How to access MySQL database in an Android app

Jian Jiao
3 months ago

Sorry for reposting, just realized this place might be more appropriate for this topic: 

Hi,

I'm an electronic engineer and basically have no experience in programming PC or mobile apps, but now I have to do an Android app that needs to access a remote MySQL database.

I'm confused about how can I access the MySQL database from a mobile phone. At first I thought the FireDAC will give me this ability if I purchase the enterprise edition, but in an tutorial on the Embarcadero web site "Mobile Tutorial: Using InterBase ToGo with FireDAC (iOS and Android)" ( http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/Rio/en/Mobile_Tutorial:_Using_InterBase_ToGo_with_FireDAC_(iOS_and_Android) ) , it says:

FireDAC is a unique set of Universal Data Access Components for developing cross-platform database applications for Delphi and C++Builder. With its powerful common architecture, FireDAC enables native high-speed direct access from Delphi to InterBase, SQLite, MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, IBM DB2, SQL Anywhere, Access, Firebird, Informix, and more.

  • For the mobile platforms, FireDAC supports InterBase ToGo as well as SQLite. These database products can run on iOS and Android devices.
  • For other databases, such as Oracle, you need to have at least a client library. On Windows platforms, the client library is provided as a DLL to connect to. Therefore, you need to develop applications using middle-tier technologies such as DataSnap to connect to these database products from a mobile device.
Another tutorial discusses how to connect to Enterprise Database without using a client library on a mobile device; see Mobile Tutorial: Connecting to an Enterprise Database from a Mobile Client (iOS and Android).
Does this mean even if I have the enterprise edition I can not access a remote MySQL database directly in an Android app? Do I have to set up a DataSnap server to achieve that? It seems a DataSnap server can only run on a Windows server, is there an option to create it on a Linux machine?

I've purchased C++ Builder Rio 10.3.2 professional, should I upgrade it to enterprise edition ? What is the best way to create Android MySQL database apps?

Any reply or suggestion is much appreciated.

Jian Jiao