Android - sqlite in clause using string values from arraylist?

Question

public void DBSearchCategory(String tableName) {
    // 1st way 
    String inClause = s1.ListViewCategory.toString();
    inClause = inClause.replace("[", "(");
    inClause = inClause.replace("]", ")");

   //        Cursor cursor = database.rawQuery("SELECT CATEGORY FROM " + tableName
  //                + " WHERE CATEGORY NOT IN " + inClause
 //                + " ORDER BY RANDOM() LIMIT 1 ", null);

    // 2nd way
    try {
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder("");
        for (String param : s1.ListViewCategory) {
            sb.append(",").append('"').append(param).append('"');
        }
        params = sb.toString().substring(1); 
        Log.v("Tag", "params value is " + params);
    } catch (StringIndexOutOfBoundsException e) {

    }
    Cursor cursor = database.rawQuery("SELECT CATEGORY FROM " + tableName
                    + " WHERE CATEGORY NOT IN (?) "
                    + " ORDER BY RANDOM() LIMIT 1 ", new String[]{params});

    while (cursor.moveToNext()) {
        category = cursor.getString(cursor.getColumnIndex("CATEGORY"));
        s1.keyCategory = category;
    }
    cursor.close();
}

1. s1.ListViewCategory is a String type ArrayList in Singleton class s1, and it has values of categories: "game","country","city","subway","actor","pet" // In Database there are total 33 categories, and I want to exclude these 6 categories that are in s1.ListViewCategory

2. In rawQuery, I want to exclude categories that are in s1.ListViewCategory, so I tried 2 ways of cursor refering to these 2 stackoverflow questions: Android - sqlite in clause using string values from array? ///Android - sqlite in clause using values from array

I used WHERE and NOT IN statement to exclude these 6 categories

3. When I tried 2nd way cursor, I got no error. However, the Sql query did not work. It had to exclude categories that are in String[params], but it did not work. So I used log to see what param is and I got this

   2020-01-09 09:16:47.233 8978-8978/com.kj.word V/Tag: params value is "game","country","city","subway","actor","pet"

4. When I tried 1st Cursor Category, I got error logcat:

   Error Code : 1 (SQLITE_ERROR)
   Caused By : SQL(query) error or missing database.
   (no such column: game (code 1): , while compiling: SELECT CATEGORY FROM KeyWordDB WHERE CATEGORY 
   NOT IN (game, country, city, subway, actor, pet) ORDER BY RANDOM() LIMIT 1)
   #################################################################
   at android.database.sqlite.SQLiteConnection.nativePrepareStatement(Native Method)
   at android.database.sqlite.SQLiteConnection.acquirePreparedStatement(SQLiteConnection.java:1008)
   at android.database.sqlite.SQLiteConnection.prepare(SQLiteConnection.java:573)
   at android.database.sqlite.SQLiteSession.prepare(SQLiteSession.java:588)
   at android.database.sqlite.SQLiteProgram.<init>(SQLiteProgram.java:59)
   at android.database.sqlite.SQLiteQuery.<init>(SQLiteQuery.java:37)
   at android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDirectCursorDriver.query(SQLiteDirectCursorDriver.java:44)
   at android.database.sqlite.SQLite
   

I confirmed that there is a database, so I guess it is probably sql query problem ...

5. So my question is How can I fix 1st or 2nd cursor to exclude categories that are in s1.ListViewCateogry?

I've searched real hard, but I wasn't able to find answer... Ill be real grateful, if someone answers this question

Answer 1

Change the double quotes with single quotes inside the loop that constructs the comma delimited list:

for (String param : s1.ListViewCategory) {
    sb.append(",").append("'").append(param).append("'");
}
params = sb.toString().substring(1); 

This code constructs a list like:

'game', 'country', 'city', 'subway', 'actor', 'pet'

If you use it as a parameter in the rawQuery() method then this list will be treated as a string literal and not a list of values.
So do this instead:

String sql = "SELECT CATEGORY FROM " + tableName
             + " WHERE CATEGORY NOT IN (?) "
             + " ORDER BY RANDOM() LIMIT 1 ";
sql = sql.replace("?", params);
Cursor cursor = database.rawQuery(sql, null);

Note that this method is prone to sql injection.

Another way is to create a list of ? placeholders instead of 1 placeholder and pass the list of values as an array of strings like this:

for (String param : s1.ListViewCategory) {
    sb.append(",?");
}
String[] array = ListViewCategory.toArray(new String[s1.ListViewCategory.size()]);

params = sb.toString().substring(1);
String sql = "SELECT CATEGORY FROM " + tableName
           + " WHERE CATEGORY NOT IN (@) "
           + " ORDER BY RANDOM() LIMIT 1 ";
sql = sql.replace("@", params);

Cursor cursor = database.rawQuery(sql, array);