javasqlsqliteforeign-keyssqlitejdbc

SQLite foreign key constraints

I am using Java with SQLiteJDBC.

I was struggling to understand why my foreign keys were not acting as constraints, until I read the following:

Prior to version 3.6.19, SQLite did not support foreign key constraints.

I then took a closer look at the SQLiteJDBC website and found:

The current version is v056, based on SQLite 3.6.14.2.

There is a solution documented here, although it is a very old article - is it still the best way to proceed? Would other SQLite Java connectors be recommended?

Solution

  • SQLite support in Java seems to not be so great.

    You may be able to rebuild javasqlite against a newer version of SQLite, since it depends on:

    SQLite 2.4.12 or higher

    Whether it will actually work remains to be seen, but I think SQLite has a fairly stable API.

    You could also try to build SQLiteJDBC from source against a newer version of SQLite.

    EDIT:

    Actually, Xerial SQLiteJDBC has been updated much more recently. Apparently it's a lot slower though since it's pure Java.