Question

When I insert values in sqlite android, does it happens once or the database is created every time I run my application?

Specifically I have categories that will populate a list (food, drinks ….etc).

Where do I put my insert method?
In my dbHelper class or the class that needs the data?

public class ShoppingCategories extends ListActivity{
  private AppSQLite mDbHelper;
  private Cursor mNotesCursor;

@Override
  public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.main);

    mDbHelper = new AppSQLite(this);
    insertShoppingCategories();
}

public void insertShoppingCategories(){
    mDbHelper.open();
    long id;
    id = mDbHelper.createShoppingCategory("food", 5, "@drawable/ic_launcher");
    id = mDbHelper.createShoppingCategory("drink", 3, "@drawable/ic_launcher");

    mDbHelper.close();
}

and the createShoppingCategory from dbHelper class is:

   public long createShoppingCategory(String name, int priority, String icon) {
    ContentValues initialValues = new ContentValues();
    initialValues.put(KEY_NAME, name);
    initialValues.put(KEY_PRIORITY, priority);
    initialValues.put(KEY_ICON, icon);

    return mDb.insert(tShopCateg, null, initialValues);
}

Answer 1

Database is created only if it doesn’t exist. If there are values need to be inserted only once you should put them inside onCreate inside your dbHelper class.