I’m used to reading the database files with DBFNavigator, but with the latest update, all my database files are converted to a .sqlite3 format. I’m guessing that is some version of sql, but I’m not knowledgeable at all on databases.
I need a new program now that can read those .sqlite3 files. Being able to view the database contents is indispensable when trying to troubleshoot scripts and other database-related problems when building a custom mod.
Does anyone have a suggestion for a simple to use “.sqlite3 reader”? I don’t need anything fancy like an editor, as I just need to verify the contents are saved correctly.
SQLite is an implementation of an SQL database. There’s lots of free and open source browsers. Here’s a cross-platform one, and here’s a web-based browser where you can upload a file to browse.
I tried DB Browser and a couple of Firefox extensions. They all work and DB Browser does the best job, but it just shows the word BLOB where it should show the string data that the mod saved out.
The browser sqlite managers - well they opened up a screen that said the database was opened, but just have input text fields for coding/commands? I guess. They don’t show any useful information - like what did the game actually save - did it save what I think/hope it saved? - that sort of thing.
So DB Browser seems to be somewhat helpful, but limited. Is there some feature that I can turn on or off to make the “blob” actually display the string TEXT that should be there, and also display the saved date time stamp like the old DBF databses did?
BLOB is a db field type for binary data stored as is. Images and such can be saved this way. Text too, but the db browsers don’t know that - it’s the user’s application job to know what to do with BLOB’s contents.
It is possible that the game saved text data as BLOB for few reasons. If you know how to code, the sqlite support is present in all (?) modern languages. You’d need to connect to the database, select rows you’re interested in, decode BLOBs and display the data.
I might be able to help you with this but I’d need an example db file.
Thanks for the offer, seriously, that’s very nice. However having to impose on someone very time I need to make sure one of my scripts is working right isn’t a good thing. I so wish they hadn’t changed file formats, or at least, why make the text data into an unreadable binary blob. Ugh
It’s like 10 lines of code, no big deal. I have however another idea that may avoid writing any code - read on.
Sqlite uses the so called manifest typing (read this whole page BTW, its very informative). This means column types (INT, REAL, TEXT, etc) are just suggestions and can be changed, at least when the db contents are viewed. It won’t work with key columns, but BLOB isn’t going to be one.
It can naturally lead to garbled output, but perhaps this BLOB can be safely cast to VARCHAR? See this SO post. It tells you how you can use the sqlitebrowser program @squattingmonk linked. Maybe it will help.
you can go to sqlite3.org and download the appropriate fileas for your system. i.e if you use Windows, download the one that says "a bundle of command-line tools for (Windows/linux) (sqlite-tools-win32-x86-3420000) -extract the rar (i extractred mine right intto %$...*/documents/nwnee/database) then open the foiloder and click on sdqlite3.exe