• Multithreaded/multiprocess support.
• BLOB support
• Introspection methods
  

5. I'm trying to get Quicklite working so I can build a little sample application to learn how this stuff works. I'm having a lot of problems mainly to find information on how to get the ball rolling... where do I start?

To get started, you have to know a little bit of Cocoa and SQL. Don't worry, you'll need to know how to perform SQL queries with SELECT. Pretty much everything else is handled by QuickLite, so you won't have to deal with more SQL. Download QuickLite and check the Examples folder. All of them will help you see QuickLite in action. You can start with BLOBTester since it's really simple. Check also SQLiteManagerX, it will help you introspect QuickLite datafiles and test your SQL queries.

> So my first goal is to create a new database? How do I do that?

NSString* path = [@"~/myTestDB.database" stringByExpandingTildeInPath];
QuickLiteDatabase* db = [QuickLiteDatabase databaseWithFile: path];

if ([db open]) {
    NSLog(@"The database is now open: %@", path);
} else {
    NSLog(@"Trouble when opening the data file. Make sure the path is valid.");
}

> When I open a db that does not exist does it create one automatically?

Yes.

> How do I create a new table?

- (BOOL)createTable:(NSString*)table withColumns:(NSArray*)columns
andDatatypes:(NSArray*)datatypes;

Example:

NSArray *creationColumns = [NSArray arrayWithObjects: QLRecordUID, @"first", @"last", @"zip", @"country", nil];

NSArray *creationDatatypes = [NSArray arrayWithObjects: QLRecordUIDDatatype, QLString, QLString, QLString, QLString, nil];

if (![db createTable: @"address" withColumns: creationColumns andDatatypes: creationDatatypes]) {
    NSLog(@"Error when creating 'address' table:%@", [db lastError]);
    return;
}

> How about inserting data?

- (BOOL)insertValues:(NSArray*)values forColumns:(NSArray*)columns
inTable:(NSString*)table;

Example:

NSArray *values = [NSArray arrayWithObjects: [NSNull null], @"Joe", @"Schmuck", @"Neverland", nil];

NSArray *columns = [NSArray arrayWithObjects: QLRecordUID, @"first", @"last", @"country", nil];

if (![db insertValues: values forColumns: columns inTable: @"address"]) {
    NSLog(@"Error when adding data to table 'address'. Error: %@", [db lastError]);
    return;
}

Note: for best performance, wrap all inserts around a transaction.

Example:

[myDB beginTransaction];
    ...
    <insert data here>
    ...
[myDB commitTransaction];

> Now that the database has data, how do I search for it?

QuickLiteCursor *cursor = [db performQuery: @"SELECT * FROM address;"];

Once you get the cursor, log it to the Console to see what the results are.

Example:

NSLog(@"The results are: %@", cursor);

> When I finish entering data, how do I close database?

You have two options:

- (BOOL)close;
- (BOOL)closeSavingChanges:(BOOL)flag;

There is a ton of functionality in QuickLite. QuickEdit alone, the new 'matchingRows'-family of methods, and the new cursor set-operators are extremely powerful and will take you far. Take a few minutes to look at the headers. There are only 3 classes, so it should be pretty straight-forward to grasp the concept. The headers contain useful comments and a bit of documentation as well. You can find more info here:

http://www.webbotech.com/quickliteoverview.html

Lastly, don't forget to register in the QuickLite Users mailing list. Happy coding!