Sqlite for Xamarin made easy

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Let’s see how we can add a Sqlite database to your Xamarin projects in an incredibly easy way.

To help you to speed up your Xamarin development, I?ve created a set of plugins, one of them is MTSQL. Thanks to this plugin you can add a Sqlite database with a single line of code. The plugin is built on top of the Sqlite-net plugin by Frank A. Krueger.

A couple of useful link you can find useful:

Nuget link:https://www.nuget.org/packages/MarcTron.SQL

Project website:http://www.xamarinexpert.it/plugins/mt-sql/

To report any issue:https://bitbucket.org/marcojak81/mtsql

And now let?s see how to integrate the plugin inside your Xamarin Forms solution.

First of all we need to install the plugin. To do that, do a right-click on your solution and click on Manage NuGet Packages for Solution

Now search the package MarcTron.Sqlite, click on it and remember to select all your projects (.Net Standard project + all the main application projects) then click Install.

The Plugin will take care to install for you also the Sqlite-net plugin byFrank A. Krueger.

If everything worked as expected, you will see the version of the plugin next to each of the projects you have selected in the previous step.

Now it’s time to try the plugin to see how easy it is.

Inside the MainPage constructor you can see that the only line of code you need to create your database and open a connection to it is

SQLiteConnection conn = MTSql.Current.GetConnection("YOURDBNAME.db3");

Remember to replace the string with the name you want for your database. 

using MarcTron.Plugin.MTSql;
using SQLite;
using Xamarin.Forms;

namespace YOURNAMESPACE
{
    public partial class MainPage : ContentPage
    {
        class TestTable
        {
            [PrimaryKey, AutoIncrement]
            public int Id { get; set; }

            public string name { get; set; }

            public TestTable()
            {
            }

            public TestTable(string name)
            {
                this.name = name;
            }
        }

        public MainPage()
        {
            InitializeComponent(); //The only line you need to create your database.
            SQLiteConnection conn = MTSql.Current.GetConnection("YOURDBNAME.db3"); 

            //This in case you want to use an async connection
            //SQLiteAsyncConnection connAsync = MTSql.Current.GetConnectionAsync();

            //This is just for test...
            //Create the table TestTable
            conn.CreateTable<TestTable>();
            //Insert some elements
            conn.Insert(new TestTable("A"));
            conn.Insert(new TestTable("B"));
            conn.Insert(new TestTable("C"));
            //Verify that the elements are there
            Label1.Text = "Rows:" + conn.Table<TestTable>().Count();
        }
    }
}

As you can see in the image after we obtain a connection to the database, we can create a table and add some elements to it. Just for test I have added 3 items. If everything works as expected we should see inside the text “Rows:3” on screen. And this is exactly what we get launching the app on UWP.

So, thanks to this plugin, you have your Sqlite database inside your app with only 1 line of code.

What do you think? Add your comment at the end of the page.