How do I view my Realm file in the Realm Browser?

I've just discovered Realm and wanted to explore it in more detail so I decided to create sample application and having a mess around with it. So far so good.

However, one thing I haven't been able to work out just yet is how to view my database in the Realm Browser. How can this be done?

Solution 1:

Currently the Realm Browser doesn't support accessing databases directly on the device, so you need to copy the database from the emulator/phone to view it. That can be done by using ADB:

adb pull /data/data/<packagename>/files/ .

That command will pull all Realm files created using Realm.getInstance(new RealmConfiguration.Builder().build()) . The default database is called default.realm.

Note that this will only work on a emulator or if the device is rooted.

Solution 2:

Now you can view Realm DB on Chrome browser using Stetho, developed by Facebook. By default, Stetho allows to view Sqlite, network, sharedpreferences but with additional plugin here allows to view Realm as well.

After configuring your Application class with above libraries, while app is running and connected, open Chrome browser and navigate chrome://inspect to see

Then Resources->Web Sql->default.realm

Solution 3:

You can also pull your file from any NON-rooted device using the ADB shell and run-as command.

You can use these commands to pull from your app's private storage a database named your_database_file_name located in the files folder:

adb shell "run-as package.name chmod 666 /data/data/package.name/files/your_database_file_name"

// For devices running an android version lower than Android 5.0 (Lollipop)
adb pull /data/data/package.name/files/your_database_file_name

// For devices running an Android version equal or grater
// than Android 5.0 (Lollipop)
adb exec-out run-as package.name cat files/your_database_file_name > your_database_file_name
adb shell "run-as package.name chmod 600 /data/data/package.name/files/your_database_file_name"

Solution 4:

If you are lazy to get the realm database file every time with adb, you could add an export function to your android code, which send you an email with the realm database file as attachment.

Here an example:

public void exportDatabase() {

    // init realm
    Realm realm = Realm.getInstance(getActivity());

    File exportRealmFile = null;
    try {
        // get or create an "export.realm" file
        exportRealmFile = new File(getActivity().getExternalCacheDir(), "export.realm");

        // if "export.realm" already exists, delete
        exportRealmFile.delete();

        // copy current realm to "export.realm"
        realm.writeCopyTo(exportRealmFile);

    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    realm.close();

    // init email intent and add export.realm as attachment
    Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
    intent.setType("plain/text");
    intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_EMAIL, "YOUR MAIL");
    intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SUBJECT, "YOUR SUBJECT");
    intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, "YOUR TEXT");
    Uri u = Uri.fromFile(exportRealmFile);
    intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, u);

    // start email intent
    startActivity(Intent.createChooser(intent, "YOUR CHOOSER TITLE"));
}

Don't forget to add this user permission to your Android Manifest file:

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />