Suppose you have tens of thousands of records or more.

A really bad way, I guess, would be to include a text or xml file and import it; this could take a very, very long time the first time the app is started.

A better way would be to include a dump of the database, and import that. Much faster, I guess, but it may still take a long time the first time, and after that the phone would have two copies, the dump and the live one, so it seems bad storage wise.

Would that be the best way? What am I missing?

The database is the best way, but why can't you make the dump one dissapear?

MrSnowflake wrote:The database is the best way, but why can't you make the dump one dissapear?

It's my understanding you can't remove files which come in your apk.

The best way might be to see if you can load your DB in your app during development, then see if you can pull that db file into your project so in the future it gets bundled in your apk and when you deploy your app it can just use the database file.

Right now my simple Chinese/English dictionary loads the db from two text files in a thread on first startup. Not a great solution, but good enough for now.