Question

What would be the correct way to add DISTINCT and/or GROUPBY to ContentResolver-based queries?

Right now I have to create custom URI for each special case.

Is there a better way?

(I still program for 1.5 as lowest common denominator)

Answer 1

Since no one came to answer I’m just going to tell how I solved this. Basically I would create custom URI for each case and pass the criteria in selection parameter. Then inside ContentProvider#query I would identify the case and construct raw query based on table name and selection parameter.

Here’s quick example:

switch (URI_MATCHER.match(uri)) {
    case TYPES:
        table = TYPES_TABLE;
        break;
    case TYPES_DISTINCT:
        return db.rawQuery("SELECT DISTINCT type FROM types", null);
    default:
        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown URI " + uri);
    }
    return db.query(table, null, selection, selectionArgs, null, null, null);