android - getWritableDatabase() VS getReadableDatabase()

Question

I am creating a database helper class and for some of the methods within it I am only querying the database and others I am writing to it.

My understanding is both these methods will open the database up and let the program either just read or write to the database.

For the query statements is it worth just using getReadableDatabase() or is there very little difference in performance between the two methods.

Thanks for your time.

Answer 1

They return the same object unless the disk is full or there is some permission error that forces to open the database in read-only mode. The name is a bit confusing though :)

As a rule of thumb you should put any call to these methods outside the UI thread. Both can take a long time to return.

If you are not going to write the database just use getReadableDatabase as it will contribute to your code clarity and intention.

More info here.