Elements of Android Room

Storing data locally is a key part of many Android apps. SQLite is built into Android, but the low-level API that the Android SDK provides is a bit clunky to use.

Google’s solution for that is Room, an object wrapper around that API. This gives us a cleaner, type-safe, reactive API for our database operations. Room is part of the Android Jetpack, and so it is a key element of Google’s recommended “stack” of technologies for building Android apps.

This book explores Room, starting with basic stuff like:

• Adding Room to your app

• Defining your entities and data access operation (DAO) APIs

• Testing your database I/O

• Using Room with Kotlin coroutines, LiveData, and RxJava

• Migrating your database schema as your app evolves

It also gets into more elaborate scenarios, such as using SQLCipher for Android for encrypting your Room database.

This book is published in PDF, EPUB, and MOBI/Kindle formats, for use in your favorite digital book reader. Or, read directly in your Web browser! Note that the HTML edition will be taken down at the end of 2025, as this book will be rather old at that point. However, the downloadable forms (PDF, etc.) will still be available.