SQLiteAppTools 0.1.1-pre

SQLite App Tools

SQLite App Tools lets you browse the tables of a SQLite database, inside your Xamarin Forms app.

No need to dig through folders deeply buried in macOS with GUIDs for names, or digging around the command line to get your .db3 off your Android. Just a nuget with a GUI right in your app.

SQlite App Tools works on any platform that runs Xamarin Forms and sqlite-net. You can run it on simulators, emulator, phones, tablets – any where you run your app.

SQLite Browser works on any Xamarin Forms app using sqlite-net-pcl and can be used on simulators, emulators and devices.

Getting Started

1. Add SQLiteAppTools to your .NetStandard library from Nuget. The preview version is currently available on an Azure Devops feed at https://pkgs.dev.azure.com/lachlanwgordon/SQLiteAppTools/_packaging/SQLiteBrowser/nuget/v3/index.json.

It is a public feed but you will need to sign in with a Microsoft account. The package will be moving to nuget.org shortly.

2. In your App.xaml.cs set your MainPage to a new SQLiteAppTools.BrowserPage(path). The path needs to be the same path you use when creating a SQLiteConnection.

You main need to remove (or comment out) the line where you previously set your MainPage.

protected override async void OnStart()
{
    var path = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData), "data.db3");
    MainPage = new SQLiteAppTools.BrowserPage(path);
}

3. Select a Table from the Picker, then scroll, click and search around your database.

If you want to pass in the path at startup, and navigate to the page later, or through a Shell, TabbedPage etc., see Initialize on startup, navigate later

Features

The navigation and filtering features are likely to change quite a bit but the code you need to write to get this running shouldn't need to change much.

Select Table

The Picker has a list of Tables found in your database. Select one and it will load the data. Scroll around.

Search

Type 3 or more characters in the search box and it will search all cells in the table and display the matching rows.

Navigate to Foreign Key

Click on a foreign key in a table, if the column name is of the format {TableName}Id, the table will be opened and it will search for the Id.

Open URL

Click on a cell with a URL in it, the URL will open in the default browser.

Initialize on startup, navigate later

I usually like to initialize my database at startup, and then forget about what the path is and I don't want to mess around with passing the path into the view or view model where I navigate to the SQLite App Tools Browser Page.

To initialize without opening the page, call SQLiteAppTools.Init():

protected override async void OnStart()
{
    var path = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData), "data.db3");
    SQLiteAppTools.SQLiteAppTools.Init(path);
}

When you navigate to the page, you don't need to include a path parameter.

Shell.Current.Navigation.PushAsync(new SQLiteAppTools.BrowserPage());

Or you can include it in a Shell by including the namespace xmlns:sqiteapptools="clr-namespace:SQLiteAppTools;assembly=SQLiteAppTools"

and adding the BrowserPage the same way you would with any other content page.

<sqiteapptools:BrowserPage Title="DB"></sqiteapptools:BrowserPage>

Trouble shooting and FAQ

Does this app work with EF Core SQLite?

Yes! SQLite App Tools depends on sqlite-net but it can still open a database built with Entity Framework Core.

The setup process is the same, the only difference is you will need to make sure SQLite-net is installed in all of your projects(Net Standard, iOS, Android etc.). This is required for SQLite-net users as well but they will already have this set up.

I use Prism, will this work?

Yep, the steps in getting started will work as is. If you want to open the the SQLite App Tools BrowserPage by navigating to it while the app is running, there are a couple of extra steps.

Initialize the SQLite App Tools.

SQLiteAppTools.SQLiteAppTools.Init(dbpath);

Register the BrowserPage for navigation.

containerRegistry.RegisterForNavigation<SQLiteAppTools.BrowserPage>();

Navigate to "BrowserPage", as you would with any other page, using the Prism INavigationService.

_navigationService.NavigateAsync("/BrowserPage");

Contributing

Found a bug or have a good feature idea? Create an issue.

PRs welcome!

Credits

SQLite App Tools uses:

• Frank Krueger's SQLite-net, thanks Frank.
• Xamarin Forms, thanks Xamarin.

The Sample app also uses:

• James Montemagno's MVVM Helper, thanks James.
• Xamarin Essentials, thanks Xamarin.