I'm working on a project that has some pretty specific requirements, and am running in to a problem with one of them. We have a locked SQLite database. We can't unlock this database, but need to read it (but not write to it), and we cannot create any new files on the filesystem that contain the data from this database. What was suggested is to read the file in to RAM, and then access it from there. I've been trying to find out a way to do this, but this project is on Windows, so it's not going as smoothly as it might otherwise.
What I've been trying to do is read the file in to a bash variable, and then pass that variable to sqlite as the database. This hasn't been working particularly well.
I installed win-bash, but when I do "sqlite3.exe <(cat <<<"$database")" I get a 'syntax error near unexpected token `<('" I checked, and win-bash looks like it's based on an older version of bash. I tried zsh, but it's saying "doesn't look like your system supports FIFOs.". I installed cygwin, which wouldn't really be a good solution anyway (once I figure out how to do this, I need to pass it off to our Qt developers so that they can roll it in to a Qt application) but I was just trying to do a 'proof of concept' - that didn't work either. Sqlite opened just fine, but when i ran ".tables", it said "Error: unable to open database "/dev/fd/63": unable to open database file" So, it looks like I'm barking up the wrong tree, and need to think of some other way to do this.
I guess my questions are, first, is it possible to read a sqlite database in a variable as I was attempting, or am I going down an entirely incorrect path there? Second - if it can't be done that way, is there some way I'm overlooking that might make this possible?
Thanks!
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I'd like to know if such a method exits, so when the user installs an app actualization the database gets properly actualized.
I've found a way that although it can't always work, I think in practice it will never fail, which is the following:
Check if database version of installed app is higher than the version in a hidden file in the previous app, if so, actualize the database.
Write that file with the database version of installed app.
This way, only if the user were to manually remove the file and not the database would cause my solution to fail in its purpose.
Even then it would be better if there was something that works like onUpgrade() from SQLite in Realm.
Is what I'm mentioning possible?
I'm developing an application that uses SQLite for its data files. I'm just linking in the SQLite amalgamation source, using it directly.
If the user chooses to create a new file, I check to see if the file already exists, ask the user if they want to overwrite the file, and delete it if they say yes. Then I call sqlite3_open_v2() with flags set to SQLITE_OPEN_READWRITE | SQLITE_OPEN_CREATE to create and open the new data file.
Which is fine, except, what happens if a malicious user recreates the file I'm trying to open in between the file being deleted and SQLite opening it? As far as I'm aware, SQLite will just open the existing file.
My program doesn't involve passwords or any kind of security function whatsoever. It's a pretty simple app, all things considered. However, I've read plenty of stories where someone uses a simple app with an obscure bug in it to bypass the security of some system.
So, bottom line, is there a way to make sqlite3_open() fail if the file already exists?
You might be able to patch in support for the O_EXCL option flag of open(2). If you are using SQLite on a platform that supports that.
I'm looking at switching from MySQL Workbench to Navicat because we're using MariaDB and the incompatibilities are starting to annoy me.
I'm working through the issues of getting Navicat to run on Centos under WINE but assume I will succeed (edit: this failed. The "linux" version requires WINE. Navicat will sort of run with a bit of hacking, but critical features rely on MS-Windows/WINE)
How do I get Navicat to work with git (or any other source code control)? Workbench is sufficiently primitive that file changes either get picked up automatically or completely ignored (almost always a dialog "file on disk has changed, reload?")
Specific problems:
when adding new query files Navicat only seems to rescan the folder when I add a new query. Is there a smart way to do that? (edit: no. You can manually refresh one file at a time by right clicking)
model and query files are buried deep in the WINE tree. Can I relocate them or or symlinks work? I'd rather keep all the DB-related code in one repo, rather than having a special Navicat repo. (edit: yes, but the explanation of how to do so is lengthy)
is there a way to merge a model file if more than one person has changed it? Workbench can't do this but I'd really like the feature. (edit: no, never. Merge the schema SQL files instead)
Also, bonus question: can we make multiple edits using Navicat other than repeated use of the GUI? If I want to change (say) a bunch of columns from VARCHAR(255) to CHAR(20) I'd normally script that in SQL but Navicat models don't do reverse engineering, only "delete the table from the model then re-import it" so there doesn't seem to be a non-tedious way to do that. (edit: no, but they might look at it in the future)
Final edit: I used the Navicat forums and the team were very helpful, but fundamentally Navicat is Windows software and the 64-bit purists behind Centos will never support WINE. For most Linux users this is not a problem, but I work with Centos enthusiasts and have long since lost the argument about which distro to use.
To the 1st question, you can sync it in different ways with a remote database/folder, when you are managing the database with Navicat, just right-click in your current connection and press "refresh", so you will be updated with the server changes. You also can do it with a programmed task.
Another matter is, why would you want to run navicat from wine when it has a native linux version? (I hope that answers the 2nd question)
For the 3rd question note that Navicat has an internal utility to sync data between servers, so you don't need git at all, or at most, you can automate the structure exportation and then sync it with a git repository (in form of a .sql file)
IMHO you need to review your concepts about mariadb and navicat, both are quite flexible and offer several ways to do such things you propose, like sync the data and they also allow to insert git in the workflow, just review your strategy and try to apply some new perspective with the available features.
I am publishing an AIR app in debug mode using FlashDevelop and have included a database in the files/folders to be published.
When the app first launches it checks whether there is an instance of this db in the applicationStorageDirectory, if there isn't it copies the included one from the applicationDirectory to the applicationStorageDirectory.
This should mean that the referenced database dbFile = File.applicationStorageDirectory.resolvePath(DB_FILE_NAME); should now be writable, however when i run the app i can read the records from the table but when i attempt to write using an SQL statement I get an SQLError: 'Error #3122: Attempt to write a readonly database'.
I know that this would be thrown if i was attempting to write to the read only location of the applicationDirectory but i'm certainly using the File.applicationStorageDirectory location which should (as far as i know) be writable.
The location of the db on my Windows 7, 64bit = C:\Users\sean.duffy\AppData\Roaming\FishFightAppData\Local Store\db this is found using the dbFile.nativePath property so again i'm sure i should be able to update the db.
Anyone got any ideas? I have tried everything i could think of and searched all over but the only common cause seems to be when people try to write to the asplicationDirectory and not the storage directory....
UPDATE::
My bad - have just realised that i've misread the API of the 3rd party library i'm using! I should have been calling executeModify(statement) which can modify the contents of the db, instead i'm calling execute(statement) which doesn't/can't overwrite the db.
The source code is compiled into a swc and there was no documentation to point out you needed to use executeModify, although i should have guessed from the name i suppose!
Sorry about that and thanks for your help
(As a public courtesy to get this off the unanswered list, I am reposting the apparent solution. As usual, the asker is more than welcome to ignore mine and post it themselves and accept their own answer.)
In this API, you need to call executeModify(statement), not execute(statement). The latter does not overwrite the database.
Everything I have read so far, it seems as though you copy the DB from assets to a "working directory" before it is used. If I have an existing SQLite DB I put it in assets. Then I have to copy it before it is used.
Does anyone know why this is the case?
I can see a possible application to that, where one doesn't want to accidentally corrupt database during write. But in that case, one would have to move database back when it's done working on it, otherwise, next time program is run will start from "default" database state.
That might be another use case - you might always want to start program execution with known data state. Previous state might be set from external application.
Thanks everyone for your ideas.
I think what I might have figured out is that the install cannot put a DB directly to the /data directory.
In Eclipse there is no /data which is where most of the discussions I have read say to put it.
This is one of the several I found:
http://www.reigndesign.com/blog/using-your-own-sqlite-database-in-android-applications/comment-page-4/#comment-37008