Android SQLiteOpenHelper: Why onCreate() method is not called?

I have also had trouble with the SQLiteOpenHelper. What worked for me was storing a member variable

SQLiteDatabase db;

In the SQLiteOpenHelper subclass and calling

 db = getWritableDatabase();

in the constructor.

The answer to this question also includes helpful information: SQLiteOpenHelper failing to call onCreate?

I hope this helps!

Until you call the method getWritableDatabase() or getReadableDatabase() of SQLiteOpenHelper class, database won't be created.

as simple as that database will be created in memory when you actually need that.:)

I had a similar problem where onCreate wasn't executed. Maybe this is of any use for someone even though it turned out being a different problem.

I was working on the database before and had already created one long time before. So now after making changes in onCreate() I was hoping to find the new tables created. But the SQLiteOpenHelper never called onCreate() again. Reason was, the database already existed. I was still working with the same device as before and consequently with the already existing (old) databse.

But there is hope. When the system sees a database with that name already exists, it also checks whether the version number is correct. In that case I simply forgot the database already existed. My solution was simply changing the version number. So onUpgrade() was called offering options for onCreate() changes.

So options were either uninstalling the complete app (and with it the database) or call onCreate again after upgrading the version number (and for example dropping) the old table and calling onCreate() again.

In any case, if onCreate() is not called, check twice if the database exists. Otherwise it's not called again.