I need to store an retrieve a vector of an unknown number of objects in an android sqlite database.
Essentially, the setup is this: I am developing a task management app, where the user can add as many notes as they like to their tasks. My current setup uses one database, with one row per task. This presents a problem when I need to associate multiple notes and their associated information with one task. I can see two approaches: try to store an array of notes or a vector or something as a BLOB in the task’s row, or have another notes database in which each row contains a note and it’s info, as well the id of the task which the note belongs to. This seems a little easier to implement, as all I would have to do to retrieve the data would be to get a cursor of all notes matching a particular id and then iterate through that to display them to the user. However, it seems a little inefficient to have a whole new database just for notes, and it makes syncing and deleting notes a little more difficult as well.
What do you think? Is it worth it to have a separate notes database? Should I use a BLOB or go for the separate database? If a BLOB, are there any good tutorials out there for storing and retrieving objects as BLOBs?
It sounds like you need another table in your database (not another database). You already have a table for Tasks. Now make one for Notes. Make a column be a foreign key into the Tasks table. That is, Notes.Task_ID would hold the ID of the Task that the Note is for. Then when you want to get all of the notes for a task, query the Notes table.