I have an AIR application and I would like use SQLite instead of an XML file to populate the database. I’ve seen people create the database on the fly and import the data when the application first launches. But also people are using existing databases. What approach do you use to prepopulate the database? Is there a tool to enter basic initial data (~200 records and 2 tables) or should I create the database and contents manually when the app is first installed.
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This is a mobile AIR application using Flex 4.6.
There are numerous tools to manage SQLite databases, such as Lita which is an open source AIR application.
If there is no need to revert the database back to its original content, then it could simply be packaged in the app with your populated content.
If restoring the database to its original populated data is required, you could keep a copy of the original database and stage it to the active database in use, thereby replacing the database.
Depending on data and parity of your app to the database model, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to populate your database via programmatic implementation in code executed at first launch. There is overhead both in initial launch of your app and perhaps mostly in code you must generate and maintain to create the database.
Typically, I would only follow this pattern if I have a default model with serialization of that model. As in, if I had already built a commit of preferences style data from my models to persist in a database.