Working with Databases — Data Model
Create or Open Database
You can create a new database and-or open and existing database, using the Database class. Just pass in a database name and optionally a DatabaseConfiguration — see Example 1.
Things to watch for include:
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Opening/Creating a database is an asynchronous process
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If the named database does not exist in the specified, or default, location then a new one is created
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The database is created in a default location unless you specify a directory for it — see: DatabaseConfiguration and DatabaseConfiguration.Directory()
Best Practice is to always specify the path to the database explicitly. Typically, the default location for C#.Net is a platform-dependant location:
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.NET Core:
Path.Combine(AppContext.BaseDirectory, "CouchbaseLite")(unless the app context is altered [e.g. by XUnit], this will be the same directory as the output binary) -
UWP:
Windows.Storage.ApplicationData.Current.LocalFolder.Path(Inside the installed app sandbox. Note that this sandbox gets deleted sometimes when debugging from inside Visual Studio when the app is shutdown) -
Xamarin iOS: In a folder named CouchbaseLite inside of
ApplicationSupportDirectory(this can be retrieved more easily from the simulator using the SimPholders utility) -
Xamarin Android: Using the
Contextpassed in theActivate()method,Context.FilesDir.AbsolutePath(database can be retrieved using adb)
See also Finding a Database File.
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var db = new Database("my-database");| 1 | Here we are specifying the database directory path. |
Close Database
You are advised to incorporate the closing of all open databases into your application workflow.
Closing a database is a simple, just use Database.Close() — see: Example 2.
However, there are a number of things to be aware of:
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Closing a database is a synchronous operation, it is effective immediately
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You cannot close a database that is not open.
Remember that opening (or creating) a database is asynchronous. So issuing a close immediately after initiating an open/create, may result in an error if that process has not completed. -
Closing a database [1] also closes any active replications, listeners and-or live queries attached to the database.
Closing a database immediately after kicking-off a replication could cause the sync to generate an exception.
For example:
IllegalStateException: Attempt to perform an operation on a closed database
database.close()Database Encryption
| This is an Enterprise Edition feature. |
Couchbase Lite on C#.Net includes the ability to encrypt Couchbase Lite databases. This allows mobile applications to secure the data at rest, when it is being stored on the device. The algorithm used to encrypt the database is 256-bit AES.
To enable encryption, you must set the DatabaseConfiguration.encryptionKey property to the encryption key of your choice.
Provide this encryption key every time the database is opened.
// Create a new, or open an existing database with encryption enabled
var config = new DatabaseConfiguration
{
// Or, derive a key yourself and pass a byte array of the proper size
EncryptionKey = new EncryptionKey("password")
};
using (var db = new Database("seekrit", config)) {
// Change the encryption key (or add encryption if the DB is unencrypted)
db.ChangeEncryptionKey(new EncryptionKey("betterpassw0rd"));
// Remove encryption
db.ChangeEncryptionKey(null);
}Couchbase Lite does not persist the key. It is the application’s responsibility to manage the key and store it in a platform specific secure store such as Apple’s Keychain or Android’s Keystore.
An encrypted database can only be opened with the same language SDK that was used to encrypt it in the first place (Swift, C#, Java, Java (Android) or Objective-C). For example, if a database is encrypted with the Swift SDK and then exported, it will only be readable with the Swift SDK.
Upgrading from 1.x when Encryption is Enabled
If you’re migrating an application from Couchbase Lite 1.x to 2.x, note that the automatic database upgrade functionality is not supported for encrypted databases. Thus, to upgrade an encrypted 1.x database, you should do the following:
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Disable encryption using the Couchbase Lite 1.x framework (see 1.x encryption guide)
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Open the database file with encryption enabled using the Couchbase Lite 2.x framework.
Since it is not possible to package Couchbase Lite 1.x and Couchbase Lite 2.x in the same application this upgrade path would require two successive upgrades. If you are using Sync Gateway to synchronize the database content, it may be preferable to run a pull replication from a new 2.x database with encryption enabled and delete the 1.x local database.
Finding a Database File
Where a database goes by default depends on the platform it is running on. Here are the defaults for each platform:
-
.NET Core:
Path.Combine(AppContext.BaseDirectory, "CouchbaseLite")(unless the app context is altered [e.g. by XUnit], this will be the same directory as the output binary) -
UWP:
Windows.Storage.ApplicationData.Current.LocalFolder.Path(Inside the installed app sandbox. Note that this sandbox gets deleted sometimes when debugging from inside Visual Studio when the app is shutdown) -
Xamarin iOS: In a folder named CouchbaseLite inside of
ApplicationSupportDirectory(this can be retrieved more easily from the simulator using the SimPholders utility) -
Xamarin Android: Using the
Contextpassed in theActivate()method,Context.FilesDir.AbsolutePath(database can be retrieved using adb)
Database Maintenance
From time to time it may be necessary to perform certain maintenance activities on your database, for example to compact the database file, removing unused documents and blobs no longer referenced by any documents.
Couchbase Lite’s API provides the Database.PerformMaintenance() method.
The available maintenance operations, including compact are as shown in the enum MaintenanceType to accomplish this.
This is a resource intensive operation and is not performed automatically. It should be run on-demand using the API. If in doubt, consult Couchbase support.
Command Line Tool
cblite is a command-line tool for inspecting and querying Couchbase Lite 2.x databases.
You can download and build it from the couchbaselabs GitHub repository.
Note that the cblite tool is not supported by the Couchbase Support Policy.
Troubleshooting
You should use Couchbase’s console logs as your first source of diagnostic information. If the information in the default logging level is insufficient you can focus it on database errors and generate more verbose messages — see: Example 3.
For more on using Couchbase logs — see: Using Logs.
Database.Log.Console.Domains = LogDomain.Database;