Best method to store data?

[VRivera22]

Hello!

I have been looking in the internet but I did not found an answer.

I am new to the world of Flash Builder 4.6 and I am currently doing a small mobile application (Android) to test FB 4.6. I'm currently doing an application where students information will be stored (such as names, grades, overall score, DOB and so on). The idea is to have a main view where a list of student will be shown and after clicking one of them a  type of profile view of the student with their respective information will be shown.

I was planning on doing an SQL database but for that I must add all those variables to the table.

So my doubts are:

• What if I want to add data that is not in the table (notes and pictures for example)?
• Is it possible to save data in a type of profile or create a profile for each student instead of an SQL database?
• Is it possible to export this saved data later to a spreadsheet or at least a backup file?

I am not quite sure if I am explaining this situation clearly. Please correct me of any mistakes.

Any suggestion or advice is greatly appreciated.

[Guest]

Hello,

         If I understood you right this link should give you a place to start http://book.zi5.me/books/read/2473/113

Let me know if that helped or if you need anything else, I will try to do my best

[VRivera22]

Hello satish_rcu2012,

  Thank you for your response, the information provided in that text is very helpful, even for future reference. However, I still have the questions listed in the OP. Is it possible to store pictures and more data on an SQL or do you recommend to use other methods of storing data?

[Guest]

I agree with the approach that Chris has suggested. But, again it depends on what you want to achieve. Saving things to a data base and retrieving it is sometimes unavoidable. But, it should not be very hard to store and retrieve data from a database. I personally have written a .net webservice and use xml to disply and insert data back to the SQL Server. If your app deals with lot of data it is better in my opinion to save it in the database and not on the device.

Hope that helps.

[VRivera22]

Thank you for this suggestion and it sounds like a great idea. In my opinion the app won't store a lot of data, it would just be text and maybe the picture. I have a question, this type of method requires the device to be connected to the internet correct? Also, if someone wants to transfer that data to another device, how is possible to create a backup or since it is in the web in would be stored safely, however, this would requiere an account for each user correct?

I really appreciate all the suggestions all of you have provided

[Chris Pamplin]

Yes, if you store data on a web server then normally you would expect user to have internet connection. There are ways to remove this limitation using local storage for offline viewing, but that is very limited in terms of the space the mobile OS will give you. But, one up side of this approach is that if the user changes device, once they log in with the new device all their data is back with them.

[VRivera22]

Alright, I will try with both options and see which one will be better for the final product. Thank you all for your help!

[Chris Pamplin]

"Small mobile applications on android" and "SQL database storing picture data" might be a challenge in terms of performance. Have you thought about putting the data storage on a web server and just writing a small mobile applications to send requests for formatted snippets of html to display? That way you can use MySQL or similar on a server with the resources to cope easily to store the data and your mobile app can focus on the user interface side of things.