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I have been working on an Android application that populates a Google Map with markers from a Room Database and all user data is stored in a Firebase Realtime Database.

The application first copies the Room Database from the assets folder, so all the changes will take place in the copy of the database. The Room Database has 11 columns at the moment and only one of the column's values are changed.

Now I have reached the part where I would need to save the copy of the Room database to the corresponding user in the Firebase Realtime Database, so that if the application is uninstalled or if anything else happens, then the data and changes related to the markers would persist.

How could I save the copy of the Room Database in the Firebase Realtime Database and how can I pull that copy from the Realtime Database and set it as the version to use?

I did come across people looking for a solution to a similar problem but the solution so far has been to migrate the Room Database to the Firebase Realtime Database. example: Link Android Room Database with Firebase Realtime Database

I also thought about getting rid of the Room Database and just using the Firebase Realtime Database but the management of the data related to the markers seems difficult not to mention the amount of reprogramming. Also if this is the best/only way to go, then if I have the database stored on Firebase, should each user have their own copy of the database, or should it include only the data that changes and a reference to the corresponding item in the main database with the rest of the data?

I just recently started using Firebase and I am not sure what would be the correct approach. Thanks in advance!

Mark Rotteveel
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Edward Aarma
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1 Answers1

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Android's Room database is a SQL database, while Firebase's Realtime Database is a NoSQL database. There is no direct mapping from the data in your SQL database, to Firebase's NoSQL model.

But it's not clear why you'd want to store the data in Firebase. If you just want a place to store the Room files so you can retrieve them later, you might be better off using Cloud Storage for which Firebase also has SDKs. You can just upload the SQLite file to Storage, and retrieve it from there later.

Frank van Puffelen
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