Clarification on the row_id returned by sqlite's insert statement
android, sqlite
Solution
The Android insert(...) method returns:
the row ID of the newly inserted row, or -1 if an error occurred
This can be confusing to the uninitiated, but the row id in sqlite is either the `integer primary key` field, or, in its absence, a 64-bit undeclared column named ROWID.
So when you insert either NULL or no value in an auto-increment field, the generated value is returned.
Problem
Ok, we see here that the `SQLite` insert statement returns something called `row id`. When inserting, we know that `SQLite` likes a primary key column called ID and will auto-generate an appropriate value if the ID value being inserted is null. The glue that's missing is confirmation that the `row id` returned by the `SQLiteDatabase.insert()` method is in fact the value that was auto-generated for the row's primary key. (This is not the case for Oracle...) Will someone confirm or deny, please? Resolution Ok, so from the link posted by @sixfeetsix: Each entry in an SQLite table has a unique 64-bit signed integer key called the "rowid". The rowid is always available as an undeclared column... If the table has a column of type INTEGER PRIMARY KEY then that column is another alias for the rowid. Then his `auto-increment` link verifies that the `row_id` and the auto-increment value will be the same value. That's a wrap, thanks, folks!