Considerations for sqlite database performance in iOS

Considerations for sqlite database performance in iOS

I'm using an sqlite database in my iOS app directly, without taking
advantage of Core Data. When the app is launched, I need it to insert
several sets of table rows of considerable amount of data that will be
needed during the usage of the app and that are fixed sets of data (for
example, I have a database table for a list of countries the user could
choose in the app). I've those data insertions in an .sql file in the app
and, since I need this data to be available in the database from the very
first time the user installs and launches the app, I wrote a method that
firstly copies the database to Documents, and then reads the file and
performs the database insertions, and I call this method in
application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:.
However, I'm finding that performing a lot of insertions is really a slow
operation. I proceed this way:
+ (void)insertFileContent:(NSString *)fileContent intoDatabase:(sqlite3
*)database
{
NSArray *lines = [fileContent componentsSeparatedByString:@"\r\n"];
for (NSString *line in lines) {
const char *sqlStatement = [line UTF8String];
sqlite3_stmt *compiledStatement;
if (sqlite3_prepare_v2(database, sqlStatement, -1,
&compiledStatement, NULL) == SQLITE_OK) {
if(sqlite3_step(compiledStatement) == SQLITE_DONE) {
// Insertion was ok
}
else {
NSLog(@"%d",sqlite3_step(compiledStatement));
}
sqlite3_finalize(compiledStatement);
}
}
}
Database is opened only once before calling this method, and closed when
it has returned. As I said, I have a lot of data I need to insert into
database to make the app work properly, and it is taking even minutes to
finish. I've been looking for a way to reduce this time significantly, but
I didn't succeed.
How could I handle this? Is there a way to make this operations faster,
and/or is there a way to insert data into the database at the time the
user installs the app, instead of waiting til launch time?
Thanks in advance