Relationships

relationships on android introduction using parse, you can store data objects establishing relations between them to model this behavior, any parseobject parseobject can be used as a value in other parseobject parseobject internally, the parse framework will store the referred to object in just one place, to maintain consistency that can give you extra power when building and running complex queries there are three main relation types one to one one to one , establishing direct relations between two objects and only them; one to many one to many , where one object can be related to many other objects; many to many many to many , which can create many complex relations between many objects there are two ways to create a one to many one to many relation in parse the first is using the pointers pointers in child class, child class, which is the fastest in creation and query time the second is using arrays arrays of pointers pointers in parent class which can lead to slow query times depending on their size because of this performance issue, we will use only pointers examples there are three ways to create a many to many many to many relation in parse the first is using the parse relations relations , which is the fastest in creation and query time we will use this in this guide the second is using arrays arrays of pointers pointers which can lead to slow query times depending on their size the third is using jointable jointable where the idea from classical database when there is a many to nany relation, we combine every objectid objectid or pointer pointer from both sides together to build a new separate table in which the relationship is tracked this tutorial uses a basic app created in android studio 4 1 1 with buildtoolsversion=30 0 2 buildtoolsversion=30 0 2 , compile sdk version = 30 0 2 compile sdk version = 30 0 2 and targetsdkversion 30 targetsdkversion 30 at any time, you can access the complete android project built with this tutorial at our github repositories kotlin example repository java example repository goal our goal is, understand parse relations by creating a practical book app here is a preview of what we are gonna achieve prerequisites to complete this tutorial, we need android studio an app created on back4app note follow the new parse app tutorial to learn how to create a parse app on back4app an android app connected to back4app note follow the install parse sdk tutoria l to create an android studio project connected to back4app a device (or virtual device ) running android 4 1 (jelly bean) or newer understanding the book app the main object class you’ll be using is the book book class, storing each book entry in the registration also, these are the other three object classes publisher publisher book publisher name, one to many one to many relation with book book genre genre book genre, one to many one to many relation with book book note that for this example we will consider that a book can only have one genre; author author book author, many to many many to many relation with book book , since a book can have more than one author and an author can have more than one book as well; a visual representation of these data model let’s get started! before next steps, we need to connect back4app back4app to our application you should save the appid appid and clientkey clientkey from the back4app back4app to string xml string xml file and then init parse parse in our app java app java or app kt app kt file follow the new parse app tutorial if you don’t know how to init parse parse to your app or you can download the projects we shared the github links above and edit only the appid appid and clientkey clientkey parts according to you 1 save and list related objects of books in this step we will see how to save and list the genres genres , publishers publishers and authors authors classes related with the book book class 1 1 save and list genres we can register a genre genre using the following snippet 1 private void addgenre(string name) { 2 //we are taking this name parameter from the input 3 progressdialog show(); 4 parseobject parseobject = new parseobject("genre"); 5 parseobject put("name", name); 6 parseobject saveinbackground(e > { 7 progressdialog dismiss(); 8 if (e == null) { 9 getgenres(); 10 inputgenre settext(""); 11 toast maketext(this, "genre saved successfully", toast length short) show(); 12 } else { 13 toast maketext(this, e getlocalizedmessage(), toast length short) show(); 14 } 15 }); 16 }1 private fun addgenre(name string) { 2 //we are taking this name parameter from the input 3 progressdialog show() 4 val parseobject = parseobject("genre") 5 parseobject put("name", name) 6 parseobject saveinbackground { 7 progressdialog dismiss() 8 if (it == null) { 9 getgenres() 10 inputgenre settext("") 11 toast maketext(this, "genre saved successfully", toast length short) show() 12 } else { 13 toast maketext(this, it localizedmessage, toast length short) show() 14 } 15 } 16 } we can register a genre genre using the following snippet 1 private void getgenres() { 2 progressdialog show(); 3 parsequery\<parseobject> query = new parsequery<>("genre"); 4 query findinbackground((objects, e) > { 5 progressdialog dismiss(); 6 list\<parseobjectmodel> list = new arraylist<>(); 7 for (parseobject parseobject objects) { 8 list add(new parseobjectmodel(parseobject)); 9 } 10 11 genreadapter adapter = new genreadapter(list, this); 12 recyclerview\ setlayoutmanager(new linearlayoutmanager(this)); 13 recyclerview\ setadapter(adapter); 14 }); 15 }1 private fun getgenres() { 2 progressdialog show() 3 val query = parsequery\<parseobject>("genre") 4 query findinbackground { objects, e > 5 progressdialog dismiss() 6 var list mutablelist\<parseobjectmodel> = arraylist() 7 for (parseobject in objects) { 8 list add(parseobjectmodel(parseobject)) 9 } 10 val adapter = genreadapter(this, list) 11 recyclerview\ layoutmanager = linearlayoutmanager(this) 12 recyclerview\ adapter = adapter 13 } 14 } 1 2 save and list publishers we can register a publisher publisher using the following snippet 1 private void addpublisher(string name) { 2 //we are taking this name parameter from the input 3 progressdialog show(); 4 parseobject parseobject = new parseobject("publisher"); 5 parseobject put("name", name); 6 parseobject saveinbackground(e > { 7 progressdialog dismiss(); 8 if (e == null) { 9 getpublishers(); 10 inputpublisher settext(""); 11 toast maketext(this, "publisher saved successfully", toast length short) show(); 12 } else { 13 toast maketext(this, e getlocalizedmessage(), toast length short) show(); 14 } 15 }); 16 }1 private fun addpublisher(name string) { 2 //we are taking this name parameter from the input 3 progressdialog show() 4 val parseobject = parseobject("publisher") 5 parseobject put("name", name) 6 parseobject saveinbackground { 7 progressdialog dismiss() 8 if (it == null) { 9 getpublishers() 10 inputpublisher settext("") 11 toast maketext(this, "publisher saved successfully", toast length short) show() 12 } else { 13 toast maketext(this, it localizedmessage, toast length short) show() 14 } 15 } 16 } we can register a publisher publisher using the following snippet 1 private void getpublishers() { 2 progressdialog show(); 3 parsequery\<parseobject> query = new parsequery<>("publisher"); 4 query findinbackground((objects, e) > { 5 progressdialog dismiss(); 6 list\<parseobjectmodel> list = new arraylist<>(); 7 for (parseobject parseobject objects) { 8 list add(new parseobjectmodel(parseobject)); 9 } 10 11 publisheradapter adapter = new publisheradapter(list, this); 12 recyclerview\ setlayoutmanager(new linearlayoutmanager(this)); 13 recyclerview\ setadapter(adapter); 14 }); 15 }1 private fun getpublishers() { 2 progressdialog show() 3 val query = parsequery\<parseobject>("publisher") 4 query findinbackground { objects, e > 5 progressdialog dismiss() 6 val list arraylist\<parseobjectmodel> = arraylist() 7 for (parseobject in objects) { 8 list add(parseobjectmodel(parseobject)) 9 } 10 11 val adapter = publisheradapter(this, list) 12 recyclerview\ layoutmanager = linearlayoutmanager(this) 13 recyclerview\ adapter = adapter 14 } 15 } 1 3 save and list authors we can register a author author using the following snippet 1 private void addauthor(string name){ 2 //we are taking this name parameter from the input 3 progressdialog show(); 4 parseobject parseobject = new parseobject("author"); 5 parseobject put("name", name); 6 parseobject saveinbackground(e > { 7 progressdialog dismiss(); 8 if (e == null) { 9 getauthors(); 10 inputauthor settext(""); 11 toast maketext(this, "author saved successfully", toast length short) show(); 12 } else { 13 toast maketext(this, e getlocalizedmessage(), toast length short) show(); 14 } 15 }); 16 }1 private fun addauthor(name string) { 2 //we are taking this name parameter from the input 3 progressdialog show() 4 val parseobject = parseobject("author") 5 parseobject put("name", name) 6 parseobject saveinbackground { 7 progressdialog dismiss() 8 if (it == null) { 9 getauthors() 10 inputauthor settext("") 11 toast maketext(this, "author saved successfully", toast length short) show() 12 } else { 13 toast maketext(this, it localizedmessage, toast length short) show() 14 } 15 } 16 } we can register a author author using the following snippet 1 private void getauthors() { 2 progressdialog show(); 3 parsequery\<parseobject> query = new parsequery<>("author"); 4 query findinbackground((objects, e) > { 5 progressdialog dismiss(); 6 list\<parseobjectmodel> list = new arraylist<>(); 7 for (parseobject parseobject objects) { 8 list add(new parseobjectmodel(parseobject)); 9 } 10 11 authoradapter adapter = new authoradapter(list, this); 12 recyclerview\ setlayoutmanager(new linearlayoutmanager(this)); 13 recyclerview\ setadapter(adapter); 14 }); 15 }1 private fun getauthors() { 2 progressdialog show() 3 val query = parsequery\<parseobject>("author") 4 query findinbackground { objects list\<parseobject>, e parseexception? > 5 progressdialog dismiss() 6 val list arraylist\<parseobjectmodel> = arraylist() 7 for (parseobject in objects) { 8 list add(parseobjectmodel(parseobject)) 9 } 10 val adapter = authoradapter(this, list) 11 recyclerview\ layoutmanager = linearlayoutmanager(this) 12 recyclerview\ adapter = adapter 13 } 14 } in this part, we use a model class named parseobjectmodel parseobjectmodel in this model class, we have a parseobject parseobject variable to be able to read the data, and the ischecked ischecked variable, which we will use to save the book in the next step we will be able to easily retrieve the selected objects with the ischecked ischecked variable here is the our parseobjectmodel parseobjectmodel model 1 public class parseobjectmodel { 2 parseobject object; 3 boolean ischecked = false; 4 5 public parseobjectmodel(parseobject object) { 6 this object = object; 7 } 8 9 public parseobject getobject() { 10 return object; 11 } 12 13 public parseobjectmodel setobject(parseobject object) { 14 this object = object; 15 return this; 16 } 17 18 public boolean ischecked() { 19 return ischecked; 20 } 21 22 public parseobjectmodel setchecked(boolean checked) { 23 ischecked = checked; 24 return this; 25 } 26 }1 class parseobjectmodel(obj parseobject) { 2 var obj parseobject? = null 3 var ischecked boolean = false 4 5 init { 6 this obj = obj 7 } 8 } 2 save a book object and its relations 2 1 save a book object with 1\ n relationship this function will create a new book book in back4app database with 1\ n relations 1 progressdialog show(); 2 book put("genre", genre); 3 book put("publisher", publisher); 4 book put("title", title); 5 book put("year", year); 6 book saveinbackground(e > { 7 progressdialog hide(); 8 if (e == null) { 9 toast maketext(addbookactivity this, "book saved successfully", toast length short) show(); 10 startactivity(new intent(addbookactivity this, booklistactivity class)); 11 finish(); 12 } else { 13 toast maketext(addbookactivity this, e getlocalizedmessage(), toast length short) show(); 14 } 15 });1 progressdialog show() 2 book put("genre", genre) 3 book put("publisher", publisher!!) 4 book put("title", title) 5 book put("year", year) 6 book saveinbackground { 7 progressdialog hide() 8 if (it == null) { 9 toast maketext(this, "book saved successfully", toast length short) show() 10 startactivity(intent(this\@addbookactivity, booklistactivity class java)) 11 finish() 12 } else { 13 toast maketext(this, it localizedmessage, toast length short) show() 14 } 15 } 2 2 save a book object with n\ n relationship this function will create a new book book in back4app database with n\ n relations for the author author relation, we find the selected author/s in the adapter of the authorrecyclerview authorrecyclerview and save them as parse relation parse relation 1 progressdialog show(); 2 book put("genre", genre); 3 book put("publisher", publisher); 4 book put("title", title); 5 book put("year", year); 6 7 //here we are setting book relation with getselecteditem function of bookauthoradapter 8 if (recyclerviewauthors getadapter() != null) { 9 relation = ((bookauthoradapter) recyclerviewauthors getadapter()) getselecteditems(book); 10 if (relation == null) { 11 toast maketext(this, "please select author/s", toast length short) show(); 12 return; 13 } 14 } else { 15 toast maketext(this, "something went wrong!!", toast length short) show(); 16 return; 17 } 18 19 book saveinbackground(e > { 20 progressdialog hide(); 21 if (e == null) { 22 toast maketext(addbookactivity this, "book saved successfully", toast length short) show(); 23 startactivity(new intent(addbookactivity this, booklistactivity class)); 24 finish(); 25 } else { 26 toast maketext(addbookactivity this, e getlocalizedmessage(), toast length short) show(); 27 } 28 }); 29 30 //this is the function for save author/s relation of book object this function in bookauthoradapter 31 public parserelation\<parseobject> getselecteditems(parseobject parseobject) { 32 parserelation\<parseobject> relation = parseobject getrelation("author relation"); 33 for (parseobjectmodel object this list) { 34 if (object ischecked()) 35 relation add(object getobject()); 36 } 37 return relation; 38 } 1 progressdialog show() 2 book put("genre", genre) 3 book put("publisher", publisher!!) 4 book put("title", title) 5 book put("year", year) 6 7 //here we are setting book relation with getselecteditem function of bookauthoradapter 8 9 if (recyclerviewauthors adapter != null) { 10 relation = (recyclerviewauthors adapter as bookauthoradapter) getselecteditems(book) 11 if (relation == null) { 12 toast maketext(this, "please select author/s", toast length short) show() 13 return 14 } 15 } else { 16 toast maketext(this, "something went wrong!!", toast length short) show() 17 return 18 } 19 20 book saveinbackground { 21 progressdialog hide() 22 if (it == null) { 23 toast maketext(this, "book saved successfully", toast length short) show() 24 startactivity(intent(this\@addbookactivity, booklistactivity class java)) 25 finish() 26 } else { 27 toast maketext(this, it localizedmessage, toast length short) show() 28 } 29 } 30 31 //this is the function for save author/s relation of book object this function in bookauthoradapter 32 33 fun getselecteditems(parseobject parseobject) parserelation\<parseobject>? { 34 var relation\ parserelation\<parseobject>? = parseobject getrelation("author relation") 35 for (obj in this list) { 36 if (obj ischecked) 37 relation? add(obj obj) 38 } 39 return relation 40 } 3 query the book details with relations with these functions, we will list our books books according to their publishers publishers first, we throw a query to the publisher class 1 progressdialog show(); 2 parsequery\<parseobject> query = new parsequery<>("publisher"); 3 query findinbackground((objects, e) > { 4 progressdialog hide(); 5 if (e == null) { 6 booklistadapter adapter = new booklistadapter(objects, this); 7 recyclerview\ setlayoutmanager(new linearlayoutmanager(this)); 8 recyclerview\ setadapter(adapter); 9 } else { 10 toast maketext(this, e getlocalizedmessage(), toast length short) show(); 11 } 12 });1 progressdialog show() 2 val query = parsequery\<parseobject>("publisher") 3 query findinbackground { objects list\<parseobject>?, e parseexception? > 4 progressdialog hide() 5 if (e == null) { 6 val adapter = booklistadapter(this, objects!!) 7 recyclerview\ layoutmanager = linearlayoutmanager(this) 8 recyclerview\ adapter = adapter 9 } else { 10 toast maketext(this, e localizedmessage, toast length short) show() 11 } 12 } and then we query to list the books books that each publisher publisher item is related to 1 parseobject object = list get(position); 2 holder title settext(object getstring("name")); 3 parsequery\<parseobject> query = new parsequery<>("book"); 4 query whereequalto("publisher", object); 5 query findinbackground((objects, e) > { 6 if (e == null) { 7 booksadapter adapter = new booksadapter(objects, context); 8 holder books setlayoutmanager(new linearlayoutmanager(context)); 9 holder books setadapter(adapter); 10 } else { 11 toast maketext(context, e getlocalizedmessage(), toast length short) show(); 12 } 13 });1 val `object` = list\[position] 2 holder title text = `object` getstring("name") 3 val query = parsequery\<parseobject>("book") 4 query whereequalto("publisher", `object`) 5 query findinbackground { objects list\<parseobject>?, e parseexception? > 6 if (e == null) { 7 val adapter = booksadapter(context, objects!!) 8 holder books layoutmanager = linearlayoutmanager(context) 9 holder books adapter = adapter 10 } else { 11 toast maketext(context, e localizedmessage, toast length short) show() 12 } 13 } now, when we click on any book book object, we send the object id of this book book with an intent to the page that will show the details of that book book and we get all the details of the book book from the database by using this object id on that page 1 private void getbookwithdetails() { 2 progressdialog show(); 3 parsequery\<parseobject> query = new parsequery<>("book"); 4 query getinbackground(getintent() getstringextra("objectid"), (object, e) > { 5 if (e == null) { 6 booktitle settext("title " +object getstring("title")); 7 bookyear settext("year " +object getstring("year")); 8 try { 9 bookgenre settext("genre " +object getparseobject("genre") fetchifneeded() getstring("name")); 10 } catch (parseexception parseexception) { 11 parseexception printstacktrace(); 12 } 13 try { 14 bookpublisher settext("publisher " + object getparseobject("publisher") fetchifneeded() getstring("name")); 15 } catch (parseexception parseexception) { 16 parseexception printstacktrace(); 17 } 18 19 object getrelation("author relation") getquery() findinbackground((objects, e1) > { 20 progressdialog hide(); 21 if (e1 == null) { 22 bookdetailauthoradapter adapter = new bookdetailauthoradapter(objects, this); 23 authorrecyclerview\ setlayoutmanager(new linearlayoutmanager(this)); 24 authorrecyclerview\ setadapter(adapter); 25 } else { 26 toast maketext(this, e getlocalizedmessage(), toast length short) show(); 27 } 28 }); 29 } else { 30 progressdialog hide(); 31 toast maketext(this, e getlocalizedmessage(), toast length short) show(); 32 } 33 }); 34 }1 private fun getbookwithdetails() { 2 progressdialog show() 3 val query = parsequery\<parseobject>("book") 4 5 query getinbackground(intent getstringextra("objectid")) { `object`, e > 6 if (e == null) { 7 booktitle text = "title " + `object` getstring("title") 8 bookyear text = "year " + `object` getstring("year") 9 try { 10 bookgenre text = "genre " + `object` getparseobject("genre")? fetchifneeded\<parseobject>()? getstring("name") 11 } catch (parseexception parseexception) { 12 parseexception printstacktrace() 13 } 14 try { 15 bookpublisher text = 16 "publisher " + `object` getparseobject("publisher")? fetchifneeded\<parseobject>()? getstring("name") 17 } catch (parseexception parseexception) { 18 parseexception printstacktrace() 19 } 20 21 `object` getrelation\<parseobject>("author relation") query findinbackground { objects, e1 > 22 progressdialog hide() 23 if (e1 == null) { 24 val adapter = bookdetailauthoradapter(this, objects) 25 authorrecyclerview\ layoutmanager = linearlayoutmanager(this) 26 authorrecyclerview\ adapter = adapter 27 } else { 28 toast maketext(this, e1 localizedmessage, toast length short) show() 29 } 30 } 31 } else { 32 progressdialog hide() 33 toast maketext(this, e localizedmessage, toast length short) show() 34 } 35 } 36 } it’s done! at this point, we have learned parse relationships parse relationships on android android