title: How to make a search query through a Database in Android
body: <p>I want to programm an Android App, where the user can type something in an EditBox and then the App searches through an SQL Database and lists the results in a ListView.</p>
  
  <p>I have the following problem:</p>
  
  <p>I've allready imported the database with the DatabBaseHelper-class, but now I don't know how to make the search query from the Text typed into the EditBox. Can someone explain how to do it?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks for every usefull help!!</p>
  
  <p>The DataBaseHelper class:</p>
  
  <pre><code>      public class DataBaseHelper extends SQLiteOpenHelper{
  
      //The Android's default system path of your application database.
      private static String DB_PATH = "/data/data/com.test.sql/databases/";
  
      private static String DB_NAME = "demo";
  
      private SQLiteDatabase myDataBase;
  
      private final Context myContext;
  
      /**
        * Constructor
        * Takes and keeps a reference of the passed context in order to access to the application assets and resources.
        * @param context
        */
      public DataBaseHelper(Context context) {
  
      super(context, DB_NAME, null, 1);
      this.myContext = context;
      }   
  
      /**
        * Creates a empty database on the system and rewrites it with your own database.
        * */
      public void createDataBase() throws IOException{
  
      boolean dbExist = checkDataBase();
  
      if(dbExist){
      //do nothing - database already exist
      }else{
  
      //By calling this method and empty database will be created into the default system path
      //of your application so we are gonna be able to overwrite that database with our database.
      this.getReadableDatabase();
  
      try {
  
      copyDataBase();
  
      } catch (IOException e) {
  
      throw new Error("Error copying database");
  
      }
      }
  
      }
  
      /**
        * Check if the database already exist to avoid re-copying the file each time you open the application.
        * @return true if it exists, false if it doesn't
        */
      private boolean checkDataBase(){
  
      SQLiteDatabase checkDB = null;
  
      try{
      String myPath = DB_PATH + DB_NAME;
      checkDB = SQLiteDatabase.openDatabase(myPath, null, SQLiteDatabase.OPEN_READONLY);
  
      }catch(SQLiteException e){
  
      //database does't exist yet.
  
      }
  
      if(checkDB != null){
  
      checkDB.close();
  
      }
  
      return checkDB != null ? true : false;
      }
  
      /**
        * Copies your database from your local assets-folder to the just created empty database in the
        * system folder, from where it can be accessed and handled.
        * This is done by transfering bytestream.
        * */
      private void copyDataBase() throws IOException{
  
      //Open your local db as the input stream
      InputStream myInput = myContext.getAssets().open(DB_NAME);
  
      // Path to the just created empty db
      String outFileName = DB_PATH + DB_NAME;
  
      //Open the empty db as the output stream
      OutputStream myOutput = new FileOutputStream(outFileName);
  
      //transfer bytes from the inputfile to the outputfile
      byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
      int length;
      while ((length = myInput.read(buffer))&gt;0){
      myOutput.write(buffer, 0, length);
      }
  
      //Close the streams
      myOutput.flush();
      myOutput.close();
      myInput.close();
  
      }
  
      public void openDataBase() throws SQLException{
  
      //Open the database
      String myPath = DB_PATH + DB_NAME;
      myDataBase = SQLiteDatabase.openDatabase(myPath, null, SQLiteDatabase.OPEN_READONLY);
  
      }
  
      @Override
      public synchronized void close() {
  
      if(myDataBase != null)
      myDataBase.close();
  
      super.close();
  
      }
  
      @Override
      public void onCreate(SQLiteDatabase db) {
  
      }
  
      @Override
      public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db, int oldVersion, int newVersion) {
  
      }
  
      // Add your public helper methods to access and get content from the database.
      // You could return cursors by doing "return myDataBase.query(....)" so it'd be easy
      // to you to create adapters for your views.
  
      }       
  </code></pre>