How to do a custom sort of SQL data using Cursor & Loader?

Question

I have some data in a SQLite database and i want to provide basic search capabilities in a listview.

Here is an example of search query I want to be able to solve :

1) Example of sqlite data :

• ad
• bc
• cd
• d
• da
• ec

2) Input & wanted output :

• a -> [ ad , da ]
• d -> [ d , da , ad , cd ]
• c -> [ cd, bc , ec ]

I already thought of a few things but nothing really ok :

1. Full Text Search : I cannot modify the input db file so I think I cannot use it
2. one sqlite query (name LIKE ?% OR name LIKE %?%) : not sorted. Perhaps another query I am not aware can be figured out
3. two differents queries (name LIKE ?% and then name LIKE %?%) : but how to implement it with a content provider ? CursorWrapper ? MergeCursor ? custom Loader ?

I have seen a lot of examples but nothing useful for my custom search.

Thanks for your help.

Edit : Query on d should give [ d , da , ad , cd ].

The custom sort order I want is : LIKE pattern% AND then LIKE %pattern% (for example socks should come before a pair of socks)

Answer 1

Here is some hack for your requirements:

SELECT DISTINCT t.name
FROM (select *, 1 as sec from items WHERE name LIKE 'd%'
union
select *, 2 as sec from items WHERE name LIKE '%d%') as t 
ORDER BY t.sec ASC

Answer 2

The CursorLoader constructor's last parameter is sortOrder - add the name column as your sortOrder to sort the resulting set (note that leaving it blank, as SQLiteDatabase.query may lead to an unsorted order).