Changing SQLite database encoding in AIR app to UT

In an AIR app you can use SQLite via the flash.data classes. It appears that by default the encoding of the database created is set to UTF-16le, which means that textual data is stored with two bytes per character, resulting in a nearly 100% overhead for ASCII-heavy database content.

The default for a SQLite database is UTF-8, assuming the shell program (sqlite3) is indicative. Presumably Adobe has decided to override this for some reason, but I'd prefer not to suffer the wasted storage space if possible.

A PRAGMA encoding = "UTF-8"; statement prior to writing anything to the database would normally resolve the issue, but it appears that's not allowed in AIR either.

My workaround for now is to use a "template.db" that I create ahead of time and bundled into the application. In this template.db I've set the encoding to UTF-8 manually. If the database file does not exist already when my program starts, I create it by copying that template to my database file, then proceed to open and use it normally. I've confirmed that TEXT data is then stored as UTF-8, as desired.

I haven't seen any ill effects yet, but this is hackish. Is there a better way to set the encoding to UTF-8? Or is it a Bad Idea for some reason?

With no other workarounds or answers found, I'm posting my workaround as the Answer. It worked fine in a PlayBook app for the last two years, so presumably has no unforeseen side-effects, at least in that environment:

My workaround for now is to use a "template.db" that I create ahead of time and bundled into the application. In this template.db I've set the encoding to UTF-8 manually. If the database file does not exist already when my program starts, I create it by copying that template to my database file, then proceed to open and use it normally. I've confirmed that TEXT data then now stored as UTF-8 as desired.

you may check the execution source file of the project like /bin/debug in C# Visual Studio projects.

The changed committed is not necessarily be executed in your db located in other folders.