Question

I have to make an sqlite db from data fetched from a JSON API. The code is working fine and its adding them one by one via a for loop, but the api response time is 1 sec per hit, so 34000 seconds plus inserting them in sqlite through code will take about 9 hours. Is there any way to speed up this?

Edit: i am using Objective C/sqlite3 framework/Xcode 4.2

Heres the Code…

 dbPath=[self.databasePath UTF8String];
if(sqlite3_open(dbPath,&database)==SQLITE_OK)
{
  //   sqlite3_exec(database, "BEGIN", 0, 0, 0);
    const char *sqlstatement="insert into artist values(?,?,?,?,?)";
    sqlite3_stmt *compiledstatement;

    if(sqlite3_prepare_v2(database,sqlstatement , -1, &compiledstatement, NULL)==SQLITE_OK)
    {    
for(i=4611;i<=34803;i++)
{  
    NSURLResponse *response;
    NSError *err;
  NSData *data= [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:[NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"API&id=%i",i]]] returningResponse:&response error:&err];
    if(data.length>0)
    {
        NSError *err;
        NSDictionary *jsonDict=[NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:NSJSONReadingAllowFragments error:&err];
        // sqlite3_exec(database, "BEGIN", 0, 0, 0);




                sqlite3_bind_text(compiledstatement,1,[[[[jsonDict objectForKey:@"artistDetail"]objectForKey:@"artist"]objectForKey:@"id"] UTF8String], -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT);
                sqlite3_bind_text(compiledstatement,2,[[[[jsonDict objectForKey:@"artistDetail"]objectForKey:@"artist"]objectForKey:@"name"] UTF8String], -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT);
                if([[[jsonDict objectForKey:@"artistDetail"]objectForKey:@"artist"]objectForKey:@"description"])
                    sqlite3_bind_text(compiledstatement,3,[[[[jsonDict objectForKey:@"artistDetail"]objectForKey:@"artist"]objectForKey:@"description"] UTF8String], -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT);
                else
                    sqlite3_bind_text(compiledstatement,3,[@"" UTF8String], -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT);
                if([[[[jsonDict objectForKey:@"artistDetail"]objectForKey:@"artist"]objectForKey:@"links"]objectForKey:@"website"])
                    sqlite3_bind_text(compiledstatement,4,[[[[[jsonDict objectForKey:@"artistDetail"]objectForKey:@"artist"]objectForKey:@"links"]objectForKey:@"website"] UTF8String], -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT);
                else
                    sqlite3_bind_text(compiledstatement,4,[@"" UTF8String], -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT);
                if([[[[[[jsonDict objectForKey:@"artistDetail"]objectForKey:@"artist"]objectForKey:@"media"]objectForKey:@"low_res_images"]objectAtIndex:0]objectForKey:@"url"])
                    sqlite3_bind_text(compiledstatement,5,[[[[[[[jsonDict objectForKey:@"artistDetail"]objectForKey:@"artist"]objectForKey:@"media"]objectForKey:@"low_res_images"]objectAtIndex:0] objectForKey:@"url"] UTF8String], -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT);
                else
                    sqlite3_bind_text(compiledstatement,5,[@"" UTF8String], -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT);
                if(sqlite3_step(compiledstatement)==SQLITE_DONE)
                {
                    NSLog(@"done %i",i);
                }
                else NSLog(@"ERROR");


        }
        sqlite3_reset(compiledstatement);
                }

    }

}

else
    NSLog(@"error");

sqlite3_close(database);

Answer 1

Would it be possible to restructure your code so that you’re not opening the database on each iteration?

• Open Database
• Begin transaction sqlite3_exec(…, “BEGIN”, …)
• compile statement
• iterate data set
  • insert record
• finalize compiled statement
• Commit transaction sqlite3_exec(…, {“ROLLBACK” or “COMMIT”}, …)
• Close database

This is in contrast to what you have now

• Iterate dataset
  • open database
  • compile statement
  • insert record
  • finalize compiled statement
  • close database

The overhead of doing it the way your doing would account for the performance. Try refactoring to the method I outlined above and see how you do.

EDIT

I’ve reformatted your code to indicate where I’m talking about. Additionally, I think the other performance hit your taking (as indicated by another user) is the JSON call. That may be TRULY what is slowing you down so much.

dbPath=[self.databasePath UTF8String];
if(sqlite3_open(dbPath,&database)==SQLITE_OK)
{
    sqlite3_exec(database, "BEGIN", 0, 0, 0);
    const char *sqlstatement="insert into artist values(?,?,?,?,?)";
    sqlite3_stmt *compiledstatement;

    if(sqlite3_prepare_v2(database,sqlstatement , -1, &compiledstatement, NULL)==SQLITE_OK)
    {
        int hasError= 0;
        for(i=4611; hasError == 0 && i<=34803; i++)
        {  
            NSURLResponse *response;
            NSError *err;
            NSData *data= [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:[NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"API&id=%i",i]]] returningResponse:&response error:&err];
            if(data.length>0)
            {
                NSDictionary *jsonDict=[NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:NSJSONReadingAllowFragments error:&err];
                // sqlite3_exec(database, "BEGIN", 0, 0, 0);
                sqlite3_bind_text(compiledstatement,1,[[[[jsonDict objectForKey:@"artistDetail"]objectForKey:@"artist"]objectForKey:@"id"] UTF8String], -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT);
                sqlite3_bind_text(compiledstatement,2,[[[[jsonDict objectForKey:@"artistDetail"]objectForKey:@"artist"]objectForKey:@"name"] UTF8String], -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT);
                if([[[jsonDict objectForKey:@"artistDetail"]objectForKey:@"artist"]objectForKey:@"description"])
                    sqlite3_bind_text(compiledstatement,3,[[[[jsonDict objectForKey:@"artistDetail"]objectForKey:@"artist"]objectForKey:@"description"] UTF8String], -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT);
                else
                    sqlite3_bind_text(compiledstatement,3,[@"" UTF8String], -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT);
                if([[[[jsonDict objectForKey:@"artistDetail"]objectForKey:@"artist"]objectForKey:@"links"]objectForKey:@"website"])
                    sqlite3_bind_text(compiledstatement,4,[[[[[jsonDict objectForKey:@"artistDetail"]objectForKey:@"artist"]objectForKey:@"links"]objectForKey:@"website"] UTF8String], -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT);
                else
                    sqlite3_bind_text(compiledstatement,4,[@"" UTF8String], -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT);
                if([[[[[[jsonDict objectForKey:@"artistDetail"]objectForKey:@"artist"]objectForKey:@"media"]objectForKey:@"low_res_images"]objectAtIndex:0]objectForKey:@"url"])
                    sqlite3_bind_text(compiledstatement,5,[[[[[[[jsonDict objectForKey:@"artistDetail"]objectForKey:@"artist"]objectForKey:@"media"]objectForKey:@"low_res_images"]objectAtIndex:0] objectForKey:@"url"] UTF8String], -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT);
                else
                    sqlite3_bind_text(compiledstatement,5,[@"" UTF8String], -1, SQLITE_TRANSIENT);
                if(sqlite3_step(compiledstatement)==SQLITE_DONE)
                {
                    NSLog(@"done %i",i);
                }
                else {
                    NSLog(@"ERROR");
                    hasError= 1;
                }
            }
            sqlite3_reset(compiledstatement);
        }
        // Really need to check error conditions with commit/rollback
        if( hasError == 0 ) {
            sqlite3_exec(database, "COMMIT", 0, 0, 0);
        }
        else {
            sqlite3_exec(database, "ROLLBACK", 0, 0, 0);
        }
    }
    sqlite3_close(database);
}
else {
    NSLog(@"error");
}