Question

String[] items = new String[10];
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.main);

    // Create a variable for the connection string.
      String connectionUrl = "jdbc:sqlserver://servername.database.windows.net;" +
          "databaseName=School;user=username@servername;password=userpassword"; 

      // Declare the JDBC objects.
      Connection con = null;
      Statement stmt = null;
      ResultSet rs = null;

    setListAdapter(new ArrayAdapter<String>(this,
                                            android.R.layout.list_item,
                                            new ArrayList()));

    new AddStringTask().execute();

    try {
         // Establish the connection.
         Class.forName("com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver");
         con = DriverManager.getConnection(connectionUrl);

         // Create and execute an SQL statement that returns some data.
         String SQL = "SELECT TOP 10 * FROM dbo.tbl";
         stmt = con.createStatement();
         rs = stmt.executeQuery(SQL);

         // Iterate through the data in the result set and display it.
         while (rs.next()) {
                String items = rs.getArray(2) + " " + rs.getArray(3);
         }
      }

      // Handle any errors that may have occurred.
      catch (Exception e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      }
      finally {
         if (rs != null) try { rs.close(); } catch(Exception e) {}
         if (stmt != null) try { stmt.close(); } catch(Exception e) {}
         if (con != null) try { con.close(); } catch(Exception e) {}
      }
}

class AddStringTask extends AsyncTask<Void, String, Void> {
    @Override
    protected Void doInBackground(Void... unused) {

        return(null);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onProgressUpdate(String... item) {
        ((ArrayAdapter)getListAdapter()).add(item[0]);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPostExecute(Void unused) {
        Toast
            .makeText(AsyncDemo.this, "Done!", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT)
            .show();
    }
}

In the while loop inside onCreate I would like to get 10 rows and 2 columns from the table in the remote database which is sql azure then store it in a string array. Then that string array gets outputted to the user as a list view. JDBC driver download link min.bz/wC4Am (Non-Windows users get compressed file. The last one listed)Also updated the link.

Answer 1

Android-Java-SQLAzure good combination, congrats!

On the other hand, why do you access database (SQL Azure) directly from mobile app? This has a few drawbacks:

• You need to include SQL Server adapter and JDBC libraries on mobile application, which is gonna take at least 1 MB in size.
• Your app users will be able to see your database password with a few tricks. This is a big security vulnerability for your system! Users can even drop your tables.
• Mobile apps (especially Android) should not be preferred to consume database directly (since Android activity cycle policy, apps can pause for some time and your database connection might be dropped meanwhile, and you get various unexpected exceptions due this reason.).

Therefore you should create a web service or REST API with Java or ASP.NET which you can execute your queries through this proxy and gives you results back in a JSON, or XML or a good format that Java can easily parse and adapt your ArrayAdapter.