Documentation Source Text

<p> An external content FTS5 table is created by setting the content 
option to the name of a table, virtual table or view (hereafter the "content
table") within the same database. Whenever column values are required by
FTS5, it queries the content table as follows, with the rowid of the row
for which values are required bound to the SQL variable:

<codeblock>
  SELECT * FROM &lt;content&gt; WHERE &lt;content_rowid&gt; = ?;
</codeblock>

<p> In the above, &lt;content&gt; is replaced by the name of the content table.
By default, &lt;content_rowid&gt; is replaced by the literal text "rowid". Or,
if the "content_rowid" option is set within the CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE statement,
by the value of that option.


<p> The "*" in the above query must expand to a set of columns consisting of
the &lt;column_rowid&gt; column followed by each indexed column, in the same
order as they are present in the external content fts5 table.







<p> The content table may also be queried as follows:

<codeblock>
  SELECT * FROM &lt;content&gt; ORDER BY &lt;content_rowid&gt; ASC;
  SELECT * FROM &lt;content&gt; ORDER BY &lt;content_rowid&gt; DESC;
</codeblock>

<p> It is still the responsibility of the user to ensure that the contents of
an external content FTS5 table are kept up to date with the content table. 
One way to do this is with triggers. For example:

<codeblock>

<p> An external content FTS5 table is created by setting the content 
option to the name of a table, virtual table or view (hereafter the "content
table") within the same database. Whenever column values are required by
FTS5, it queries the content table as follows, with the rowid of the row
for which values are required bound to the SQL variable:

<codeblock>
  SELECT &lt;content_rowid&gt;, &lt;cols&gt; FROM &lt;content&gt; WHERE &lt;content_rowid&gt; = ?;
</codeblock>

<p> In the above, &lt;content&gt; is replaced by the name of the content table.
By default, &lt;content_rowid&gt; is replaced by the literal text "rowid". Or,
if the "content_rowid" option is set within the CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE statement,
by the value of that option. &lt;cols&gt; is replaced by a comma-separated list
of the FTS5 table column names. For example:


<codeblock>
  <i>-- If the database schema is: </i>
  CREATE TABLE tbl (a, b, c, d INTEGER PRIMARY KEY);
  CREATE TABLE fts USING fts5(a, c, content=tbl, content_rowid=d);

  <i>-- Fts5 may issue queries such as:</i>
  SELECT d, a, c FROM tbl WHERE d = ?;
</codeblock>

<p> The content table may also be queried as follows:

<codeblock>
  SELECT &lt;content_rowid&gt;, &lt;cols&gt; FROM &lt;content&gt; ORDER BY &lt;content_rowid&gt; ASC;
  SELECT &lt;content_rowid&gt;, &lt;cols&gt; FROM &lt;content&gt; ORDER BY &lt;content_rowid&gt; DESC;
</codeblock>

<p> It is still the responsibility of the user to ensure that the contents of
an external content FTS5 table are kept up to date with the content table. 
One way to do this is with triggers. For example:

<codeblock>