Databases

Description — Working with Couchbase Lite Databases
Related Content — Blobs | Documents | Indexing

Database Concepts

Databases created on Couchbase Lite can share the same hierarchical structure as Capella databases. This makes it easier to sync data between mobile applications and applications built using Capella.

Figure 1. Couchbase Lite Database Hierarchy

Although the terminology is different, the structure can be mapped to relational database terms:

Table 1. Relational Database → Couchbase
Relational database	Couchbase
Database	Database
Schema	Scope
Table	Collection

This structure gives you plenty of choices when it comes to partitioning your data. The most basic structure is to use the single default scope with a single default collection; or you could opt for a structure that allow you to split your collections into logical scopes.

Figure 2. Couchbase Lite Examples

Storing local configuration

You may not need to sync all the data related for a particular application. You can set up a scope that syncs data, and a second scope that doesn’t.

One reason for doing this is to store local configuration data (such as the preferred screen orientation or keyboard layout). Since this information only relates to a particular device, there is no need to sync it:

local data scope	Contains information pertaining to the device.
syncing data scope	Contains information pertaining to the user, which can be synced back to the cloud for use on the web or another device.

Create or Open Database

You can create a new database and-or open an existing database, using the Database class. Just pass in a database name and optionally a DatabaseConfiguration — see Example 1.

Things to watch for include:

If the named database does not exist in the specified, or default, location then a new one is created
The database is created in a default location unless you specify a directory for it — see: DatabaseConfiguration and DatabaseConfiguration.Directory()
Typically, the default location for C#.Net is . a platform-dependant location:
- .NET Console: 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)
- WinUI: 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)
- iOS: In a folder named CouchbaseLite inside of ApplicationSupportDirectory (this can be retrieved more easily from the simulator using the SimPholders utility)
- Android: Using the Context passed in the Activate() method, Context.FilesDir.AbsolutePath (database can be retrieved using adb)
See also Finding a Database File.

Example 1. Open or create a database

var database = new Database("my-database");

Close Database

You are advised to incorporate the closing of all open databases into your application workflow.

To close a database, use Database.Close() — see: Example 2. This also closes ^[1] active replications, listeners and-or live queries connected to the database.

Closing a database soon after starting a replication involving it can cause an exception as the asynchronous replicator (start) may not yet be connected.

Safely Closing a Database pre 2.8

Before closing, check that any attached listeners (query/replication/change) indicate they are at least at connected status before closing — see for example: Monitor Status.

Example 2. Close a Database

database.Close();

Database Full Sync

Database Full Sync will prevent the loss of transactional data due to an unexpected system crash or loss of power. This feature is not enabled by default and must be manually set in your database configuration.

Database Full Sync is a safe method to preserve data loss but will incur a significant degredation of performance.

Example 3. Enable Database Full Sync

// this enables fullsync
config.FullSync = true;

It is not possible to change the configuration of a Database after instantiating the Database with the configuration by updating its DatabaseConfiguration property.

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.

Enabling

To enable encryption, use DatabaseConfiguration.EncryptionKey() to set the encryption key of your choice. Provide this encryption key every time the database is opened — see Example 4.

Example 4. Configure Database Encryption

// 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 database = new Database("seekrit", config);

// Change the encryption key (or add encryption if the DB is unencrypted)
database.ChangeEncryptionKey(new EncryptionKey("betterpassw0rd"));

// Remove encryption
database.ChangeEncryptionKey(null);

Persisting

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 Android’s Keystore.

Opening

An encrypted database can only be opened with the same platform that was used to encrypt it in the first place. So a database encrypted using the C#.Net SDK, and then exported, is readable only by the C#.Net SDK.

Changing

To change an existing encryption key, open the database using its existing encryption-key and use Database.ChangeEncryptionKey() to set the required new encryption-key value.

Removing

To remove encryption, open the database using its existing encryption-key and use Database.ChangeEncryptionKey() with a null value as the encryption key.

Upgrading

To upgrade an encrypted database see: Upgrade 1.x databases

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 Console: 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)
WinUI: 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)
iOS: In a folder named CouchbaseLite inside of ApplicationSupportDirectory (this can be retrieved more easily from the simulator using the SimPholders utility)
Android: Using the Context passed in the Activate() 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 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 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 5.

For more on using Couchbase logs — see: Using Logs.

Example 5. Increase Level of Database Log Messages

Database.Log.Console.Domains = LogDomain.Database;

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1. Commencing with Release 2.8