Overview

Room is a Database Object Mapping library that makes it easy to access database on Android applications.

Rather than hiding the details of SQLite, Room tries to embrace them by providing convenient APIs to query the database and also verify such queries at compile time. This allows you to access the full power of SQLite while having the type safety provided by Java SQL query builders.

There are 3 major components in Room.

• Database: This annotation marks a class as a database. It should be an abstract class that extends RoomDatabase. At runtime, you can acquire an instance of it via Room.databaseBuilder or Room.inMemoryDatabaseBuilder.

  The database class defines the list of entities and data access objects in the database. It is also the main access point for the underlying connection.

• Entity: This annotation marks a class as a database row. For each Entity, a database table is created to hold the items. The Entity class must be referenced in the Database#entities array. Each field of the Entity (and its super class) is persisted in the database unless it is denoted otherwise (see Entity docs for details).
• Dao: This annotation marks a class or interface as a Data Access Object. Data access objects are the main components of Room that are responsible for defining the methods that access the database. The class that is annotated with Database must have an abstract method that has 0 arguments and returns the class that is annotated with Dao. While generating the code at compile time, Room will generate an implementation of this class.

  Using Dao classes for database access rather than query builders or direct queries allows you to keep a separation between different components and easily mock the database access while testing your application.

Below is a sample of a simple database.

 // File: Song.java
  @Entity
 public class Song {
    @PrimaryKey
   private int id;
   private String name;
    @ColumnInfo(name = "release_year")
   private int releaseYear;
   // getters and setters are ignored for brevity but they are required for Room to work.
 }
 // File: SongDao.java
  @Dao
 public interface SongDao {
    @Query("SELECT * FROM song")
   List<Song> loadAll();
    @Query("SELECT * FROM song WHERE id IN (:songIds)")
   List<Song> loadAllBySongId(int... songIds);
    @Query("SELECT * FROM song WHERE name LIKE :name AND release_year = :year LIMIT 1")
   Song loadOneByNameAndReleaseYear(String first, int year);
    @Insert
   void insertAll(Song... songs);
    @Delete
   void delete(Song song);
 }
 // File: MusicDatabase.java
  @Database(entities = {Song.class})
 public abstract class MusicDatabase extends RoomDatabase {
   public abstract SongDao songDao();
 }
 

You can create an instance of MusicDatabase as follows:

 MusicDatabase db = Room
     .databaseBuilder(getApplicationContext(), MusicDatabase.class, "database-name")
     .build();
 

Since Room verifies your queries at compile time, it also detects information about which tables are accessed by the query or what columns are present in the response.

You can observe a particular table for changes using the InvalidationTracker class which you can acquire via RoomDatabase.getInvalidationTracker.

For convenience, Room allows you to return LiveData from Query methods. It will automatically observe the related tables as long as the LiveData has active observers.

 // This live data will automatically dispatch changes as the database changes.
  @Query("SELECT * FROM song ORDER BY name LIMIT 5")
 LiveData<Song> loadFirstFiveSongs();
 

You can also return arbitrary data objects from your query results as long as the fields in the object match the list of columns in the query response. This makes it very easy to write applications that drive the UI from persistent storage.

 class IdAndSongHeader {
   int id;
    @ColumnInfo(name = "header")
   String header;
 }
 // DAO
  @Query("SELECT id, name || '-' || release_year AS header FROM song")
 public IdAndSongHeader[] loadSongHeaders();
 

If there is a mismatch between the query result and the POJO, Room will print a warning during compilation.

Please see the documentation of individual classes for details.

Interfaces

RoomDatabase.QueryCallback

Callback interface for when SQLite queries are executed.

Classes

DatabaseConfiguration	Configuration class for a RoomDatabase.
EntityDeletionOrUpdateAdapter<T>	Implementations of this class knows how to delete or update a particular entity.
EntityInsertionAdapter<T>	Implementations of this class knows how to insert a particular entity.
FtsOptions	Available option values that can be used with Fts3 & Fts4.
InvalidationTracker	InvalidationTracker keeps a list of tables modified by queries and notifies its callbacks about these tables.
InvalidationTracker.Observer	An observer that can listen for changes in the database.
MultiInstanceInvalidationService	A for remote invalidation among multiple InvalidationTracker instances.
Room	Utility class for Room.
RoomDatabase	Base class for all Room databases.
RoomDatabase.Builder<T>	Builder for RoomDatabase.
RoomDatabase.Callback	Callback for RoomDatabase.
RoomDatabase.MigrationContainer	A container to hold migrations.
RoomDatabase.PrepackagedDatabaseCallback	Callback for RoomDatabase.Builder.createFromAsset(String), RoomDatabase.Builder.createFromFile(File) and RoomDatabase.Builder.createFromInputStream(Callable)
RoomMasterTable	Schema information about Room's master table.
RoomOpenHelper	An open helper that holds a reference to the configuration until the database is opened.
RoomOpenHelper.Delegate
RoomOpenHelper.ValidationResult
RoomSQLiteQuery	This class is used as an intermediate place to keep binding arguments so that we can run Cursor queries with correct types rather than passing everything as a string.
RoomWarnings	The list of warnings that are produced by Room.
RxRoom	Helper class to add RxJava2 support to Room.
SharedSQLiteStatement	Represents a prepared SQLite state that can be re-used multiple times.

Enums

FtsOptions.MatchInfo
FtsOptions.Order
RoomDatabase.JournalMode	Journal modes for SQLite database.

Annotation Types

ColumnInfo	Allows specific customization about the column associated with this field.
ColumnInfo.Collate
ColumnInfo.SQLiteTypeAffinity	The SQLite column type constants that can be used in ColumnInfo.typeAffinity()
Dao	Marks the class as a Data Access Object.
Database	Marks a class as a RoomDatabase.
DatabaseView	Marks a class as an SQLite view.
Delete	Marks a method in a Dao annotated class as a delete method.
Embedded	Marks a field of an Entity or POJO to allow nested fields (i.e.
Entity	Marks a class as an entity.
ExperimentalRoomApi	APIs marked with ExperimentalRoomApi are experimental and may change.
ForeignKey	Declares a foreign key on another Entity.
ForeignKey.Action	Constants definition for values that can be used in ForeignKey.onDelete() and ForeignKey.onUpdate().
Fts3	Marks an Entity annotated class as a FTS3 entity.
Fts4	Marks an Entity annotated class as a FTS4 entity.
Ignore	Ignores the marked element from Room's processing logic.
Index	Declares an index on an Entity.
Insert	Marks a method in a Dao annotated class as an insert method.
Junction	Declares a junction to be used for joining a relationship.
OnConflictStrategy	Set of conflict handling strategies for various Dao methods.
PrimaryKey	Marks a field in an Entity as the primary key.
ProvidedTypeConverter	Marks a class as a type converter that will be provided to Room at runtime.
Query	Marks a method in a Dao annotated class as a query method.
RawQuery	Marks a method in a Dao annotated class as a raw query method where you can pass the query as a SupportSQLiteQuery.
Relation	A convenience annotation which can be used in a POJO to automatically fetch relation entities.
RewriteQueriesToDropUnusedColumns	When present, RewriteQueriesToDropUnusedColumns annotation will cause Room to rewrite your Query methods such that only the columns that are used in the response are queried from the database.
SkipQueryVerification	Skips database verification for the annotated element.
Transaction	Marks a method in a Dao class as a transaction method.
TypeConverter	Marks a method as a type converter.
TypeConverters	Specifies additional type converters that Room can use.
Update	Marks a method in a Dao annotated class as an update method.