display distinct records sqlite android

My cursor is returning records twice even though I set the distinct to true:

return myDataBase.query(true, DB_TABLE, new String[]
{"rowid as _id", KEY_CONDITIONS}, builder.toString(), symptoms, null, null, null, null);

FYI,

   public Cursor getData(String[] symptoms) {
    String where = KEY_SYMPTOMS + "= ?";
    String orStr = " OR "; 

    StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder(where);
    for(int i = 1; i < symptoms.length; i++)
        builder.append(orStr).append(where);

    return myDataBase.query(true, DB_TABLE, new String[] 
            {"rowid as _id", KEY_CONDITIONS}, builder.toString(), symptoms, null, null, null, null);

}

Or I tried to change to rawQuery

    return myDataBase.rawQuery("SELECT DISTINCT " + KEY_CONDITIONS + " FROM " 
    + DB_TABLE + " " + builder.toString() + symptoms.toString(), null);

My LogCat says:

  03-02 22:57:02.634: E/AndroidRuntime(333): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
  03-02 22:57:02.634: E/AndroidRuntime(333): android.database.sqlite.SQLiteException: near "=": syntax error: , while compiling: SELECT DISTINCT conditions FROM tblSymptoms symptoms= ? OR symptoms= ?[Ljava.lang.String;@405550f8

Please help me identify what seems to be missing in here. Any help is truly appreciated.

Answer

Solution
You want DISTINCT conditions but Android requires the _id column which is a problem because you cannot mix and match: SELECT _id, DISTINCT condition.... However you can use the GROUP BY clause instead:

return myDataBase.query(DB_TABLE, new String[] {"rowid as _id", KEY_CONDITIONS}, 
        builder.toString(), symptoms, KEY_CONDITIONS, null, null);

---

Explanations
This query:

return myDataBase.rawQuery("SELECT DISTINCT " + KEY_CONDITIONS + " FROM " 
    + DB_TABLE + " " + builder.toString() + symptoms.toString(), null);

Failed because you are passing String[] symptoms in the wrong parameter, try:

return myDataBase.rawQuery("SELECT DISTINCT " + KEY_CONDITIONS + " FROM " 
    + DB_TABLE + " " + builder.toString(), symptoms);

---

This query:

return myDataBase.query(true, DB_TABLE, new String[] {"rowid as _id", KEY_CONDITIONS}, builder.toString(), symptoms, null, null, null, null);

Failed because DISTINCT is looking at both the id and condition columns. It is the equivalent of: SELECT DISTINCT(_id, conditions) ... You, obviously, only want distinct conditions...