Using SQLite

Application Files

Modern desktop applications typically deal with a significant number of files. Most applications and utilities have one or more preference files. There may also be system-wide and per-user configuration files, caches, and other data that must be tracked and stored. Document-based applications also need to store and access the actual document files.

Using the SQLite library as an abstract storage layer has many advantages. A fair amount of application metadata, such as caches, state data, and configuration data, fit well with the relational data model. This makes it relatively easy to create an appropriate database design that maps cleanly and easily into an application’s internal data structures.

In many cases, SQLite can also work well as a document file format. Rather than creating a custom document format, an application can simply use individual database instances to represent working documents. SQLite supports many standard datatypes, including Unicode text, as well as arbitrary binary data fields that can store images or other raw data.

Even if an application does not have particularly strong relational requirements, there are still significant advantages to using the SQLite library as a storage container. The SQLite library provides incremental updates that make it quick and easy to save small changes. The transaction system protects all file I/O against process termination and power disruption, nearly eliminating the possibility of file corruption. SQLite ...