SQLite add Primary Key

Question

I created a table in Sqlite by using the CREATE TABLE AS syntax to create a table based on a SELECT statement. Now this table has no primary key b

Answer 1

I think adding an index on that column can get pretty much the same effect.

Answer 2

Introduction

This is based on Android's java and it's a good example on changing the database without annoying your application fans/customers. This is based on the idea of the SQLite FAQ page http://sqlite.org/faq.html#q11

The problem

I did not notice that I need to set a row_number or record_id to delete a single purchased item in a receipt, and at same time the item barcode number fooled me into thinking of making it as the key to delete that item. I am saving a receipt details in the table receipt_barcode. Leaving it without a record_id can mean deleting all records of the same item in a receipt if I used the item barcode as the key.

Notice

Please understand that this is a copy-paste of my code I am work on at the time of this writing. Use it only as an example, copy-pasting randomly won't help you. Modify this first to your needs

Also please don't forget to read the comments in the code .

The Code

Use this as a method in your class to check 1st whether the column you want to add is missing . We do this just to not repeat the process of altering the table receipt_barcode. Just mention it as part of your class. In the next step you'll see how we'll use it.

public boolean is_column_exists(SQLiteDatabase mDatabase , String table_name,
String     column_name) {
    //checks if table_name has column_name
    Cursor cursor = mDatabase.rawQuery("pragma table_info("+table_name+")",null);
    while (cursor.moveToNext()){
    if (cursor.getString(cursor.getColumnIndex("name")).equalsIgnoreCase(column_name)) return true;
    }
    return false;
}

Then , the following code is used to create the table receipt_barcode if it already does NOT exit for the 1st time users of your app. And please notice the "IF NOT EXISTS" in the code. It has importance.

//mDatabase should be defined as a Class member (global variable) 
//for ease of access : 
//SQLiteDatabse mDatabase=SQLiteDatabase.openOrCreateDatabase(dbfile_path, null);
creation_query = " CREATE TABLE if not exists receipt_barcode ( ";
creation_query += "\n record_id        INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,";
creation_query += "\n rcpt_id INT( 11 )       NOT NULL,";
creation_query += "\n barcode VARCHAR( 255 )  NOT NULL ,";
creation_query += "\n barcode_price VARCHAR( 255 )  DEFAULT (0),";
creation_query += "\n PRIMARY KEY ( record_id ) );";
mDatabase.execSQL(creation_query);

//This is where the important part comes in regarding the question in this page:

//adding the missing primary key record_id in table receipt_barcode for older versions
        if (!is_column_exists(mDatabase, "receipt_barcode","record_id")){
            mDatabase.beginTransaction();
            try{
                Log.e("record_id", "creating");


                 creation_query="CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE t1_backup(";
                 creation_query+="record_id INTEGER        PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,";
                 creation_query+="rcpt_id INT( 11 )       NOT NULL,";
                 creation_query+="barcode VARCHAR( 255 )  NOT NULL ,";
                 creation_query+="barcode_price VARCHAR( 255 )  NOT NULL DEFAULT (0) );";
                 mDatabase.execSQL(creation_query);

                 creation_query="INSERT INTO t1_backup(rcpt_id,barcode,barcode_price) SELECT rcpt_id,barcode,barcode_price  FROM receipt_barcode;";
                 mDatabase.execSQL(creation_query);

                 creation_query="DROP TABLE receipt_barcode;";
                 mDatabase.execSQL(creation_query);

                 creation_query="CREATE TABLE receipt_barcode (";
                 creation_query+="record_id INTEGER        PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,";
                 creation_query+="rcpt_id INT( 11 )       NOT NULL,";
                 creation_query+="barcode VARCHAR( 255 )  NOT NULL ,";
                 creation_query+="barcode_price VARCHAR( 255 )  NOT NULL DEFAULT (0) );";
                 mDatabase.execSQL(creation_query);

                 creation_query="INSERT INTO receipt_barcode(record_id,rcpt_id,barcode,barcode_price) SELECT record_id,rcpt_id,barcode,barcode_price  FROM t1_backup;";
                 mDatabase.execSQL(creation_query);

                 creation_query="DROP TABLE t1_backup;";
                 mDatabase.execSQL(creation_query);


                 mdb.setTransactionSuccessful();
            } catch (Exception exception ){
                Log.e("table receipt_bracode", "Table receipt_barcode did not get a primary key (record_id");
                exception.printStackTrace();
            } finally {
                 mDatabase.endTransaction();
            }

Answer 3

I used the CREATE TABLE AS syntax to merge several columns and encountered the same problem. Here is an AppleScript I wrote to speed the process up.

set databasePath to "~/Documents/Databases/example.db"
set tableOne to "separate" -- Table from which you are pulling data
set tableTwo to "merged" -- Table you are creating
set {tempCol, tempColEntry, permColEntry} to {{}, {}, {}}
set permCol to {"id integer primary key"}

-- Columns are created from single items  AND from the last item of a list
-- {{"a", "b", "c"}, "d", "e"} Columns "a" and "b" will be merged into a new column "c".  tableTwo will have columns "c", "d", "e"

set nonCoal to {"City", "Contact", "Names", {"Address 1", "Address", "address one", "Address1", "Text4", "Address 1"}, {"E-Mail", "E-Mail Address", "Email", "Email Address", "EmailAddress", "Email"}, {"Zip", "Zip Code", "ZipCode", "Zip"}, {"Telephone", "BusinessPhone", "Phone", "Work Phone", "Telephone"}, {"St", "State", "State"}, {"Salutation", "Mr/Ms", "Mr/s", "Salutations", "Sautation", "Salutation"}}

-- Build the COALESCE statements
repeat with h from 1 to count of nonCoal
set aColumn to item h of nonCoal
if class of aColumn is not list then
    if (count of words of aColumn) > 1 then set aColumn to quote & aColumn & quote
    set end of tempCol to aColumn
    set end of permCol to aColumn
else
    set coalEntry to {}
    repeat with i from 1 to count of aColumn
        set coalCol to item i of aColumn as string
        if (count of words of coalCol) > 1 then set coalCol to quote & coalCol & quote
        if i = 1 then
            set end of coalEntry to "TRIM(COALESCE(" & coalCol & ", '') || \" \" || "
        else if i < ((count of aColumn) - 1) then
            set end of coalEntry to "COALESCE(" & coalCol & ", '') || \" \" || "
        else if i = ((count of aColumn) - 1) then
            set as_Col to item (i + 1) of aColumn as string
            if (count of words of as_Col) > 1 then set as_Col to quote & as_Col & quote
            set end of coalEntry to ("COALESCE(" & coalCol & ", '')) AS " & as_Col) & ""
            set end of permCol to as_Col
        end if
    end repeat
    set end of tempCol to (coalEntry as string)
end if
end repeat

-- Since there are ", '' within the COALESCE statement, you can't use "TID" and "as string" to convert tempCol and permCol for entry into sqlite3. I rebuild the lists in the next block.
repeat with j from 1 to count of tempCol
if j < (count of tempCol) then
    set end of tempColEntry to item j of tempCol & ", "
    set end of permColEntry to item j of permCol & ", "
else
    set end of tempColEntry to item j of tempCol
    set end of permColEntry to item j of permCol
end if
end repeat
set end of permColEntry to ", " & item (j + 1) of permCol
set permColEntry to (permColEntry as string)
set tempColEntry to (tempColEntry as string)

-- Create the new table with an "id integer primary key" column
set createTable to "create table " & tableTwo & " (" & permColEntry & "); "
do shell script "sqlite3 " & databasePath & space & quoted form of createTable

-- Create a temporary table and then populate the permanent table
set createTemp to "create temp table placeholder as select " & tempColEntry & " from " & tableOne & ";  " & "insert into " & tableTwo & " select Null, * from placeholder;"
do shell script "sqlite3 " & databasePath & space & quoted form of createTemp

--export the new table as a .csv file
do shell script "sqlite3 -header -column -csv " & databasePath & " \"select * from " & tableTwo & " ; \"> ~/" & tableTwo & ".csv"

Answer 4

I tried to add the primary key afterwards by changing the sqlite_master table directly. This trick seems to work. It is a hack solution of course.

In short: create a regular (unique) index on the table, then make the schema writable and change the name of the index to the form reserved by sqlite to identify a primary key index, (i.e. sqlite_autoindex_XXX_1, where XXX is the table name) and set the sql string to NULL. At last change the table definition itself. One pittfal: sqlite does not see the index name change until the database is reopened. This seems like a bug, but not a severe one (even without reopening the database, you can still use it).

Suppose the table looks like:

CREATE TABLE tab1(i INTEGER, j INTEGER, t TEXT);

Then I did the following:

BEGIN;
CREATE INDEX pk_tab1 ON tab1(i,j);
pragma writable_schema=1;
UPDATE sqlite_master SET name='sqlite_autoindex_tab1_1',sql=null WHERE name='pk_tab1';
UPDATE sqlite_master SET sql='CREATE TABLE tab1(i integer,j integer,t text,primary key(i,j))' WHERE name='tab1';
COMMIT;

Some tests (in sqlite shell):

sqlite> explain query plan select * from tab1 order by i,j;
0|0|0|SCAN TABLE tab1 USING INDEX sqlite_autoindex_tab1_1
sqlite> drop index sqlite_autoindex_tab1_1;
Error: index associated with UNIQUE or PRIMARY KEY constraint cannot be dropped    

Answer 5

I had the same problem and the best solution I found is to first create the table defining primary key and then to use insert into statement.

CREATE TABLE mytable (
field1 INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
field2 TEXT
);

INSERT INTO mytable 
SELECT field1, field2 
FROM anothertable;