Web SQL Database is a deprecated web browser
API specification for storing data in
database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases ...
s that can be queried using
SQL variant.
The API is supported by
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS, ...
, Opera,
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge is a proprietary, cross-platform web browser created by Microsoft. It was first released in 2015 as part of Windows 10 and Xbox One and later ported to other platforms as a fork of Google's Chromium open-source project: Android ...
, and the
Android Browser, albeit support is slowly being phased out. Web SQL was deprecated and removed for third-party contexts in
Chromium 97. Web SQL access in insecure contexts is deprecated as of Chromium 105 at which time a warning message will be shown in the Chrome DevTools Issue panel.
The
W3C Web Applications Working Group ceased working on the specification in November 2010, citing a lack of independent implementations (i.e. using database system other than
SQLite
SQLite (, ) is a database engine written in the C programming language. It is not a standalone app; rather, it is a library that software developers embed in their apps. As such, it belongs to the family of embedded databases. It is the mo ...
as the backend) as the reason the specification could not move forward to become a W3C Recommendation.
Mozilla Corporation
The Mozilla Corporation (stylized as moz://a) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation that coordinates and integrates the development of Internet-related applications such as the Firefox web browser, by a global community of ope ...
was one of the major voices behind the break-up of negotiations and deprecation of the standard, while at the same time being the main proponents behind an 'alternative storage' standard,
IndexedDB
The Indexed Database API (commonly referred to as IndexedDB) is a JavaScript application programming interface (API) provided by web browsers for managing a NoSQL database of JSON objects. It is a standard maintained by the World Wide Web Consort ...
. Mozilla's argument against it becoming a standard was because it would codify the quirks of
SQLite
SQLite (, ) is a database engine written in the C programming language. It is not a standalone app; rather, it is a library that software developers embed in their apps. As such, it belongs to the family of embedded databases. It is the mo ...
.
See also
*
HTML5
HTML5 is a markup language used for structuring and presenting content on the World Wide Web. It is the fifth and final major HTML version that is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendation. The current specification is known as the HTML ...
*
Indexed Database API
*
Web Storage
Web storage, sometimes known as DOM storage ( Document Object Model storage), is a standard JavaScript API provided by web browsers. It enables websites to store persistent data on users' devices similar to cookies, but with much larger capa ...
References
External links
W3C Web SQL Database Working DraftWeb SQL databaseat Info-Q
SQL storageat Can-I-Use
Database APIs
World Wide Web Consortium standards
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