jdbc faqs 3

What is the most efficient method of replicating data between databases using JDBC?
Within Java, the most efficient method would be, opening connections using the JDBC and inserting or updating the records from one database to the other database, but it depends upon the databases being replicated. If you are using Oracle databases, it has standard methods for replication, and you do not need the JDBC for the replication. Use snapshots like updateable and read-only.
There are different kind of replication. Let us consider the most widely used ones:

A) One Master - One slave
I) If there is not a significant difference between the structure of the database tables, the following method would be useful.
FromDatabase=A; ToDatabase=B
1) Open JDBC connections between the databases A and B.
2) Read a record (RA ) from A using an SQL query.
3) Store the values in the local variables in the Java program.
4) Insert the record in B if PK does not exist for the record RA in B.
5) If the PK exists in B, update the record in B.
6) Repeat the steps 2-5 'til all the records are read by the query.
7) If there are multiple tables to be replicated, repeat steps 2-7 using the different queries.
II)If there is significant difference between the structure of the database tables, the following method would be useful.
FromDatabase=A; ToDatabase=B
1) Open the JDBC connections to the databases A.
2) Read a record ( RA ) from A using an SQL query.
3) Write the output to an XML file-XMLA, according to the DTD for the records for the database A structure.
4) Repeat steps 2 & 3 'til all the records are written to XMLA.
5) If there are more queries, repeat steps repeat steps from 2-4 and write the records to the different entities in the XML file.
6) Transform the XMLA file using the XSL and XSLT to the format useful for the database B and write to the XML file-XMLB.
7) Open the second JDBC connection to the Database B.
8) Read the XMLB file, one record at a time.
9) Insert the record in B if PK does not exist for the record RA in B.
10) If the PK exists in B, update the record in B.
B) One Master - Multiple slaves
The difference here is to open multiple JDBC connections to write to the different databases one record at a time.
C) Multiple Masters:
For multiple masters, use timestamps to compare the times of the records to find out which is the latest record when a record is found in all the master databases. Alternatively, create a column to store the time and date a record is inserted or updated. When records are deleted, record the event in a log file along with the PK.
Prepared statements and batch updates should be used wherever possible in this scenario.

What is the difference between setMaxRows(int) and SetFetchSize(int)? Can either reduce processing time?
setFetchSize(int) defines the number of rows that will be read from the database when the ResultSet needs more rows. The method in the java.sql.Statement interface will set the 'default' value for all the ResultSet derived from that Statement; the method in the java.sql.ResultSet interface will override that value for a specific ResultSet. Since database fetches can be expensive in a networked environment, fetch size has an impact on performance.
setMaxRows(int) sets the limit of the maximum nuber of rows in a ResultSet object. If this limit is exceeded, the excess rows are "silently dropped". That's all the API says, so the setMaxRows method may not help performance at all other than to decrease memory usage. A value of 0 (default) means no limit.
Since we're talking about interfaces, be careful because the implementation of drivers is often different from database to database and, in some cases, may not be implemented or have a null implementation. Always refer to the driver documentation.

What is JDO?
JDO provides for the transparent persistence of data in a data store agnostic manner, supporting object, hierarchical, as well as relational stores.

When I intersperse table creation or other DDL statements with DML statements, I have a problem with a transaction being commited before I want it to be. Everything ( commit and rollback ) works fine as long as I don't create another table. How can I resolve the issue?
While the questioner found a partially workable method for his particular DBMS, as mentioned in the section on transactions in my JDBC 2.0 Fundamentals Short Course:
DDL statements in a transaction may be ignored or may cause a commit to occur. The behavior is DBMS dependent and can be discovered by use of DatabaseMetaData.dataDefinitionCausesTransactionCommit() and DatabaseMetaData.dataDefinitionIgnoredInTransactions(). One way to avoid unexpected results is to separate DML and DDL transactions.
The only generally effective way to "rollback" table creation is to delete the table.

What's the best way, in terms of performance, to do multiple insert/update statements, a PreparedStatement or Batch Updates?
Because PreparedStatement objects are precompiled, their execution can be faster than that of Statement objects. Consequently, an SQL statement that is executed many times is often created as a PreparedStatement object to increase efficiency.
A CallableStatement object provides a way to call stored procedures in a standard manner for all DBMSes. Their execution can be faster than that of PreparedStatement object.
Batch updates are used when you want to execute multiple statements together. Actually, there is no conflict here. While it depends on the driver/DBMS engine as to whether or not you will get an actual performance benefit from batch updates, Statement, PreparedStatement, and CallableStatement can all execute the addBatch() method.

I need to have result set on a page where the user can sort on the column headers. Any ideas?
One possibility: Have an optional field in your form or GET url called (appropriately) ORDER with a default value of either "no order" or whatever you want your default ordering to be (i.e. timestamp, username, whatever). When you get your request, see what the value of the ORDER element is. If it's null or blank, use the default. Use that value to build your SQL query, and display the results to the page. If you're caching data in your servlet, you can use the Collection framework to sort your data (see java.util.Collections) if you can get it into a List format. Then, you can create a Collator which can impose a total ordering on your results.

What are the components of the JDBC URL for Oracle's "thin" driver and how do I use them?
Briefly: jdbc:oracle:thin:@hostname:port:oracle-sid
1. in green the Oracle sub-protocol (can be oracle:oci7:@, oracle:oci8:@, racle:thin:@, etc...) is related on the driver you are unsign and the protocol to communicate with server.
2. in red the network machine name, or its ip address, to locate the server where oracle is running.
3. in blue the port (it is complementary to the address to select the specific oracle service)
4. in magenta the sid, select on which database you want to connect.

example:
jdbc:oracle:thin:@MyOracleHost:1521:MyDB
IHere's an example:
jdbc:oracle:thin:scott/tiger@MyOracleHost:1521:MyDB
where user=scott and pass=tiger.

Why doesn't JDBC accept URLs instead of a URL string?
In order for something to be a java.net.URL, a protocol handler needs to be installed. Since there is no one universal protocol for databases behind JDBC, the URLs are treated as strings. In Java 1.4, these URL strings have a class called java.net.URI. However, you still can't use a URI to load a JDBC driver, without converting it to a string.

What JDBC objects generate SQLWarnings?
Connections, Statements and ResultSets all have a getWarnings method that allows retrieval. Keep in mind that prior ResultSet warnings are cleared on each new read and prior Statement warnings are cleared with each new execution. getWarnings() itself does not clear existing warnings, but each object has a clearWarnings method.

What's the fastest way to normalize a Time object?
Of the two recommended ways when using a Calendar( see How do I create a java.sql.Time object? ), in my tests, this code ( where c is a Calendar and t is a Time ):

c.set( Calendar.YEAR, 1970 );
c.set( Calendar.MONTH, Calendar.JANUARY );
c.set( Calendar.DATE, 1 );
c.set( Calendar.MILLISECOND, 0 );

t = new java.sql.Time( c.getTime().getTime() );
was always at least twice as fast as:

t = java.sql.Time.valueOf(
c.get(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY) + ":" +
c.get(Calendar.MINUTE) + ":" +
c.get(Calendar.SECOND) );

When the argument sent to valueOf() was hardcoded ( i.e. valueOf( "13:50:10" ), the time difference over 1000 iterations was negligible.

What does normalization mean for java.sql.Date and java.sql.Time?
These classes are thin wrappers extending java.util.Date, which has both date and time components. java.sql.Date should carry only date information and a normalized instance has the time information set to zeros. java.sql.Time should carry only time information and a normalized instance has the date set to the Java epoch ( January 1, 1970 ) and the milliseconds portion set to zero.

How do I create a java.sql.Date object?
java.sql.Date descends from java.util.Date, but uses only the year, month and day values. There are two methods to create a Date object. The first uses a Calendar object, setting the year, month and day portions to the desired values. The hour, minute, second and millisecond values must be set to zero. At that point, Calendar.getTime().getTime() is invoked to get the java.util.Date milliseconds. That value is then passed to a java.sql.Date constructor:

Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
// set Date portion to January 1, 1970
cal.set( cal.YEAR, 1970 );
cal.set( cal.MONTH, cal.JANUARY );
cal.set( cal.DATE, 1 );

cal.set( cal.HOUR_OF_DAY, 0 );
cal.set( cal.MINUTE, 0 );
cal.set( cal.SECOND, 0 );
cal.set( cal.MILLISECOND, 0 );

java.sql.Date jsqlD =
new java.sql.Date( cal.getTime().getTime() );

The second method is java.sql.Date's valueOf method. valueOf() accepts a String, which must be the date in JDBC time escape format - "yyyy-mm-dd". For example,

java.sql.Date jsqlD = java.sql.Date.valueOf( "2010-01-31" );
creates a Date object representing January 31, 2010. To use this method with a Calendar object, use:

java.sql.Date jsqlD = java.sql.Date.valueOf(
cal.get(cal.YEAR) + ":" +
cal.get(cal.MONTH) + ":" +
cal.get(cal.DATE) );

which produces a Date object with the same value as the first example.

How do I create a java.sql.Time object?
java.sql.Time descends from java.util.Date, but uses only the hour, minute and second values. There are two methods to create a Time object. The first uses a Calendar object, setting the year, month and day portions to January 1, 1970, which is Java's zero epoch. The millisecond value must also be set to zero. At that point, Calendar.getTime().getTime() is invoked to get the time in milliseconds. That value is then passed to a Time constructor:

Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
// set Date portion to January 1, 1970
cal.set( cal.YEAR, 1970 );
cal.set( cal.MONTH, cal.JANUARY );
cal.set( cal.DATE, 1 );

cal.set( cal.MILLISECOND, 0 );
java.sql.Time jsqlT =
new java.sql.Time( cal.getTime().getTime() );

The second method is Time's valueOf method. valueOf() accepts a String, which must be the time in JDBC time escape format - "hh:mm:ss". For example,
java.sql.Time jsqlT = java.sql.Time.valueOf( "18:05:00" );
creates a Time object representing 6:05 p.m. To use this method with a Calendar object, use:
java.sql.Time jsqlT = java.sql.Time.valueOf(
cal.get(cal.HOUR_OF_DAY) + ":" +
cal.get(cal.MINUTE) + ":" +
cal.get(cal.SECOND) );

which produces a Time object with the same value as the first example.

What scalar functions can I expect to be supported by JDBC?
JDBC supports numeric, string, time, date, system, and conversion functions on scalar values. For a list of those supported and additional information, see section A.1.4 Support Scalar Functions in the JDBC Data Access API For Driver Writers. Note that drivers are only expected to support those scalar functions that are supported by the underlying DB engine.

What does setFetchSize() really do?
The API documentation explains it pretty well, but a number of programmers seem to have a misconception of its functionality. The first thing to note is that it may do nothing at all; it is only a hint, even to a JDBC Compliant driver. setFetchSize() is really a request for a certain sized blocking factor, that is, how much data to send at a time.
Because trips to the server are expensive, sending a larger number of rows can be more efficient. It may be more efficient on the server side as well, depending on the particular SQL statement and the DB engine. That would be true if the data could be read straight off an index and the DB engine paid attention to the fetch size. In that case, the DB engine could return only enough data per request to match the fetch size. Don't count on that behavior. In general, the fetch size will be transparent to your program and only determines how often requests are sent to the server as you traverse the data.
Also, both Statement and ResultSet have setFetchSize methods. If used with a Statement, all ResultSets returned by that Statement will have the same fetch size. The method can be used at any time to change the fetch size for a given ResultSet. To determine the current or default size, use the getFetchSize methods.

Is there a practical limit for the number of SQL statements that can be added to an instance of a Statement object
While the specification makes no mention of any size limitation for Statement.addBatch(), this seems to be dependent, as usual, on the driver. Among other things, it depends on the type of container/collection used. I know of at least one driver that uses a Vector and grows as needed. I've seen questions about another driver that appears to peak somewhere between 500 and 1000 statements. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any metadata information regarding possible limits. Of course, in a production quality driver, one would expect an exception from an addBatch() invocation that went beyond the command list's limits.

How can I determine whether a Statement and its ResultSet will be closed on a commit or rollback?
Use the DatabaseMetaData methods supportsOpenStatementsAcrossCommit() and supportsOpenStatementsAcrossRollback().

How do I get runtime information about the JDBC Driver?
Use the following DatabaseMetaData methods:
getDriverMajorVersion()
getDriverMinorVersion()
getDriverName()
getDriverVersion()

How do I create an updatable ResultSet?
Just as is required with a scrollable ResultSet, the Statement must be capable of returning an updatable ResultSet. This is accomplished by asking the Connection to return the appropriate type of Statement using Connection.createStatement(int resultSetType, int resultSetConcurrency). The resultSetConcurrency parameter must be ResultSet.CONCUR_UPDATABLE. The actual code would look like this:

Statement stmt = con.createStatement( ResultSet.TYPE_SCROLL_SENSITIVE,
ResultSet.CONCUR_UPDATABLE );

Note that the spec allows a driver to return a different type of Statement/ResultSet than that requested, depending on capabilities and circumstances, so the actual type returned should be checked with ResultSet.getConcurrency().

How can I connect to an Oracle database not on the web server from an untrusted applet?
You can use the thin ORACLE JDBC driver in an applet (with some extra parameters on the JDBC URL). Then, if you have NET8, you can use the connection manager of NET8 on the web server to proxy the connection request to the database server.

How can I insert multiple rows into a database in a single transaction?
//turn off the implicit commit
Connection.setAutoCommit(false);
//..your insert/update/delete goes here
Connection.Commit();
a new transaction is implicitly started.
JDBC 2.0 provides a set of methods for executing a batch of database commands. Specifically, the java.sql.Statement interface provides three methods: addBatch(), clearBatch() and executeBatch(). Their documentation is pretty straight forward.
The implementation of these methods is optional, so be sure that your driver supports these.

How do I display and parse a date?
The Java I18N way is to use a DateFormat. While SimpleDateFormat, which is generally returned, creates a large number of objects, it is locale aware and will handle most of your needs. The following sample code initially creates a java.sql.Date object and formats it for the default locale. An initial actionPerformed call additionally formats/displays it for a German locale and also displays the resulting java.sql.Date in standard escape format. Other dates can be entered and parsed after the initial display.

// JDFDP.java - Display and Parse java.sql.Date

import java.sql.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.text.*;
import java.util.*;

public class JDFDP extends JFrame
implements ActionListener,
WindowListener
{
// create a java.sql.Date
java.sql.Date jsqlDate = new java.sql.Date(
System.currentTimeMillis() );

DateFormat dfLocal = DateFormat.getDateInstance(
DateFormat.SHORT );
DateFormat dfGermany = DateFormat.getDateInstance(
DateFormat.SHORT, Locale.GERMANY );

JButton jb = new JButton( "Go" );
JLabel jlI = new JLabel("Input a Date:"),
jlD = new JLabel("Display German:"),
jlP = new JLabel("Parsed:");

JPanel jp = new JPanel();

JTextField jtI = new JTextField( 10 ),
jtD = new JTextField( 10 ),
jtP = new JTextField( 10 );


public JDFDP()
{
super( "JDFDP" );
addWindowListener( this );

jb.addActionListener( this );

jp.add(jlI);
jp.add(jtI);
jp.add(jb);
jp.add(jlD);
jp.add(jtD);
jp.add(jlP);
jp.add(jtP);

getContentPane().add( jp, BorderLayout.CENTER );
pack();

// set text by sending dummy event
jtI.setText( dfLocal.format( jsqlDate ) );
actionPerformed(
new ActionEvent( this, 12, "12" ) );

show();

} // end constructor


// ActionListener Implementation
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
jtD.setText( "" );
jtP.setText( "" );
try
{
java.util.Date d = dfLocal.parse(
jtI.getText() );
jtI.setText( dfLocal.format( d ) );
jtD.setText( dfGermany.format( d ) );
d = dfGermany.parse( jtD.getText() );
// get new java.sql.Date
jsqlDate = new java.sql.Date( d.getTime() );

jtP.setText( jsqlDate.toString() );
}
catch( ParseException pe ) { jtI.setText( "" ); }

} // End actionPerformed


// Window Listener Implementation
public void windowOpened(WindowEvent e) {}
public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e)
{
dispose();
System.exit(0);
}
public void windowClosed(WindowEvent e) {}
public void windowIconified(WindowEvent e) {}
public void windowDeiconified(WindowEvent e) {}
public void windowActivated(WindowEvent e) {}
public void windowDeactivated(WindowEvent e) {}
// End Window Listener Implementation


public static void main(String[] args)
{
new JDFDP();
}

} // end class JDFDP

How can I retrieve string data from a database in Unicode format?
The data is already in Unicode when it arrives
in your program. Conversion from and to the
encoding/charset/CCSID in the database from/to
Unicode in the program is part of the JDBC driver's job.

If, for some reason, you want to see the data in
'\uHHHH' format ( where 'H' is the hex value ),
the following code, while not very efficient,
should give you some ideas:


public class UniFormat
{

public static void main( String[] args )
{
char[] ac = args[0].toCharArray();
int iValue;
String s = null;
StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();

for( int ndx = 0; ndx < ivalue =" ac[ndx];" s = "\\u000" s = "\\u00" s = "\\u0">

Can ResultSets be passed between methods of a class? Are there any special usage
Yes. There is no reason that a ResultSet can't be used as a method parameter just like any other object reference. You must ensure that access to the ResultSet is synchronized. This should not be a problem is the ResultSet is a method variable passed as a method parameter - the ResultSet will have method scope and multi-thread access would not be an issue.

As an example, say you have several methods that obtain a ResultSet from the same table(s) and same columns, but use different queries. If you want these ResultSets to be processed the same way, you would have another method for that. This could look something like:

public List getStudentsByLastName(String lastName) {
ResultSet rs = ... (JDBC code to retrieve students by last name);
return processResultSet(rs);
}

public List getStudentsByFirstName(String firstName) {
ResultSet rs = ... (JDBC code to retrieve students by first name);
return processResultSet(rs);
}

private List processResultSet(ResultSet rs) {
List l = ... (code that iterates through ResultSet to build a List of Student objects);
return l;
}

Since the ResultSet always has method scope - sychronization is never an issue.

1. There is only one ResultSet. Dont assume that the ResultSet is at the start (or in any good state...) just because you received it as a parameter. Previous operations involving the ResultSet will have had the side-effect of changing its state.
2. You will need to be careful about the order in which you close the ResultSet and CallableStatement/PreparedStatement/etc

From my own experience using the Oracle JDBC drivers and CallableStatements the following statements are true:

* If you close the CallableStatement the ResultSet retrieved from that CallableStatement immediately goes out-of-scope.
* If you close the ResultSet without reading it fully, you must close the CallableStatement or risk leaking a cursor on the database server.
* If you close the CallableStatement without reading it's associated ResultSet fully, you risk leaking a cursor on the database server.

No doubt, these observations are valid only for Oracle drivers. Perhaps only for some versions of Oracle drivers.

The recommended sequence seems to be:
* Open the statement
* Retrieve the ResultSet from the statement
* Read what you need from the ResultSet
* Close the ResultSet
* Close the Statement

How can I convert a java array to a java.sql.Array?
A Java array is a first class object and all of the references basically use PreparedStatement.setObject() or ResultSet.updateObject() methods for putting the array to an ARRAY in the database. Here's a basic example:
String[] as = { "One", "Two", "Three" };
...
PreparedStatement ps = con.prepareStatement(
"UPDATE MYTABLE SET ArrayNums = ? WHERE MyKey = ?" );
...
ps.setObject( 1, as );

Could we get sample code for retrieving more than one parameter from a stored procedure?
Assume we have a stored procedure with this signature:
MultiSP (IN I1 INTEGER, OUT O1 INTEGER, INOUT IO1 INTEGER)
The code snippet to retrieve the OUT and INOUT parameters follows:
CallableStatement cs = connection.prepareCall( "(CALL MultiSP(?, ?, ?))" );
cs.setInt(1, 1); // set the IN parm I1 to 1
cs.setInt(3, 3); // set the INOUT parm IO1 to 3

cs.registerOutParameter(2, Types.INTEGER); // register the OUT parm O1
cs.registerOutParameter(3, Types.INTEGER); // register the INOUT parm IO1

cs.execute();
int iParm2 = cs.getInt(2);
int iParm3 = cs.getInt(3);
cs.close();

The code really is just additive; be sure that for each IN parameter that setXXX() is called and that for each INOUT and OUT parameter that registerOutParameter() is called.

What is the difference between client and server database cursors?
What you see on the client side is the current row of the cursor which called a Result (ODBC) or ResultSet (JDBC). The cursor is a server-side entity only and remains on the server side.

How can I pool my database connections so I don't have to keep reconnecting to the database?
There are plenty of connection pool implementations described in books or availalble on the net. Most of them implement the same model. The process is always the same :

* you gets a reference to the pool
* you gets a free connection from the pool
* you performs your different tasks
* you frees the connection to the pool

Since your application retrieves a pooled connection, you don't consume your time to connect / disconnect from your data source. You can find some implementation of pooled connection over the net, for example:
* Db Connection Broker (http://www.javaexchange.com/), a package quite stable ( I used it in the past to pool an ORACLE database on VMS system)
You can look at the JDBC 2.0 standard extension API specification from SUN which defines a number of additional concepts.

How can I connect to an Excel spreadsheet file using jdbc?
Let's say you have created the following Excel spreadsheet in a worksheet called Sheet1 (the default sheet name). And you've saved the file in c:\users.xls.

USERID FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME
pkua Peter Kua
jlsmith John Smith
gh2312 Everett Johnson
chimera Faiz Abdullah
roy6943 Roy Sudirman

Since Excel comes with an ODBC driver, we'll use the JDBC-ODBC bridge driver that comes packaged with Sun's JDK to connect to our spreadsheet.
In Excel, the name of the worksheet is the equivalent of the database table name, while the header names found on the first row of the worksheet is the equivalent of the table field names. Therefore, when accessing Excel via jdbc, it is very important to place your data with the headers starting at row 1.
1. Create a new ODBC Data Source using the Microsoft Excel Driver. Name the DSN "excel", and have it point to c:\users.xls.
2. Type in the following code:

package classes;
import java.sql.*;

public class TestServer
{
static
{
try {
Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver");
}
catch (Exception e) {
System.err.println(e);
}
}

public static void main(String args[]) {
Connection conn=null;
Statement stmt=null;
String sql="";
ResultSet rs=null;

try {
conn=DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:odbc:excel","","");
stmt=conn.createStatement();
sql="select * from [Sheet1$]";
rs=stmt.executeQuery(sql);

while(rs.next()){
System.out.println(rs.getString("USERID")+
" "+ rs.getString("FIRST_NAME")+" "+
rs.getString("LAST_NAME"));
}
}
catch (Exception e){
System.err.println(e);
}
finally {
try{
rs.close();
stmt.close();
conn.close();
rs=null;
stmt=null;
conn=null;
}
catch(Exception e){}
}
}
}

Notice that we have connected to the Excel ODBC Data Source the same way we would connect to any normal database server.
The only significant difference is in the SELECT statement. Although your data is residing in the worksheet called "Sheet1", you'll have to refer to the sheet as Sheet1$ in your SQL statements. And because the dollar sign symbol is a reserved character in SQL, you'll have to encapsulate the word Sheet1$ in brackets, as shown in the code.

How do I execute stored procedures?
Here is an example on how to execute a stored procedure with JDBC (to use this in a servlet is the same the only thing is that you create the connection and callable statement in the init() of the servlet):
package DBTest;
import java.sql.*;
public class JdbcTest {

private String msDbUrl = "jdbc:odbc:ms";
private String msJdbcClass = "sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver";
private Connection mcDbAccess;
private CallableStatement msProcedure;

public JdbcTest() {
try {
Class.forName( msDbUrl ).newInstance();
mcDbAccess = DriverManager.getConnection( msJdbcClass, "milestone", "milestone" );
msProcedure = mcDbAccess.prepareCall(
"{? = call sp_sav_Bom_Header( ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ? ) }"
);
msProcedure.registerOutParameter( 1, java.sql.Types.VARCHAR );
msProcedure.setInt( 2, -1 );
msProcedure.setInt( 3, 39 );
msProcedure.setString( 4, "format" );
long ltTest = new java.util.Date().getTime();
System.out.println( "Today: " + ltTest );
msProcedure.setTimestamp( 5, new Timestamp( ltTest ) );
msProcedure.setString( 6, "type" );
msProcedure.setString( 7, "submitter" );
msProcedure.setString( 8, "email" );
msProcedure.setString( 9, "phone" );
msProcedure.setString( 10, "comments" );
msProcedure.setString( 11, "label" );
msProcedure.setInt( 12, 52 );
msProcedure.setBoolean( 13, true );
msProcedure.setBoolean( 14, false );
msProcedure.setInt( 15, 53 );
msProcedure.setString( 16, "runtime" );
msProcedure.setString( 17, "configuration" );
msProcedure.setBoolean( 18, true );
msProcedure.setBoolean( 19, false );
msProcedure.setString( 20, "special instructions" );
msProcedure.setInt( 21, 54 );

ResultSet lrsReturn = null;
System.out.println( "Execute: " + (lrsReturn = msProcedure.executeQuery() ) );
while( lrsReturn.next() ) {
System.out.println( "Got from result set: " + lrsReturn.getInt( 1 ) );
}
System.out.println( "Got from stored procedure: " + msProcedure.getString( 1 ) );
} catch( Throwable e ) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}

public static void main(String[] args) {
new JdbcTest();
}
}
I also tried it by using a native JDBC driver (i-net) and it also works fine. The only problem we encounter with JDBC-ODBC bridge is that a stored procedure pads spaces to the full length of a VARCHAR but the native JDBC behaves right. Therefore I suggest to use JDBC native drivers.
The above example uses the MS SQL Server.

How can I get data from multiple ResultSets?
With certain database systems, a stored procedure can return multiple result sets, multiple update counts, or some combination of both. Also, if you are providing a user with the ability to enter any SQL statement, you don't know if you are going to get a ResultSet or an update count back from each statement, without analyzing the contents. The Statement.execute() method helps in these cases.

Method Statement.execute() returns a boolean to tell you the type of response:

* true indicates next result is a ResultSet
Use Statement.getResultSet to get the ResultSet
* false indicates next result is an update count
Use Statement.getUpdateCount to get the update count
* false also indicates no more results
Update count is -1 when no more results (usually 0 or positive)

After processing each response, you use Statement.getMoreResults to check for more results, again returning a boolean. The following demonstrates the processing of multiple result sets:

boolean result = stmt.execute(" ... ");
int updateCount = stmt.getUpdateCount();

while (result || (updateCount != -1)) {
if(result) {
ResultSet r = stmt.getResultSet();
// process result set
} else if(updateCount != -1) {
// process update count
}
result = stmt.getMoreResults();
updateCount = stmt.getUpdateCount();
}

How can resultset records be restricted to certain rows?
The easy answer is "Use a JDBC 2.0 compliant driver".
With a 2.0 driver, you can use the setFetchSize() method within a Statement or a ResultSet object.
For example,
Statement stmt = con.createStatement();
stmt.setFetchSize(400);
ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery("select * from customers");

will change the default fetch size to 400.
You can also control the direction in which the rows are processed. For instance:
stmt.setFetchDirection(ResultSet.FETCH_REVERSE)
will process the rows from bottom up.
The driver manager usually defaults to the most efficient fetch size...so you may try experimenting with different value for optimal performance.

How do I insert an image file (or other raw data) into a database?
All raw data types (including binary documents or images) should be read and uploaded to the database as an array of bytes, byte[]. Originating from a binary file,
1. Read all data from the file using a FileInputStream.
2. Create a byte array from the read data.
3. Use method setBytes(int index, byte[] data); of java.sql.PreparedStatement to upload the data.

How can I connect from an applet to a database on the server?
There are two ways of connecting to a database on the server side.
1. The hard way. Untrusted applets cannot touch the hard disk of a computer. Thus, your applet cannot use native or other local files (such as JDBC database drivers) on your hard drive. The first alternative solution is to create a digitally signed applet which may use locally installed JDBC drivers, able to connect directly to the database on the server side.
2. The easy way. Untrusted applets may only open a network connection to the server from which they were downloaded. Thus, you must place a database listener (either the database itself, or a middleware server) on the server node from which the applet was downloaded. The applet would open a socket connection to the middleware server, located on the same computer node as the webserver from which the applet was downloaded. The middleware server is used as a mediator, connecting to and extract data from the database.

Can I use the JDBC-ODBC bridge driver in an applet?
Short answer: No.
Longer answer: You may create a digitally signed applet using a Certicate to circumvent the security sandbox of the browser.

Which is the preferred collection class to use for storing database result sets?
When retrieving database results, the best collection implementation to use is the LinkedList. The benefits include:

* Retains the original retrieval order
* Has quick insertion at the head/tail
* Doesn't have an internal size limitation like a Vector where when the size is exceeded a new internal structure is created (or you have to find out size beforehand to size properly)
* Permits user-controlled synchronization unlike the pre-Collections Vector which is always synchronized

Basically:
ResultSet result = stmt.executeQuery("...");
List list = new LinkedList();
while(result.next()) {
list.add(result.getString("col"));
}

If there are multiple columns in the result set, you'll have to combine them into their own data structure for each row. Arrays work well for that as you know the size, though a custom class might be best so you can convert the contents to the proper type when extracting from databse, instead of later.

The java.sql package contains mostly interfaces. When and how are these interfaces implemented while connecting to database?
The implementation of these interfaces is all part of the driver. A JDBC driver is not just one class - it is a complete set of database-specific implementations for the interfaces defined by the JDBC.
These driver classes come into being through a bootstrap process. This is best shown by stepping through the process of using JDBC to connect to a database, using Oracle's type 4 JDBC driver as an example:

* First, the main driver class must be loaded into the VM:
Class.forName("oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver");
The specified driver must implement the Driver interface. A class initializer (static code block) within the OracleDriver class registers the driver with the DriverManager.
* Next, we need to obtain a connection to the database:
String jdbcURL = "jdbc:oracle:thin:@www.jguru.com:1521:ORCL";
Connection connection = DriverManager.getConnection(jdbcURL);
DriverManager determines which registered driver to use by invoking the acceptsURL(String url) method of each driver, passing each the JDBC URL. The first driver to return "true" in response will be used for this connection. In this example, OracleDriver will return "true", so DriverManager then invokes the connect() method of OracleDriver to obtain an instance of OracleConnection. It is this database-specific connection instance implementing the Connection interface that is passed back from the DriverManager.getConnection() call.
* The bootstrap process continues when you create a statement:
Statement statement = connection.createStatement();
The connection reference points to an instance of OracleConnection. This database-specific implementation of Connection returns a database-specific implementation of Statement, namely OracleStatement
* Invoking the execute() method of this statement object will execute the database-specific code necessary to issue an SQL statement and retrieve the results:
ResultSet result = statement.executeQuery("SELECT * FROM TABLE");
Again, what is actually returned is an instance of OracleResultSet, which is an Oracle-specific implementation of the ResultSet interface.
So the purpose of a JDBC driver is to provide these implementations that hide all the database-specific details behind standard Java interfaces.

How can I manage special characters (for example: " _ ' % ) when I execute an INSERT query? If I don't filter the quoting marks or the apostrophe, for example, the SQL string will cause an error.
In JDBC, strings containing SQL commands are just normal strings - the SQL is not parsed or interpreted by the Java compiler. So there is no special mechanism for dealing with special characters; if you need to use a quote (") within a Java string, you must escape it.
The Java programming language supports all the standard C escapes, such as \n for newline, \t for tab, etc. In this case, you would use \" to represent a quote within a string literal:

String stringWithQuote =
"\"No,\" he replied, \"I did not like that salted licorice.\"";

This only takes care of one part of the problem: letting us control the exact string that is passed on to the database. If you want tell the database to interpret characters like a single quote (') literally (and not as string delimiters, for instance), you need to use a different method. JDBC allows you to specify a separate, SQL escape character that causes the character following to be interpreted literally, rather than as a special character.

An example of this is if you want to issue the following SQL command:

SELECT * FROM BIRDS
WHERE SPECIES='Williamson's Sapsucker'

In this case, the apostrophe in "Williamson's" is going to cause a problem for the database because SQL will interpret it as a string delimiter. It is not good enough to use the C-style escape \', because that substitution would be made by the Java compiler before the string is sent to the database.
Different flavors of SQL provide different methods to deal with this situation. JDBC abstracts these methods and provides a solution that works for all databases. With JDBC you could write the SQL as follows:

Statement statement = // obtain reference to a Statement
statement.executeQuery(
"SELECT * FROM BIRDS WHERE SPECIES='Williamson/'s Sapsucker' {escape '/'}");

The clause in curly braces, namely {escape '/'}, is special syntax used to inform JDBC drivers what character the programmer has chosen as an escape character. The forward slash used as the SQL escape has no special meaning to the Java compiler; this escape sequence is interpreted by the JDBC driver and translated into database-specific SQL before the SQL command is issued to the database.
Escape characters are also important when using the SQL LIKE clause. This usage is explicitly addressed in section 11.5 of the JDBC specification:

The characters "%" and "_" have special meaning in SQL LIKE clauses (to match zero or more characters, or exactly one character, respectively). In order to interpret them literally, they can be preceded with a special escape character in strings, e.g. "\". In order to specify the escape character used to quote these characters, include the following syntax on the end of the query:
{escape 'escape-character'}
For example, the query
SELECT NAME FROM IDENTIFIERS WHERE ID LIKE '\_%' {escape '\'}
finds identifier names that begin with an underbar.

How can I make batch updates using JDBC?
One of the more advanced features of JDBC 2.0 is the ability to submit multiple update statements to the database for processing as a single unit. This batch updating can be significantly more efficient compared to JDBC 1.0, where each update statement has to be executed separately.

Consider the following code segment demonstrating a batch update:
try {
dbCon.setAutoCommit(false);
Statement stmt= dbCon.createStatement();
stmt.addBatch("INSERT INTO bugs "+
"VALUES (1007, 'Server stack overflow', 1,2,{d '1999-01-01'})");
stmt.addBatch("INSERT INTO bugs "+
"VALUES (1008,'Cannot load DLL', 3,1,{d '1999-01-01'})");
stmt.addBatch("INSERT INTO bugs "+
"VALUES (1009,'Applet locks up',2,2,{d '1999-01-01'})");

int[] updCnt = stmt.executeBatch();
dbCon.commit();

} catch (BatchUpdateException be) {

//handle batch update exception
int[] counts = be.getUpdateCounts();
for (int i=0; I counts.length; i++) {
System.out.println("Statement["+i+"] :"+counts[i]);
}
dbCon.rollback();
}
catch (SQLException e) {

//handle SQL exception
dbCon.rollback();
}

Before carrying out a batch update, it is important to disable the auto-commit mode by calling setAutoCommit(false). This way, you will be able to rollback the batch transaction in case one of the updates fail for any reason. When the Statement object is created, it is automatically associated a "command list", which is initially empty. We then add our SQL update statements to this command list, by making successive calls to the addBatch() method. On calling executeBatch(), the entire command list is sent over to the database, and are then executed in the order they were added to the list. If all the commands in the list are executed successfully, their corresponding update counts are returned as an array of integers. Please note that you always have to clear the existing batch by calling clearBatch() before creating a new one.
If any of the updates fail to execute within the database, a BatchUpdateException is thrown in response to it. In case there is a problem in returning the update counts of each SQL statement, a SQLException will be thrown to indicate the error.

How do I extract SQL table column type information?
Use the getColumns method of the java.sql.DatabaseMetaData interface to investigate the column type information of a particular table. Note that most arguments to the getColumns method (pinpointing the column in question) may be null, to broaden the search criteria. A code sample can be seen below:

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
{
// Load the database driver - in this case, we
// use the Jdbc/Odbc bridge driver.
Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver");

// Open a connection to the database
Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection("[jdbcURL]",
"[login]", "[passwd]");

// Get DatabaseMetaData
DatabaseMetaData dbmd = conn.getMetaData();

// Get all column types for the table "sysforeignkeys", in schema
// "dbo" and catalog "test".
ResultSet rs = dbmd.getColumns("test", "dbo", "sysforeignkeys", "%");

// Printout table data
while(rs.next())
{
// Get dbObject metadata
String dbObjectCatalog = rs.getString(1);
String dbObjectSchema = rs.getString(2);
String dbObjectName = rs.getString(3);
String dbColumnName = rs.getString(4);
String dbColumnTypeName = rs.getString(6);
int dbColumnSize = rs.getInt(7);
int dbDecimalDigits = rs.getInt(9);
String dbColumnDefault = rs.getString(13);
int dbOrdinalPosition = rs.getInt(17);
String dbColumnIsNullable = rs.getString(18);

// Printout
System.out.println("Col(" + dbOrdinalPosition + "): " + dbColumnName
+ " (" + dbColumnTypeName +")");
System.out.println(" Nullable: " + dbColumnIsNullable +
", Size: " + dbColumnSize);
System.out.println(" Position in table: " + dbOrdinalPosition
+ ", Decimal digits: " + dbDecimalDigits);
}

// Free database resources
rs.close();
conn.close();
}

How can I investigate the parameters to send into and receive from a database stored procedure?
Use the method getProcedureColumns in interface DatabaseMetaData to probe a stored procedure for metadata. The exact usage is described in the code below.

NOTE! This method can only discover parameter values. For databases where a returning ResultSet is created simply by executing a SELECT statement within a stored procedure (thus not sending the return ResultSet to the java application via a declared parameter), the real return value of the stored procedure cannot be detected. This is a weakness for the JDBC metadata mining which is especially present when handling Transact-SQL databases such as those produced by SyBase and Microsoft.

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
{
// Load the database driver - in this case, we
// use the Jdbc/Odbc bridge driver.
Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver")
;
// Open a connection to the database
Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection("[jdbcURL]",
"[login]", "[passwd]");

// Get DatabaseMetaData
DatabaseMetaData dbmd = conn.getMetaData();

// Get all column definitions for procedure "getFoodsEaten" in
// schema "testlogin" and catalog "dbo".
System.out.println("Procedures are called '" + dbmd.getProcedureTerm() +"' in the DBMS.");
ResultSet rs = dbmd.getProcedureColumns("test", "dbo", "getFoodsEaten", "%");

// Printout table data
while(rs.next())
{
// Get procedure metadata
String dbProcedureCatalog = rs.getString(1);
String dbProcedureSchema = rs.getString(2);
String dbProcedureName = rs.getString(3);
String dbColumnName = rs.getString(4);
short dbColumnReturn = rs.getShort(5);
String dbColumnReturnTypeName = rs.getString(7);
int dbColumnPrecision = rs.getInt(8);
int dbColumnByteLength = rs.getInt(9);
short dbColumnScale = rs.getShort(10);
short dbColumnRadix = rs.getShort(11);
String dbColumnRemarks = rs.getString(13);


// Interpret the return type (readable for humans)
String procReturn = null;

switch(dbColumnReturn)
{
case DatabaseMetaData.procedureColumnIn:
procReturn = "In";
break;
case DatabaseMetaData.procedureColumnOut:
procReturn = "Out";
break;
case DatabaseMetaData.procedureColumnInOut:
procReturn = "In/Out";
break;
case DatabaseMetaData.procedureColumnReturn:
procReturn = "return value";
break;
case DatabaseMetaData.procedureColumnResult:
procReturn = "return ResultSet";
default:
procReturn = "Unknown";
}

// Printout
System.out.println("Procedure: " + dbProcedureCatalog + "." + dbProcedureSchema
+ "." + dbProcedureName);
System.out.println(" ColumnName [ColumnType(ColumnPrecision)]: " + dbColumnName
+ " [" + dbColumnReturnTypeName + "(" + dbColumnPrecision + ")]");
System.out.println(" ColumnReturns: " + procReturn + "(" + dbColumnReturnTypeName + ")");
System.out.println(" Radix: " + dbColumnRadix + ", Scale: " + dbColumnScale);
System.out.println(" Remarks: " + dbColumnRemarks);
}

// Close database resources
rs.close();
conn.close();
}

How do I check what table-like database objects (table, view, temporary table, alias) are present in a particular database?
Use java.sql.DatabaseMetaData to probe the database for metadata. Use the getTables method to retrieve information about all database objects (i.e. tables, views, system tables, temporary global or local tables or aliases). The exact usage is described in the code below.

NOTE! Certain JDBC drivers throw IllegalCursorStateExceptions when you try to access fields in the ResultSet in the wrong order (i.e. not consecutively). Thus, you should not change the order in which you retrieve the metadata from the ResultSet.

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
{
// Load the database driver - in this case, we
// use the Jdbc/Odbc bridge driver.
Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver");

// Open a connection to the database
Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection("[jdbcURL]",
"[login]", "[passwd]");

// Get DatabaseMetaData
DatabaseMetaData dbmd = conn.getMetaData();

// Get all dbObjects. Replace the last argument in the getTables
// method with objectCategories below to obtain only database
// tables. (Sending in null retrievs all dbObjects).
String[] objectCategories = {"TABLE"};
ResultSet rs = dbmd.getTables(null, null, "%", null);

// Printout table data
while(rs.next())
{
// Get dbObject metadata
String dbObjectCatalog = rs.getString(1);
String dbObjectSchema = rs.getString(2);
String dbObjectName = rs.getString(3);
String dbObjectType = rs.getString(4);

// Printout
System.out.println("" + dbObjectType + ": " + dbObjectName);
System.out.println(" Catalog: " + dbObjectCatalog);
System.out.println(" Schema: " + dbObjectSchema);
}

// Close database resources
rs.close();
conn.close();
}

What does ResultSet actually contain? Is it the actual data of the result or some links to databases? If it is the actual data then why can't we access it after connection is closed?
A ResultSet is an interface. Its implementation depends on the driver and hence ,what it "contains" depends partially on the driver and what the query returns.
For example with the Odbc bridge what the underlying implementation layer contains is an ODBC result set. A Type 4 driver executing a stored procedure that returns a cursor - on an oracle database it actually returns a cursor in the databse. The oracle cursor can however be processed like a ResultSet would be from the client. Closing a connection closes all interaction with the database and releases any locks that might have been obtained in the process.

How do I extract a BLOB from a database?
A BLOB (Binary Large OBject) is essentially an array of bytes (byte[]), stored in the database. You extract the data in two steps:

1. Call the getBlob method of the Statement class to retrieve a java.sql.Blob object
2. Call either getBinaryStream or getBytes in the extracted Blob object to retrieve the java byte[] which is the Blob object.

Note that a Blob is essentially a pointer to a byte array (called LOCATOR in database-talk), so the java.sql.Blob object essentially wraps a byte pointer. Thus, you must extract all data from the database blob before calling commit or

private void runGetBLOB()
{
try
{ // Prepare a Statement:
PreparedStatement stmnt = conn.prepareStatement("select aBlob from BlobTable");

// Execute
ResultSet rs = stmnt.executeQuery();

while(rs.next())
{
try
{
// Get as a BLOB
Blob aBlob = rs.getBlob(1);
byte[] allBytesInBlob = aBlob.getBytes(1, (int) aBlob.length());
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
// The driver could not handle this as a BLOB...
// Fallback to default (and slower) byte[] handling
byte[] bytes = rs.getBytes(1);
}
}

// Close resources
rs.close();
stmnt.close();

}
catch(Exception ex)
{
this.log("Error when trying to read BLOB: " + ex);
}
}

How do I extract the SQL statements required to move all tables and views from an existing database to another database?
The operation is performed in 9 steps:
1. Open a connection to the source database. Use the DriverManager class.
2. Find the entire physical layout of the current database. Use the DatabaseMetaData interface.
3. Create DDL SQL statements for re-creating the current database structure. Use the DatabaseMetaData interface.
4. Build a dependency tree, to determine the order in which tables must be setup. Use the DatabaseMetaData interface.
5. Open a connection to the target database. Use the DriverManager class.
6. Execute all DDL SQL statements from (3) in the order given by (4) in the target database to setup the table and view structure. Use the PreparedStatement interface.
7. If (6) threw exceptions, abort the entire process.
8. Loop over all tables in the physical structure to generate DML SQL statements for re-creating the data inside the table. Use the ResultSetMetaData interface.
9. Execute all DML SQL statements from (8) in the target database.

How do I check what table types exist in a database?
Use the getTableTypes method of interface java.sql.DatabaseMetaData to probe the database for table types. The exact usage is described in the code below.

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
{
// Load the database driver - in this case, we
// use the Jdbc/Odbc bridge driver.
Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver");

// Open a connection to the database
Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection("[jdbcURL]",
"[login]", "[passwd]");

// Get DatabaseMetaData
DatabaseMetaData dbmd = conn.getMetaData();

// Get all table types.
ResultSet rs = dbmd.getTableTypes();

// Printout table data
while(rs.next())
{
// Printout
System.out.println("Type: " + rs.getString(1));
}

// Close database resources
rs.close();
conn.close();
}

What is the advantage of using a PreparedStatement?
For SQL statements that are executed repeatedly, using a PreparedStatement object would almost always be faster than using a Statement object. This is because creating a PreparedStatement object by explicitly giving the SQL statement causes the statement to be precompiled within the database immediately. Thus, when the PreparedStatement is later executed, the DBMS does not have to recompile the SQL statement and prepared an execution plan - it simply runs the statement.
Typically, PreparedStatement objects are used for SQL statements that take parameters. However, they can also be used with repeatedly executed SQL statements that do not accept parameters.

How do I find all database stored procedures in a database?
Use the getProcedures method of interface java.sql.DatabaseMetaData to probe the database for stored procedures. The exact usage is described in the code below.

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
{
// Load the database driver - in this case, we
// use the Jdbc/Odbc bridge driver.
Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver");

// Open a connection to the database
Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection("[jdbcURL]",
"[login]", "[passwd]");

// Get DatabaseMetaData
DatabaseMetaData dbmd = conn.getMetaData();

// Get all procedures.
System.out.println("Procedures are called '"
+ dbmd.getProcedureTerm() +"' in the DBMS.");
ResultSet rs = dbmd.getProcedures(null, null, "%");

// Printout table data
while(rs.next())
{
// Get procedure metadata
String dbProcedureCatalog = rs.getString(1);
String dbProcedureSchema = rs.getString(2);
String dbProcedureName = rs.getString(3);
String dbProcedureRemarks = rs.getString(7);
short dbProcedureType = rs.getShort(8);

// Make result readable for humans
String procReturn = (dbProcedureType == DatabaseMetaData.procedureNoResult
? "No Result" : "Result");

// Printout
System.out.println("Procedure: " + dbProcedureName
+ ", returns: " + procReturn);
System.out.println(" [Catalog | Schema]: [" + dbProcedureCatalog
+ " | " + dbProcedureSchema + "]");
System.out.println(" Comments: " + dbProcedureRemarks);
}

// Close database resources
rs.close();
conn.close();
}

How can I investigate the physical structure of a database?
The JDBC view of a database internal structure can be seen in the image below.

* Several database objects (tables, views, procedures etc.) are contained within a Schema.
* Several schema (user namespaces) are contained within a catalog.
* Several catalogs (database partitions; databases) are contained within a DB server (such as Oracle, MS SQL

The DatabaseMetaData interface has methods for discovering all the Catalogs, Schemas, Tables and Stored Procedures in the database server. The methods are pretty intuitive, returning a ResultSet with a single String column; use them as indicated in the code below:

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
{
// Load the database driver - in this case, we
// use the Jdbc/Odbc bridge driver.
Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver");

// Open a connection to the database
Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection("[jdbcURL]",
"[login]", "[passwd]");

// Get DatabaseMetaData
DatabaseMetaData dbmd = conn.getMetaData();

// Get all Catalogs
System.out.println("\nCatalogs are called '" + dbmd.getCatalogTerm()
+ "' in this RDBMS.");
processResultSet(dbmd.getCatalogTerm(), dbmd.getCatalogs());

// Get all Schemas
System.out.println("\nSchemas are called '" + dbmd.getSchemaTerm()
+ "' in this RDBMS.");
processResultSet(dbmd.getSchemaTerm(), dbmd.getSchemas());

// Get all Table-like types
System.out.println("\nAll table types supported in this RDBMS:");
processResultSet("Table type", dbmd.getTableTypes());

// Close the Connection
conn.close();
}
public static void processResultSet(String preamble, ResultSet rs)
throws SQLException
{
// Printout table data
while(rs.next())
{
// Printout
System.out.println(preamble + ": " + rs.getString(1));
}

// Close database resources
rs.close();
}

How does the Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) work?
The JDBC is used whenever a Java application should communicate with a relational database for which a JDBC driver exists. JDBC is part of the Java platform standard; all visible classes used in the Java/database communication are placed in package java.sql.

Main JDBC classes:
* DriverManager. Manages a list of database drivers. Matches connection requests from the java application with the proper database driver using communication subprotocol. The first driver that recognizes a certain subprotocol under jdbc (such as odbc or dbAnywhere/dbaw) will be used to establish a database Connection.
* Driver. The database communications link, handling all communication with the database. Normally, once the driver is loaded, the developer need not call it explicitly.
* Connection. Interface with all methods for contacting a database
* Statement. Encapsulates an SQL statement which is passed to the database to be parsed, compiled, planned and executed.
* ResultSet. The answer/result from a statement. A ResultSet is a fancy 2D list which encapsulates all outgoing results from a given SQL query.

What is Metadata and why should I use it?
Metadata ('data about data') is information about one of two things:
1. Database information (java.sql.DatabaseMetaData), or
2. Information about a specific ResultSet (java.sql.ResultSetMetaData).

Use DatabaseMetaData to find information about your database, such as its capabilities and structure. Use ResultSetMetaData to find information about the results of an SQL query, such as size and types of columns.

How do I create a database connection?
The database connection is created in 3 steps:
1. Find a proper database URL (see FAQ on JDBC URL)
2. Load the database driver
3. Ask the Java DriverManager class to open a connection to your database

In java code, the steps are realized in code as follows:
1. Create a properly formatted JDBR URL for your database. (See FAQ on JDBC URL for more information). A JDBC URL has the form jdbc:someSubProtocol://myDatabaseServer/theDatabaseName
2.
try {
Class.forName("my.database.driver");
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
System.err.println("Could not load database driver: " + ex);
}

3. Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection("a.JDBC.URL", "databaseLogin", "databasePassword");