JDBC Configuration

JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) is a Java API that enables developers to connect to relational databases and execute SQL queries from Java applications.

Download the JDBC driver for your database

The JDBC driver is a software component that provides the necessary connectivity between our Java application and our database. We can download the JDBC driver for our database from the database vendor’s website.

Import JDBC Library

Import the necessary JDBC classes at the beginning of your Java code:

import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.SQLException;

Or you can import in a single line like below:

import java.sql.*;

Add the JDBC driver to your project

Once we have downloaded the JDBC driver, we need to add it to our project’s classpath. This can be done by copying the JAR file containing the JDBC driver to our project’s lib directory.

If you are using Eclipse IDE you can visit How to Add External jar in Eclipse? to know the details.

Load JDBC Driver Class

Load the JDBC driver class specific to your database. Different databases have different driver classes.

For example, for MySQL, you would load the MySQL driver class like this:

try {
    Class.forName("com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver");
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();

}

You can replace "com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver" with the appropriate driver class for your database if you are using other than MySQL Database.

Establish a database connection

In order to connect to our database, we need to provide a URL that specifies the location of the database, a username, and a password.

Following is an example of how to establish a database connection using JDBC:

String url = "jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/myDb";
String username = "myUsername";
String password = "myPassword";
Connection connection = DriverManager.getConnection(url, username, password);

Execute SQL queries

Once we have established a database connection, we can execute SQL queries using a Statement or a PreparedStatement object.

Following is an example of how to execute a simple SELECT query using a Statement object:

Statement statement = connection.createStatement();
ResultSet resultSet = statement.executeQuery("SELECT * FROM myTable");
while (resultSet.next()) {
    // process the result set
}

Close the database connection

Once we have finished working with the database, it is important to close the database connection to free up resources.

Following is an example of how to close a database connection using JDBC:

if (connection != null) {
    try {
        connection.close();
    } catch (SQLException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();

    }
}

These are the basic steps for configuring JDBC in a Java application. However, there are many additional features and best practices to consider when working with JDBC, such as connection pooling, transaction management, and error handling.

If you want to see a real working example to connect MySQL Database Using Java you can read another post called: How To Connect MySQL Database Using Java?

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