Documentation Source Text

prior to issuing the CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE statement.
The module takes zero or more comma-separated arguments.
The arguments can be just about any text as long as it has balanced
parentheses.  The argument syntax is sufficiently general that the
arguments can be made to appear as column definitions in a traditional
[CREATE TABLE] statement.  
SQLite passes the module arguments directly
to the [xCreate] and [xConnect] methods of the module implementation
without any interpretation.  It is the responsibility
of the module implementation to parse and interpret its own arguments.</p>

<p>A virtual table is destroyed using the ordinary
[DROP TABLE] statement.  There is no
DROP VIRTUAL TABLE statement.</p>

<tcl>

for "sqlite3_create_module".

<p>You might also want to implement your new virtual table as a 
[sqlite3_load_extension | loadable extension].

<h2>2.0 Virtual Table Methods</h2>


<tcl>hd_fragment xcreate {sqlite3_module.xCreate} {xCreate}</tcl>
<h3>2.1 The xCreate Method</h3>

<blockquote><pre>
  int (*xCreate)(sqlite3 *db, void *pAux,
               int argc, char **argv,
               sqlite3_vtab **ppVTab,
               char **pzErr);

<p>The xCreate method is required for every virtual table implementation, 
though the xCreate and [xConnect] pointers of the [sqlite3_module] object
may point to the same function the virtual table does not need to initialize
backing store.

<tcl>############################################################# xConnect
hd_fragment xconnect {sqlite3_module.xConnect} {xConnect}</tcl>
<tcl>hd_fragment xconnect {sqlite3_module.xConnect} {xConnect}</tcl>
<h3>2.2 The xConnect Method</h3>

<blockquote><pre>
  int (*xConnect)(sqlite3*, void *pAux,
               int argc, char **argv,
               sqlite3_vtab **ppVTab,
               char **pzErr);

<p>The xConnect method is required for every virtual table implementation, 
though the [xCreate] and xConnect pointers of the [sqlite3_module] object
may point to the same function the virtual table does not need to initialize
backing store.

<tcl>############################################################ xBestIndex
hd_fragment xbestindex {sqlite3_module.xBestIndex} {xBestIndex}</tcl>
<tcl>hd_fragment xbestindex {sqlite3_module.xBestIndex} {xBestIndex}</tcl>
<h3>2.3 The xBestIndex Method</h3>

<p>SQLite uses the xBestIndex method of a virtual table module to determine
the best way to access the virtual table. 
The xBestIndex method has a prototype like this:

<blockquote><pre>

<p>Given all of the information above, the job of the xBestIndex 
method it to figure out the best way to search the virtual table.

<p>The xBestIndex method fills the idxNum and idxStr fields with 
information that communicates an indexing strategy to the [xFilter] 
method. The information in idxNum and idxStr is arbitrary as far 
as the SQLite core is concerned. The SQLite core just copies the 
information through to the [xFilter] method. Any desired meaning can 
be assigned to idxNum and idxStr as long as xBestIndex and xFilter 
agree on what that meaning is.

<p>The idxStr value may be a string obtained from an SQLite
memory allocation function such as [sqlite3_mprintf()]. 
If this is the case, then the needToFreeIdxStr flag must be set to 
true so that the SQLite core will know to call [sqlite3_free()] on 

the EXPR value of the aConstraint[3] constraint.

<p>By default, the SQLite core double checks all constraints on 
each row of the virtual table that it receives. If such a check 
is redundant, the xBestFilter method can suppress that double-check by 
setting aConstraintUsage[].omit.


<tcl>hd_fragment xdisconnect {sqlite3_module.xDisconnect} {xDisconnect}</tcl>
<h3>2.4 The xDisconnect Method</h3>

<blockquote><pre>
  int (*xDisconnect)(sqlite3_vtab *pVTab);
</pre></blockquote>

<p>This method releases a connection to a virtual table. 
Only the [sqlite3_vtab] object is destroyed.
The virtual table is not destroyed and any backing store 
associated with the virtual table persists. 

This method undoes the work of [xConnect].

<p>This method is a destructor for a connection to the virtual table.
Constrast this method with [xDestroy].  The xDestroy is a destructor
for the entire virtual table.

<p>The xDestroy method is required for every virtual table implementation,

The SQLite core will invoke the [xFilter] method
on the cursor prior to any attempt to position or read from the cursor.

<p>The xOpen method is required for every virtual table implementation.

<tcl>############################################################### xClose
hd_fragment xclose {sqlite3_module.xClose}</tcl>
<tcl>hd_fragment xclose {sqlite3_module.xClose}</tcl>
<h3>2.7 The xClose Method</h3>

<blockquote><pre>
  int (*xClose)(sqlite3_vtab_cursor*);
</pre></blockquote>

<p>The xClose method closes a cursor previously opened by 
[sqlite3_module.xOpen | xOpen]. 
The SQLite core will always call xClose once for each cursor opened 
using xOpen.

<p>This method must release all resources allocated by the
corresponding xOpen call. The routine will not be called again even if it
returns an error.  The SQLite core will not use the
[sqlite3_vtab_cursor] again after it has been closed.

<p>The xClose method is required for every virtual table implementation.

<tcl>############################################################## xEof
hd_fragment xeof {sqlite3_module.xEof} {xEof}</tcl>
<tcl>hd_fragment xeof {sqlite3_module.xEof} {xEof}</tcl>
<h3>2.8 The xEof Method</h3>

<blockquote><pre>
  int (*xEof)(sqlite3_vtab_cursor*);
</pre></blockquote>

<p>The xEof method must return false (zero) if the specified cursor 

<p>This method must return [SQLITE_OK] if successful, or an sqlite 
[error code] if an error occurs.

<p>The xFilter method is required for every virtual table implementation.

<tcl>############################################################### xNext
hd_fragment xnext {sqlite3_module.xNext} {xNext}</tcl>
<tcl>hd_fragment xnext {sqlite3_module.xNext} {xNext}</tcl>
<h3>2.10 The xNext Method</h3>

<blockquote><pre>
  int (*xNext)(sqlite3_vtab_cursor*);
</pre></blockquote>

<p>The xNext method advances a [sqlite3_vtab_cursor | virtual table cursor]

methods to set the error message text, then return an appropriate
[error code].  The xColumn method must return [SQLITE_OK] on success.

<p>The xColumn method is required for every virtual table implementation.

<tcl>############################################################# xRowid
hd_fragment xrowid {sqlite3_module.xRowid} {xRowid}</tcl>
<tcl>hd_fragment xrowid {sqlite3_module.xRowid} {xRowid}</tcl>
<h3>2.12 The xRowid Method</h3>

<blockquote><pre>
  int (*xRowid)(sqlite3_vtab_cursor *pCur, sqlite_int64 *pRowid);
</pre></blockquote>

<p>A successful invocation of this method will cause *pRowid to be

<p>The xUpdate method is optional.
If the xUpdate pointer in the [sqlite3_module] for a virtual table
is a NULL pointer, then the virtual table is read-only.


<tcl>########################################################## xFindFunction
hd_fragment xfindfunction {sqlite3_module.xFindFunction} {xFindFunction}</tcl>
<tcl>hd_fragment xfindfunction {sqlite3_module.xFindFunction} {xFindFunction}</tcl>
<h3>2.14 The xFindFunction Method</h3>

<blockquote><pre>
  int (*xFindFunction)(
    sqlite3_vtab *pVtab,
    int nArg,
    const char *zName,

first argument.

<p>The function pointer returned by this routine must be valid for
the lifetime of the [sqlite3_vtab] object given in the first parameter.

<tcl>############################################################ xBegin
hd_fragment xBegin {sqlite3_module.xBegin} {xBegin}</tcl>
<tcl>hd_fragment xBegin {sqlite3_module.xBegin} {xBegin}</tcl>
<h3>2.15 The xBegin Method</h3>

<blockquote><pre>
  int (*xBegin)(sqlite3_vtab *pVTab);
</pre></blockquote>

<p>This method begins a transaction on a virtual table.
This is method is optional.  The xBegin pointer of [sqlite3_module]
may be NULL.

<p>This method is always followed by one call to either the
[xCommit] or [xRollback] method.  Virtual table transactions do
not nest, so the xBegin method will not be invoked more than once
on a single virtual table
without an intervening call to either [xCommit] or [xRollback].
Multiple calls to other methods can and likely will occur in between
the xBegin and the corresponding [xCommit] or [xRollback].

<tcl>############################################################ xSync
hd_fragment xsync {sqlite3_module.xSync}</tcl>
<tcl>hd_fragment xsync {sqlite3_module.xSync}</tcl>
<h3>2.16 The xSync Method</h3>

<blockquote><pre>
  int (*xSync)(sqlite3_vtab *pVTab);
</pre></blockquote>


<p>This method signals the start of a two-phase commit on a virtual
table.
This is method is optional.  The xSync pointer of [sqlite3_module]
may be NULL.

<p>This method is only invoked after call to the [xBegin] method and
prior to an [xCommit] or [xRollback].  In order to implement two-phase
commit, the xSync method on all virtual tables is invoked prior to
invoking the [xCommit] method on any virtual table.  If any of the 
xSync methods fail, the entire transaction is rolled back.

<tcl>########################################################### xCommit
hd_fragment xcommit {sqlite3_module.xCommit} {xCommit}</tcl>
<tcl>hd_fragment xcommit {sqlite3_module.xCommit} {xCommit}</tcl>
<h3>2.17 The xCommit Method</h3>

<blockquote><pre>
  int (*xCommit)(sqlite3_vtab *pVTab);
</pre></blockquote>

<p>This method causes a virtual table transaction to commit.