder();
    queryBuilder.setTables(TABLE_NAME2);
    String selection = COLUMN_INGRED1 + "= ' " + drinkName + "'";
    String[] asColumnsToReturn = new String[] { COLUMN_ID2, COLUMN_DRINKNAME, COLUMN_INGRED1, COLUMN_AMT1, COLUMN_INGRED2, COLUMN_AMT2, COLUMN_INGRED3, COLUMN_AMT3, COLUMN_INGRED4, COLUMN_AMT4 };
    Cursor mCursor2 = queryBuilder.query(dbSqlite, asColumnsToReturn, selection, null, null, null, COLUMN_DRINKNAME);
    /*Cursor mCursor = dbSqlite.query(true, TABLE_NAME2, new String[]{
            COLUMN_DRINKNAME}, 
            COLUMN_INGRED1 + "= ' " + drinkName + "'", null, null, null, null, null);
    if (mCursor != null){
        mCursor.moveToFirst();
    }*/
    mCursor2.moveToFirst();
    return mCursor2;
}

My question is regarding

String selection = COLUMN_INGRED1 + "= ' " + drinkName + "'";

This code currently works, however it only finds entries with the user’s text in COLUMN_INGRED1 (only a single column in the code). How can I format the statement or make a series of statements so that it also looks for the user’s text in COLUMN_INGRED2, COLUMN_INGRED3 and COLUMN_INGRED4? Thank you

Answer 1

Standard SQL applies, use an OR:

   COLUMN_INGRED1 + "= ' " + drinkName + "' OR " COLUMN_INGRED2 + "= '" +drinkName + "'" ...;

Note that = will do an exact match, you might want to look into the LIKE operator.