Hi Patrick
I guess there are two different methods depending on whether you want to deploy 'prebuilt' geodatabase files or download them from within the app. Both are possible. The 'Local Geodatabase Editing' sample app was enough to get us going on creating and downloading an offline geodatabase from a feature service. Regarding deploying existing files, I have successfully copied files to Windows, Android and iOS (using iTunes) devices which the app then picks up and uses, whether using AppPlayer or native. I define some paths using variables such as:
readonly property string apppath: AppFramework.userHomeFolder.filePath("myAppFolder")
readonly property string gdbpath: apppath + "/gdb/my.geodatabase"
When I get to the point in my code where I am working with the Geodatabase object, I would then use:
Geodatabase{
path: gdbFolder.fileExists(gdbpath) ? gdbpath: geodatabaseSyncTask.geodatabasePath
}
So if there is a file called "my.geodatabase" in that folder it uses it, else it's ready for the synctask to generate (see the sample app for the rest of the necessary code).
Regarding the original question - whether the user 'should' be required to log in when there is already a local copy is certainly a developer choice dependant on your own security needs. You're right, many apps would be content to assume that if the user is able to access the device then they should be allowed access to the app, but the question is around what if you did want that extra level of security? I'd be interested to know how anyone else would handle this within the AppStudio/Arcgis QML runtime world...