Java JDBC

JDBC stands for Java Database Connectivity. JDBC is a Java API to connect and
execute the query with the database. It is a part of JavaSE (Java Standard Edition).
JDBC API uses JDBC drivers to connect with the database. There are four types of
JDBC drivers:

○ JDBC-ODBC Bridge Driver,

○ Native Driver,

○ Network Protocol Driver, and

○ Thin Driver

We can use JDBC API to access tabular data stored in any relational database. By the
help of JDBC API, we can save, update, delete and fetch data from the database. It is
like Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) provided by Microsoft.
The java.sql package contains classes and interfaces for JDBC API. A list of popular
interfaces of JDBC API are given below:

○ Driver interface

○ Connection interface

○ Statement interface

○ PreparedStatement interface

○ CallableStatement interface

○ ResultSet interface

○ ResultSetMetaData interface

○ DatabaseMetaData interface

○ RowSet interface

A list of popular classes of JDBC API are given below:

● DriverManager class
● Blob class
● Clob class
● Types class

Why Should We Use JDBC

Before JDBC, ODBC API was the database API to connect and execute the query with
the database. But, ODBC API uses ODBC driver which is written in C language (i.e.
platform dependent and unsecured). That is why Java has defined its own API (JDBC
API) that uses JDBC drivers (written in Java language). We can use JDBC API to handle
database using Java program and can perform the following activities:

1. Connect to the database

2. Execute queries and update statements to the database

3. Retrieve the result received from the database.

 JDBC Driver
JDBC Driver is a software component that enables java application to interact with the
database. There are 4 types of JDBC drivers:

1. JDBC-ODBC bridge driver

2. Native-API driver (partially java driver)
3. Network Protocol driver (fully java driver)
4. Thin driver (fully java driver)

1) JDBC-ODBC bridge driver

The JDBC-ODBC bridge driver uses ODBC driver to connect to the database.

The JDBC-ODBC bridge driver converts JDBC method calls into the ODBC

function calls. This is now discouraged because of thin driver.

Advantages:

○ easy to use.
○ can be easily connected to any database.
Disadvantages:

○ Performance degraded because JDBC method call is converted into the ODBC
function calls.
○ The ODBC driver needs to be installed on the client machine.

2) Native-API driver

The Native API driver uses the client-side libraries of the database. The driver

converts JDBC method calls into native calls of the database API. It is not

written entirely in java.

Advantage:

○ performance upgraded than JDBC-ODBC bridge driver.

Disadvantage:

○ The Native driver needs to be installed on the each client machine.

○ The Vendor client library needs to be installed on client machine.

3) Network Protocol driver

The Network Protocol driver uses middleware (application server) that converts JDBC
calls directly or indirectly into the vendor-specific database protocol. It is fully written in
java.

Advantage:

○ No client side library is required because of application server that can perform
many tasks like auditing, load balancing, logging etc.

Disadvantages:

○ Network support is required on client machine.

○ Requires database-specific coding to be done in the middle tier.
 ○ Maintenance of Network Protocol driver becomes costly because it requires
database-specific coding to be done in the middle tier.

4) Thin driver

The thin driver converts JDBC calls directly into the vendor-specific database protocol.

That is why it is known as thin driver. It is fully written in Java language.

Advantage:

○ Better performance than all other drivers.

○ No software is required at client side or server side.

Disadvantage:

○ Drivers depend on the Database.

Java Database Connectivity with 5 Steps
There are 5 steps to connect any java application with the database using JDBC. These
steps are as follows:

○ Register the Driver class

○ Create connection
○ Create statement
○ Execute queries
○ Close connection

1) Register the driver class

The forName() method of Class class is used to register the driver class. This method

is used to dynamically load the driver class.

Syntax of forName() method

1. public static void forName(String className)throws ClassNotFoundException

Example to register the OracleDriver / MySQL Driver class

1. Class.forName("oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver");
2. Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver");

2) Create the connection object

The getConnection() method of DriverManager class is used to establish connection

with the database.

Syntax of getConnection() method

1) public static Connection getConnection(String url)throws SQLException

 2) public static Connection getConnection(String url,String name,String
password) throws SQLException

Example to establish connection with the Oracle / MySQL

database
Connection con=DriverManager.getConnection(
"jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:xe","system","password");

Connection con=DriverManager.getConnection(

"jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/sonoo","root","root");

3) Create the Statement object

The createStatement() method of Connection interface is used to create statement.

The object of statement is responsible to execute queries with the database.

Syntax of createStatement() method

public Statement createStatement()throws SQLException

Example to create the statement object

Statement stmt=con.createStatement();

4) Execute the query

The executeQuery() method of Statement interface is used to execute queries to the

database. This method returns the object of ResultSet that can be used to get all the

records of a table.

Syntax of executeQuery() method

public ResultSet executeQuery(String sql)throws SQLException

Example to execute query

ResultSet rs=stmt.executeQuery("select * from emp");

while(rs.next()){

System.out.println(rs.getInt(1)+" "+rs.getString(2));

5) Close the connection object

By closing connection object statement and ResultSet will be closed automatically.

The close() method of Connection interface is used to close the connection.

Syntax of close() method

public void close()throws SQLException

Example to close connection

con.close();
Java Database Connectivity with MySQL
To connect Java application with the MySQL database, we need to follow 5 following
steps.

In this example we are using MySql as the database. So we need to know following
informations for the mysql database:

1. Driver class: The driver class for the mysql database is com.mysql.jdbc.Driver.

2. Connection URL: The connection URL for the mysql database is

jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/sonoo where jdbc is the API, mysql is the database,
localhost is the server name on which mysql is running, we may also use IP
address, 3306 is the port number and sonoo is the database name. We may use
any database, in such case, we need to replace the sonoo with our database
name.

3. Username: The default username for the mysql database is root.

4. Password: It is the password given by the user at the time of installing the mysql
database. In this example, we are going to use root as the password.

Let's first create a table in the mysql database, but before creating table, we need to
create a database first.

create database upes;

use upes;

create table emp(id int(10),name varchar(40),age int(3));

Example to Connect Java Application with mysql database

import java.sql.*;

class MysqlCon{

public static void main(String args[]){

try{

Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver");

Connection con=DriverManager.getConnection(

"jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/upes","root","root");

//here upes is database name, root is username and password

Statement stmt=con.createStatement();

ResultSet rs=stmt.executeQuery("select * from emp");

while(rs.next())

System.out.println(rs.getInt(1)+" "+rs.getString(2)+" "+rs.getString(3));

con.close();

}catch(Exception e){ System.out.println(e);}

To connect java application with the mysql database, mysqlconnector.jar file is required
to be loaded.

download the jar file mysql-connector.jar Two ways to load the jar file:

1. Paste the mysqlconnector.jar file in jre/lib/ext folder

2. Set classpath
1) Paste the mysqlconnector.jar file in JRE/lib/ext folder:
Download the mysqlconnector.jar file. Go to jre/lib/ext folder and paste the jar file

here.

2) Set classpath:
There are two ways to set the classpath:

○ temporary
○ permanent

How to set the temporary classpath

open command prompt and write:

1. C:>set classpath=c:\folder\mysql-connector-java-5.0.8-bin.jar;.;

How to set the permanent classpath

Go to environment variable then click on new tab. In variable name write classpath and
in variable value paste the path to the mysqlconnector.jar file by appending
mysqlconnector.jar;.; as C:\folder\mysql-connector-java-5.0.8-bin.jar;.;