UltraLite and UltraLite Java edition database limitations

The following table illustrates hard limits that apply to UltraLite and UltraLite Java edition databases. In many cases, the limits are beyond the maximum capabilities of mobile devices. Performance considerations and device capabilities impose stricter limitations.

Item	UltraLite database limitations	UltraLite Java edition database limitations
Database and file size	1 file per database. The file size is limited by the operating system and file system.	1 file per database. The file size is limited by the operating system and file system.
Temporary file size	Limited by the operating system.	Limited by the operating system.
Cache size	Limited by the available memory on the device.	Limited by the available memory on the device.
Dynamic cache sizing	UltraLite allows you to set an initial, minimum, and/or maximum cache size for a database. The size of the cache is optimized by UltraLite on an ongoing basis, up to the maximum size (if specified). See: UltraLite CACHE_SIZE connection parameter UltraLite CACHE_MIN_SIZE connection parameter UltraLite CACHE_MAX_SIZE connection parameter	UltraLite Java edition databases support fixed cache sizes only.
Maximum number of concurrent open connections supported by a database	Up to 14.	No limit.
Maximum number of concurrent open connections to all databases	Up to 16 on a mobile device, and up to 64 on a desktop.	No limit.
Maximum number of databases that can run concurrently	The UltraLite engine supports up to 8 on a mobile device, and up to 32 on a desktop.	No limit.
Direct device connections to a Windows Mobile device from the desktop.	You prefix the connection string with WCE:\ before allowing desktop connections to the database that you deploy on a Windows Mobile device. See Windows Mobile.	Not applicable.
SQL communication areas (SQLCA)	Up to 63.	Not applicable.
File-based persistent store (database size)	2 GB file or operating system limit on file size.	Limited by the operating system.
Rows per table	Up to 16 million. Sometimes changes to the row (deletes and updates) and other state information are maintained with the row data. This information allows those changes to be synchronized. So, the actual row limit can be smaller than 16 million, depending on the number of transactions on a table between synchronization, or whether the table is synchronized at all. See UltraLite transaction processing.	Up to 16 million. Sometimes changes to the row (deletes and updates) and other state information are maintained with the row data. This information allows those changes to be synchronized. So, the actual row limit can be smaller than 16 million, depending on the number of transactions on a table between synchronization, or whether the table is synchronized at all. See UltraLite transaction processing.
Row Size	The length of each packed row must not exceed the page size. See Row packing and table definitions. Character strings are stored without padding when they are shorter than the column size. This restriction excludes columns declared as LONG BINARY and LONG VARCHAR as these are stored separately.	Row contents (after possible compression) must not exceed the database page size.
Rows per database	Limited by the persistent store.	Limited by the persistent store.
Table size	Limited by the database size.	Limited by the database size.
Tables per database	Limited by the database size.	Up to 32000.
Columns per table	Row size is limited by page size, so the practical limit on the number of columns per table is derived from this size. Typically, this practical limit is much less than 4000.	Row size is limited by page size, so the practical limit on the number of columns per table is derived from this size. Typically, this practical limit is much less than 4000.
Indexes per table	Limited by the database size.	Limited by the database size.
Tables referenced per transaction	No limit.	No limit.
Stored procedure length	Not applicable.	Not applicable.
Stored procedures per database	Not applicable.	Not applicable.
Triggers per database	Not applicable.	Not applicable.
Nesting	Not applicable.	Not applicable.
Number of publications	Up to 63.	Up to 63.
Number of database pages	Limited by file size.	Up to 2¹⁶.
Database page size	16 KB.	Minimum 256 bytes; up to 16 KB.
Cursors per connection	The number of maximum allowable cursors on a given connection to an UltraLite database is 64 (all platforms).	The number of maximum allowable cursors on a given connection to an UltraLite database is 64 (all platforms).
Strings	The row must fit on a page.	The row must fit on a page.
Binary data types	The row must fit on a page.	The row must fit on a page.
Long binary/long varchar size	Limited only by database size.	Limited only by database size.
Blob size	Limited by file size.	Up to 2²⁴ bytes.
Available Isolation levels	0 (read uncommitted) or 1 (read committed).	0 (read uncommitted).
Cascading updates and deletes	Declarative referential integrity, where deletes and updates are cascaded, is a feature that is not supported in UltraLite databases, except during synchronization when deletes are cascaded for this purpose.	Not supported.
Event scheduling and handling	An UltraLite event model differs from SQL Anywhere.	Not supported.
UltraLite Java edition database compatibility	UltraLite databases are not interchangeable with UltraLite Java edition databases. An UltraLite database can be converted into an UltraLite Java edition database and vice versa using the respective load and unload utilities. See: UltraLite Database Unload utility (ulunload) UltraLite Load XML to Database utility (ulload)	UltraLite databases are not interchangeable with UltraLite Java edition databases. An UltraLite database can be converted into an UltraLite Java edition database and vice versa using the respective load and unload utilities. See: UltraLite Java Edition Database Unload utility (ULjUnload) UltraLite Java Edition Database Load utility (ULjLoad)

Object store limitations for BlackBerry

On BlackBerry smartphones, the size of the database store is limited by the number of object handles available. The number of available object handles is a BlackBerry feature and is determined by the size of the flash memory.

UltraLite requires one or more object handles, depending on the handle type, to store a database value in memory. For example, a table row with ten columns and two indexes requires a minimum of twelve object handles.

To permit larger database stores, the UltraLiteJ API allows users to limit the number of rows kept in memory. Stored database rows are combined on a database page. The UltraLiteJ API requires only one persistent object handle for each database page.

UltraLite and UltraLite Java edition database limitations

Object store limitations for BlackBerry

See also