Android : java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: column '_id' does not exist

Question

Cursor ck = db.rawQuery("select name,title,text,type from abstracts_item,abstract_author,authors_abstract where abstract_author._id == authors_abstract.abstractauthor_id and abstracts_item._id ==  authors_abstract.abstractsitem_id", null);

I was run this same query with other sqlite tool. It works just fine. But, when I try to use with cursor. I got an error

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: column '_id' does not exist

I got so many solutions. But, nothing worked for me. I will be happy, if you guys help me to solve that.

"from abstracts_item,abstract_author,authors_abstract", from clause with 3 tables, is this valid syntax? — kosa, Jul 25 '13 at 19:21
@Nambari Nope! I'm struggling to understand how this works in "other sqlite tool" without the required joins. — Simon, Jul 25 '13 at 19:22
@Benito: Thanks! Good to know about this. It seems this technique is not that much popular. — kosa, Jul 25 '13 at 19:30
@Benito. Thanks for that. I didn't know that, I assume this is an inner join? I think I prefer an explicit join since the intent is clear. — Simon, Jul 25 '13 at 19:31
You are correct. It is valid, yet deprecated. Check out this [answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/894659/1117415) if you want more details. — Benito Bertoli, Jul 25 '13 at 19:38
@Benito thanks again, great Q&A you linked - and after reading it, I'm glad that it's being deprecated! I just +1 one of your answers by way of a proper thank you! :) — Simon, Jul 25 '13 at 19:48

Roy Hinkley · Answer 1 · 2013-07-25T19:32:37.730

The SQL language does not use == but rather =.

so it s/b:

Cursor ck = db.rawQuery("select name,title,text,type from
abstracts_item,abstract_author,authors_abstract where abstract_author._id =
authors_abstract.abstractauthor_id and abstracts_item._id =
authors_abstract.abstractsitem_id", null);

You could also increase performance by using inner joins rather that a where clause:

Cursor ck = db.rawQuery("select name,title,text,type from abstracts_item 
    inner join abstract_author on abstract_author._id = authors_abstract.abstractauthor_id
    inner join authors_abstract on abstracts_item._id = authors_abstract.abstractsitem_id", null);

Android : java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: column '_id' does not exist

1 Answers1