Professional iPhone® Programming with MonoTouch and .NET/C#

Chapter 5. Working with Data on the iPhone

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Working with the SQLite database engine using ADO.NET

• Working with remote data using SOAP-based web services

• Working with REST-style web services using XML and JSON

• Storing data

Data is the lifeblood of applications. The application might be an app to interact with Twitter, an instant message application, or your own personal address book. This chapter looks at the SQLite database engine as well as strategies to store data off the device on a central server through SOAP and REST without tying up the user interface.

Note

This chapter is not an overview of ADO.NET, SOAP, or REST. The goal of this chapter is to show that the basic features work and help in areas that are specific to the iPhone.

WORKING WITH SQLITE

SQLite is an embedded data engine running in the iPhone and is the native database on the iPhone. It is different from client-server style databases, such as SQL Server, Oracle, and DB/2. With a client-server style database, a query, or operation, is sent to the database engine, the operation is performed, and the result is sent back to the client. With this type of database engine, the database runs in a separate process and typically on a separate machine. SQLite does not run on a separate machine; it runs on the same machine, the iPhone, and runs in the same process as the application. SQLite is embedded in the application and linked to the app during the compilation process. Calls made to SQLite are not made over ...