SL-330 Database Application Programming With Java 1999

Database Application Programming
With Java Technology
SL-330
Student Guide
Sun Microsystems, Inc.

MS BRM01-209
500 Eldorado Boulevard
Broomfield, Colorado 80021
U.S.A.
Revision A.1, October 1999

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Contents
About This Course ......................................................................................ix
Course Goal .........................................................................................ix
Course Overview ................................................................................. x
Course Map......................................................................................... xii
Module-by-Module Overview ....................................................... xiii
Course Objectives.............................................................................. xvi
Skills Gained by Module................................................................ xvii
Guidelines for Module Pacing ..................................................... xviii
Topics Not Covered.......................................................................... xix
How Prepared Are You?................................................................... xx
Introductions ..................................................................................... xxi
How to Use Course Materials ........................................................ xxii
Course Icons and Typographical Conventions ......................... xxiv
Icons ......................................................................................... xxiv
Typographical Conventions ...................................................xxv
Syntax Conventions ............................................................... xxvi
JDBC Overview ........................................................................................1-1
Objectives ...........................................................................................1-1
Relevance............................................................................................ 1-2
References .......................................................................................... 1-3
What Is the JDBC API? ..................................................................... 1-4
Drivers ................................................................................................ 1-7
Overview ....................................................................................1-7
Type 1 JDBC/ODBC Bridge Plus ODBC Driver .............1-10
Type 2 Native API................................................................1-12
Type 3 JDBC-Net ..................................................................1-14
Type 4 Native Protocol........................................................1-16
Finding Drivers .......................................................................1-18
JDBC Developer Interface.............................................................. 1-19
Packages ...................................................................................1-19
Classes and Interfaces.............................................................1-20
iii
Copyright 1999 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Enterprise Services, October 1999, Revision A.1
Identifying a Database Using a URL............................................ 1-24
Overview ..................................................................................1-24
Basic URL Syntax ....................................................................1-26
jdbc...........................................................................................1-27
subprotocol ...........................................................................1-28
subname ...................................................................................1-30
Connecting to a Remote Server.............................................1-31
Check Your Progress ...................................................................... 1-32
Think Beyond .................................................................................. 1-33
Using JDBC ................................................................................................2-1
Objectives ...........................................................................................2-1
Relevance............................................................................................ 2-2
Creating a Basic JDBC Application ................................................ 2-3
Step 1 Registering a Driver ........................................................... 2-6
Overview ....................................................................................2-6
Using the Class Loader...........................................................2-8
Instantiating a Driver..............................................................2-9
Using the jdbc.drivers Property ......................................2-11
Choosing the Best Registration Approach ..........................2-14
Step 2 Establishing a Connection to the Database .................. 2-15
Connection Process.................................................................2-15
DriverManager.getConnection........................................2-18
Driver.connect.....................................................................2-20
Step 3 Creating a Statement........................................................ 2-22
Statement................................................................................2-23
PreparedStatement..............................................................2-25
CallableStatement..............................................................2-27
Comparing Statement Interfaces ..........................................2-29
Step 4 Executing the SQL Statement ......................................... 2-30
Statement................................................................................2-31
PreparedStatement and CallableStatement................2-32
Step 5 Processing the Results ..................................................... 2-33
Step 6 Closing Down JDBC Objects........................................... 2-35
Exercise: Using JDBC...................................................................... 2-37
Tasks .........................................................................................2-37
Exercise Summary...................................................................2-38
Think Beyond .................................................................................. 2-40
OOAD and Database Design ..................................................................3-1
Objectives ...........................................................................................3-1
Relevance............................................................................................ 3-2
References .......................................................................................... 3-3
Module Overview ............................................................................. 3-4
Object ID Overview .......................................................................... 3-5
Object IDs and Primary Keys .......................................................... 3-6
iv Database Application Programming With Java Technology

Creating Object IDs......................................................................... 3-11
Single-row Table .....................................................................3-11
High/Low ................................................................................3-12
Object-Relational Mapping............................................................ 3-15
Mapping Classes to Tables ............................................................ 3-18
One Table for Every Class .....................................................3-19
One Table for Each Concrete Class ......................................3-23
One Table for an Entire Class Hierarchy .............................3-26
Mapping Two Classes to One Table.....................................3-29
Mapping Class Attributes to Table Columns ............................. 3-31
Mapping Class Relationships to Tables....................................... 3-33
One-to-One Relationships......................................................3-34
One-to-Many Relationships...................................................3-36
Many-to-Many Relationships................................................3-38
Exercise: OOAD and Database Design ........................................ 3-41
Tasks .........................................................................................3-41
Think Beyond .................................................................................. 3-44
JDBC Advanced Topics ...........................................................................4-1
Objectives ...........................................................................................4-1
Relevance............................................................................................ 4-2
Exceptions .......................................................................................... 4-3
Overview ....................................................................................4-3
SQLException...........................................................................4-4
SQLWarning ...............................................................................4-6
Metadata............................................................................................. 4-7
Database Metadata....................................................................4-8
Result Set Metadata ..................................................................4-9
Transactions ..................................................................................... 4-10
Overview ..................................................................................4-10
JDBC Transaction Methods ...................................................4-11
Basic Syntax .............................................................................4-12
Concurrency Control ..............................................................4-13
Exercise: JDBC Advanced Topics ................................................. 4-17
Tasks .........................................................................................4-17
Think Beyond .................................................................................. 4-20
JDBC 2.0 Core Features ............................................................................5-1
Objectives ...........................................................................................5-1
Relevance............................................................................................ 5-2
Enhancements to the JDBC 2.0 API ................................................ 5-3
v
Result Set Enhancements ................................................................. 5-5
Scrollability ................................................................................5-6
Updatability .............................................................................5-14
Statement Enhancements for Batch Updates .............................. 5-19
Statement................................................................................5-20
PreparedStatement..............................................................5-24
CallableStatement..............................................................5-26
Advanced Data Types .................................................................... 5-27
Overview ..................................................................................5-27
Using SQL3 Data Types .........................................................5-29
Blob, Clob, and Array Objects .............................................5-32
Structured Types and Distinct Types...................................5-34
Structured Types .....................................................................5-35
Distinct Types ..........................................................................5-37
SQL3 Advanced Features ......................................................5-39
Exercise: JDBC 2.0 Core Features.................................................. 5-40
Tasks .........................................................................................5-40
Think Beyond .................................................................................. 5-43
JDBC 2.0 Standard Extensions ................................................................6-1
Objectives ...........................................................................................6-1
Relevance............................................................................................ 6-2
References .......................................................................................... 6-3
Standard Extension Enhancements to the JDBC 2.0 API ............ 6-4
JNDI .................................................................................................... 6-5
Overview ....................................................................................6-5
JNDI Advantages ......................................................................6-6
JDBC DataSource.....................................................................6-8
Registering a DataSource Object .........................................6-12
Establishing a Connection Using JNDI................................6-14
Connection Pooling ........................................................................ 6-16
Overview ..................................................................................6-16
Connecting ...............................................................................6-19
Distributed Transactions................................................................ 6-20
Overview ..................................................................................6-20
Architecture .............................................................................6-21
Implementation .......................................................................6-23
Row Sets ........................................................................................... 6-26
Overview ..................................................................................6-26
Types of Row Set Implementations......................................6-28
Row Sets at Design Time........................................................6-30
Row Sets at Runtime...............................................................6-35
vi Database Application Programming With Java Technology

Overview of Row Set Implementation ........................................ 6-38
Think Beyond .................................................................................. 6-41
Row Set Implementation .........................................................................7-1
Objectives ...........................................................................................7-1
Relevance............................................................................................ 7-2
CachedRowSet Class Overview ...................................................... 7-3
Creating a CachedRowSet................................................................ 7-6
Retrieving Data.................................................................................. 7-7
Miscellaneous Methods.................................................................. 7-15
Reading and Writing Data............................................................. 7-16
Overview ..................................................................................7-16
RowSetReader.........................................................................7-20
RowSetWriter.........................................................................7-22
Exercise: Row Set Implementations ............................................. 7-23
Tasks .........................................................................................7-23
Think Beyond .................................................................................. 7-26
JDBC and Application Architecture ......................................................8-1
Objectives ...........................................................................................8-1
Relevance............................................................................................ 8-2
References .......................................................................................... 8-3
Tiered Application Architecture Overview .................................. 8-4
Tiers and Components ..................................................................... 8-6
Two-Tier Architecture ...................................................................... 8-7
Three-Tier Architecture.................................................................... 8-9
N-Tier Architecture......................................................................... 8-13
Choosing an Architecture .............................................................. 8-16
Two-Tier Architecture ............................................................8-16
Three-Tier and N-Tier Architecture .....................................8-18
Think Beyond .................................................................................. 8-21
Database Basics ........................................................................................A-1
Objectives ..........................................................................................A-1
References ......................................................................................... A-2
Database Overview.......................................................................... A-3
Data Independence .......................................................................... A-6
Transactions ...................................................................................... A-7
Locking ............................................................................................ A-11
vii
SQL Basics ....................................................................................... A-13
Overview .................................................................................A-13
SELECT Statement...................................................................A-14
INSERT Statement...................................................................A-17
DELETE Statement...................................................................A-18
UPDATE Statement...................................................................A-18
Using SQLJ ................................................................................................ B-1
Objectives .......................................................................................... B-1
References ......................................................................................... B-2
SQLJ Overview ................................................................................. B-3
SQLJ Architecture ............................................................................ B-4
How SQLJ Works ............................................................................. B-5
Using SQLJ ........................................................................................ B-7
Registering and Connecting to the Database Using
Database Connection Management............................................ B-8
Creating a Statement Using SQLJ Clauses and Host
Variables....................................................................................... B-12
SQLJ Clauses........................................................................... B-12
Host Variables ....................................................................... B-13
Executing the Query and Reviewing the Result Set
Using Iterator Objects................................................................. B-14
Defining an Iterator Class ..................................................... B-14
Using an Iterator Class .......................................................... B-15
Glossary ....................................................................................... Glossary-1
viii Database Application Programming With Java Technology

About This Course
Course Goal
Database Application Programming With Java Technology is a focused-
technology course that provides you with a hands-on approach to
developing database applications using Java technology and the
JDBC application programming interface (API). You will learn to use
the features of the JDBC 1.0 API, and will learn about the new features
added in JDBC 2.0.
Note JDBC is not an acronym; however, it is considered to stand for

Java database connectivity.
You will also learn how to map an object-oriented design to a

relational database, and how to design a multi-tier database
application.
ix
Course Overview
The JDBC API is a set of specifications that tell database vendors how
to enable Java applications to perform operations on their databases,
and allow you to write Java applications that connect to any database
that provides drivers.
Database Application Programming With Java Technology provides you

with the information and skills to connect a Java application to a
relational database management system (RDBMS) and retrieve and
manipulate data. Features of both the first and second releases of JDBC
are covered; the second release includes a number of features such as
support for connection pooling and more flexible navigation within a
result set.
You will also learn how to choose the correct application architecture
for use with JDBCtwo-tier, three-tier, or n-tierand how to map that
applications objects to tables in a database.
Information on SQLJ, another method for connecting a Java

application to a relational database, is included in an appendix.
x Database Application Programming With Java Technology

Course Overview
Note Before taking this course, you should be somewhat familiar

with structured query language (SQL) and databases; a short review of
the basics is provided in Appendix A, Database Basics.
About This Course xi

Course Map
The following course map enables you to see what you have
accomplished and where you are going in reference to the course
goals.
xii Database Application Programming With Java Technology

Module-by-Module Overview
This course contains the following modules:
Module 1 JDBC Overview
This module describes how the JDBC API is used, and how it
enables a Java application to connect to a database.
Module 2 Using JDBC
This module describes the steps necessary to enable a Java

application to connect to a relational database and retrieve data
using JDBC 1.0 capabilities.
Module 3 OOAD and Database Design
This module describes how to map your object-oriented Java

application to the tables and columns of a relational database, and
identify each object uniquely.
About This Course xiii

Module 4 JDBC Advanced Topics
This module describes the JDBC 1.0 topics of exception handling,

metadata, and data manipulation.
Module 5 JDBC 2.0 Core Features
This module describes how to use the core features, such as

forward and backward scrolling, which were added to the JDBC
API in the latest release.
Module 6 JDBC 2.0 Standard Extensions
This module describes how to use the advanced features, such as

support for Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI), which
were added to the JDBC API in the latest release.
Module 7 Row Set Implementation
This module describes the CachedRowSet implementation and

row set readers and writers.
Module 8 JDBC and Application Architecture
This module describes application architecture considerations

related to JDBC.
xiv Database Application Programming With Java Technology

Appendix A Database Basics
This appendix reviews different types of databases, concepts such

as locking and transactions, and basic structured query language
(SQL) commands, such as SELECT and UPDATE.
Appendix B Using SQLJ
This appendix defines SQLJ, and describes how to use SQLJ to

connect a Java application to a relational database.
About This Course xv

Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
Design a multi-tier database application architecture
Create a multi-tier database application using the Java

programming language and the JDBC 1.0 API
Map an object-oriented design to a relational database
Explain the features added to the JDBC 2.0 API
xvi Database Application Programming With Java Technology

Skills Gained by Module
The skills for Database Application Programming With Java Technology are
shown in column 1 of the following matrix. The black boxes indicate
the main coverage for a topic; the gray boxes indicate the topic is
briefly discussed.
Module
Skills Gained 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Design a multi-tier database application architecture

Create a multi-tier database application using the
Java programming language and the JDBC 1.0 API
Map an object-oriented design to a relational database
Explain the features added to the JDBC 2.0 API
About This Course xvii

Guidelines for Module Pacing
The following table provides a rough estimate of pacing for this

course:
Module Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4
About This Course A.M.

JDBC Overview A.M.
Using JDBC P.M.
OOAD and Database Design A.M.
JDBC Advanced Topics P.M.
JDBC 2.0 Core Features A.M.
JDBC 2.0 Standard Extensions P.M.
Row Set Implementation A.M.
JDBC and Application Architecture P.M.
xviii Database Application Programming With Java Technology

Topics Not Covered
This course does not cover the topics shown on the above overhead.
Many of the topics listed on the overhead are covered in other courses
offered by Sun Educational Services:
Object-oriented theory Covered in SL-210: Migrating to OO

Programming with Java Technology and OO-226: Application Analysis
and Design for Java Technology
Java programming language basics Covered in SL-275: Java

Programming Language
Relational database design and SQL basics
Refer to the Sun Educational Services catalog for specific information

and registration.
About This Course xix

How Prepared Are You?
To be sure you are prepared to take this course, can you perform the
topics shown on the above overhead?
xx Database Application Programming With Java Technology

Introductions
Now that you have been introduced to the course, introduce yourself
to each other and the instructor, addressing the items shown on the
above overhead.
About This Course xxi

How to Use Course Materials
To enable you to succeed in this course, these course materials employ

a learning model that is composed of the following components:
Objectives What you should be able to accomplish upon

completion of the module is listed here.
Relevance The Relevance section for each module provides

scenarios or questions that introduce you to the information
contained in the module and provoke you to think about how the
module content relates to database application programming.
Overhead image Reduced overhead images for the course are

included in the course materials to help you easily follow where
the instructor is at any point in time. Overheads do not appear on
every page.
Lecture The instructor will present information specific to the

topic of the module. This information will help you learn the
knowledge and skills necessary to succeed with the exercises.
xxii Database Application Programming With Java Technology

How to Use Course Materials
Exercise Lab exercises will give you the opportunity to practice

your skills and apply the concepts presented in the lecture.
Check your progress Module objectives are restated, sometimes

in question format, so that before moving on to the next module
you are sure that you can accomplish the objectives of the current
module.
Think beyond Thought-provoking questions are posed to help

you apply the content of the module or predict the content in the
next module.
About This Course xxiii

Course Icons and Typographical Conventions
The following icons and typographical conventions are used in this

course to represent various training elements and alternative learning
resources.
Icons
Additional resources Indicates additional reference materials are
available.
Discussion Indicates a small-group or class discussion on the current

topic is recommended at this time.
Exercise objective Indicates the objective for the lab exercises that
follow. The exercises are appropriate for the material being discussed.
Note Additional important, reinforcing, interesting or special

information.
xxiv Database Application Programming With Java Technology

Typographical Conventions
Courier is used for the names of commands, files, and directories, as
well as on-screen computer output. For example:
Use ls -al to list all files.

system% You have mail.
Courier bold is used for characters and numbers that you type. For
example:
system% su
Password:
Courier italic is used for variables and command-line

placeholders that are replaced with a real name or value. For example:
To delete a file, type rm filename.
Palatino italics is used for book titles, new words or terms, or words
that are emphasized. For example:
Read Chapter 6 in Users Guide.

These are called class options.
You must be root to do this.
About This Course xxv

Syntax Conventions
Whenever possible, both the syntax of a particular language element
and an example are shown. The following example of this approach
shows the syntax, then an example of declaring an integer variable.
type varIdentifier
int myFirstVariable;
The first line shown, typically with elements in italics, is the syntax;
the second line is the example.
Any elements shown in italics are variables, which must have values
substituted for them.
class className
Any elements shown in square brackets, such as the classModifier

element in the following class declaration syntax, are optional:
[classModifier] class name {block}
xxvi Database Application Programming With Java Technology

JDBC Overview 1
Objectives
Upon completion of this module, you should be able to:
Describe the purpose of the JDBC API
Explain how to use the JDBC API to connect a Java application to

a database
Define the different components of the JDBC architecture
Select the correct kind of JDBC driver for a given application

architecture
Describe the uniform resource locator (URL) syntax used to

identify a database
This module describes the components of the JDBC API, how it is

used, and how it enables a Java application to connect to a database.
1-1
1
Relevance
Discussion What main tasks should JDBC complete to be useful in

connecting an application to a database?
1-2 Database Application Programming With Java Technology

1
References
Additional resources The following resources can provide

additional detail on the topics presented in this module, as well as the
entire course.
Main JDBC download page, including access to the Java Platform,

Standard Edition; the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition; the JDBC
2.0 Core API; and JDBC 2.0 Standard Extension API. [Online.]
Available: http://java.sun.com/products/jdbc
JDBC documentation. [Online.] Available:

http://www.javasoft.com/products/jdk/1.2/docs/guide/
jdbc/index.html
Java 2 Platform API Specification. [Online.] Available:

http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.2/docs/api/
index.html
Bowman, Judith S., Sandra L. Emerson, Marcy Darnovsky. 1996.

The Practical SQL Handbook: Using Structured Query Language.
Addison-Wesley.
Navathe, Shamkant B., Ramez A. Elmasri. Fundamentals of Database

Systems/Oracle Programming. Addison-Wesley.
White, Seth, Maydene Fisher, Rick Cattell, Graham Hamilton,

Mark Hapner. Universal Data Access for the Java 2 Platform (Java
Series). Addison-Wesley.
Reese, George. Database Programming with JDBC and Java. OReilly

& Associates. 1997.
JDBC Overview 1-3

1
What Is the JDBC API?
The JDBC API is a standard data access interface, developed by Sun

Microsystems and its partners who incorporate Java technology.
This API provides universal access to a wide range of relational
databases, enabling you to focus on the major application
development issues, rather than the mechanics of connecting to a
specific database.
The JDBC API is a set of classes and interfaces provided in the Java 2
Software Development Kit (J2SDK). JDBC has been included since
JDK 1.1 was released. Since its first release, JDBC has had one major
revision. JDK 1.1 comes with JDBC 1.0, while the J2SDK includes JDBC
2.0.
JDBC makes it possible to do three main tasks:
Establish a connection with a database
Send a SQL query as a String directly to the database
Process the results

1
There are two major components of JDBC, the developer interface and
the implementation interface. This course concentrates on the
developer interface.
An interface for Java programming language developers. This

provides developers with the class and method definitions
required to use the features implemented in the JDBC drivers,
created by database providers or other driver vendors.
The developer interface consists of two packages.
java.sql, included with the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition

and JDK 1.1
javax.sql, included with the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise

Edition.
An implementation interface for database providers. This provides

vendors with the requirements they must fulfill to produce JDBC
drivers, which allow Java applications to use their database
functionality. The implementation specifications and tools are
supplied by Sun Microsystems.
JDBC Overview 1-5

1
The JDBC driver vendor provides implementations, in the form of

drivers, for the interfaces that are in the API. When the developer
subsequently uses JDBC methods in the developer interface, the
vendor-supplied classes in the drivers provide code for database
operations.

1
Drivers
Overview
A JDBC driver is a collection of classesthat implement the JDBC
interfaces required to connect a Java application to a database. Each
database driver must provide a class that has implemented the
java.sql.Driver interface. The database driver class then is used by
the generic java.sql.DriverManager class when it needs a driver to
connect to a particular database using a URL string.
The JDBC driver test suite is provided for driver vendors. Only drivers
that pass the JDBC driver test suite can be designated JDBC
Compliant. You can download the driver test suite from the
following site:
http://java.sun.com/marketing/enterprise/jdbc.html
JDBC Overview 1-7

1
Drivers
Overview
The JDBC API is patterned after the open database connectivity model
(ODBC), which makes providing a JDBC implementation on top of
ODBC very small and efficient (Figure 1-1). ODBC is a standardized
API for accessing databases; it provides similar functionality as the
JDBC API for traditional languages, such as C and C++.
Figure 1-1 illustrates how a single Java application (or applet) can
access multiple database systems through one or more drivers.
Java application
JDBC API
JDBC driver manager
URL URL URL URL
JDBC-NET JDBC-ODBC Driver A Driver B

driver Bridge driver
ODBC and
DB drivers
Figure 1-1 JDBC Drivers

1
Drivers
Overview
JDBC drivers generally fit into one of four categories shown in
Table 1-1.
Table 1-1 Driver Categories
Category Driver Description Pure Java Net Protocol

Category Technology
1 JDBC-ODBC Allows ODBC drivers to be No Direct

Bridge used as JDBC drivers; was
implemented to get the
JDBC API working quickly
2 Native API Built on top of a native No Direct
based database client library;
translates the JDBC calls
into calls to the API of the
database client library
3 JDBC-Net Communicates with an Yes Connector
intermediary server seated
between the client and the
database, using a network
protocol that is specific to
the intermediary
4 Native Translates JDBC calls Yes Direct
Protocol directly into the network
protocol used by the
DBMS, allowing direct calls
from the client to the
database
JDBC-Net and Native protocol are the preferred way to access

databases from the JDBC API, because they are pure Java technology.
JDBC-ODBC bridge and Native API are considered interim solutions
until pure Java technology drivers are available.
JDBC Overview 1-9

1
Drivers
Type 1 JDBC/ODBC Bridge Plus ODBC Driver

The JDBC-ODBC bridge allows open database connectivity (ODBC)
drivers to be used as JDBC drivers. It was implemented to get the
JDBC API working quickly, and provides access to some of the less
popular database management systems (DBMSs) if JDBC drivers are
not implemented for them.
The bridge gives JDBC access to the database using an existing ODBC
driver. The ODBC driver uses native code that must be installed on
each database client. Therefore, this driver is most appropriate for
corporate networks where client installations are not a major problem,
or for an application server in a three-tier architecture.

1
Drivers
Type 1 JDBC/ODBC Bridge Plus ODBC Driver

This approach allows companies with a heavy investment in ODBC to
leverage that investment with the newer Java programming language
tools.
The disadvantage to this approach is that the application code calls the
JDBC driver manager, which invokes the JDBC driver. The driver calls
the ODBC driver manager, which invokes the ODBC driver, who
finally contacts the database. Failure can occur at several points in this
system.
The JDBC-ODBC bridge is bundled with the J2SDK, in the package

named sun.jdbc.odbc. A variety of vendors, including Intersolv,
Visigenic, SCO, and DataRamp have ODBC drivers that work with the
JDBC-ODBC bridge.
Figure 1-2 illustrates a system using this driver.
Application
Database
JDBC API
ODBC bridge ODBC driver
Client Server
Figure 1-2 JDBC-ODBC Bridge
JDBC Overview 1-11

1
Drivers
Type 2 Native API

This kind of driver is built on top of a native database client library
(usually C or C++). The driver translates the JDBC calls into calls to
the API of the database client library. The library is distributed by the
provider of the DBMS. This driver, as well as the ODBC bridge,
requires native code installed on each database client.
The native API is an improvement over the JDBC/ODBC bridge, but it

does not accomplish the goal of the JDBC API, which is to write once
and run anywhere. If a particular DBMS vendor has not created a
client API for its database, then it becomes difficult to switch from one
DBMS to another.
This type of driver is not always uniformly distributed, so you might

not be able to run your application on all platforms capable of running
Java technology.

1
Drivers
Type 2 Native API

Application
JDBC API
Native code
libraries Database
Client Server
Figure 1-3 Native API
JDBC Overview 1-13

1
Drivers
Type 3 JDBC-Net
This kind of driver communicates with an intermediary server seated
between the client and the database, using a network protocol that is
specific to the intermediary. These calls are translated by the
intermediary to DBMS-specific calls and forwarded to the database.
You do not need to install native code on the database client machines,
because you can implement the driver using only Java technology. If
the intermediary can talk to different DBMSs, you need only one JDBC
driver.
This type of driver has the most flexibility.

1
Drivers
Type 3 JDBC-Net
Application
JDBC API
DBMS-specific
JDBC-Net translator Database
Client Intermediary server Server

Figure 1-4 JDBC-Net
JDBC Overview 1-15

1
Drivers
Type 4 Native Protocol

This kind of driver translates JDBC calls directly into the network
protocol used by the DBMS. This allows direct calls from the client to
the database. These protocols are proprietary, so the database provider
is the primary source for the driver. Several vendors have these in
progress.
This type of driver might give the best performance, but falls short for
the same reasons as the native API drivers: there is no flexibility to
allow for switching to different types of DBMSs.

1
Drivers
Type 4 Native Protocol

Application
JDBC API
Native protocol Database
Client Server
Figure 1-5 Native Protocol
JDBC Overview 1-17

1
Drivers
Finding Drivers
To view the latest information about drivers, check the following JDBC
Web page:
http://java.sun.com/products/jdbc/drivers.html
The first vendors with category 3 drivers available were SCO, Open
Horizon, Visigenic, and WebLogic.

1
JDBC Developer Interface
Packages
The JDBC API is expressed as a series of Java technology interfaces, in
the following packages:
java.sql Contains the classes and interfaces used for the base
functionality of JDBC
This package has been part of the Java programming language

since the JDK 1.1 was released. It is included in the Java 2
Platform, Standard Edition.
javax.sql Contains extended functionality introduced with the

JDBC 2.0 API
This package is part of the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition, and

also can be downloaded separately.
JDBC Overview 1-19

1
Classes and Interfaces
Note Functionality in the javax.sql package is covered in Module

5, JDBC 2.0 Core Features and Module 6, JDBC 2.0 Standard
Extensions.
The following are the basic JDBC classes and interfaces.
DriverManager
Driver
Connection
Statement
PreparedStatement
CallableStatement
ResultSet

1
DriverManager Class
The DriverManager class manages database drivers and provides

support for creating new database connections. It connects Java
applications to the correct JDBC driver.
You can use DriverManager to load multiple drivers in memory at the

same time. Each driver can point to a separate database, or all drivers
can point to the same database.
Different drivers must have a different subprotocol identifier for the

DriverManager to distinguish among them. Subprotocols are covered
later in this module, in Identifying a Database Using a URL.
Driver Interface
The Driver interface represents a point of contact between a Java

application and a driver. A Driver can establish a connection to a
database. A developer typically supplies a URL-like string as input,
and the Driver returns a Connection.
Connection Interface
The Connection interface represents a session with a specific

database. The Connection allows developers to create statement
objects to represent database queries. In addition, you can use a
Connection to obtain information about the database and about the
JDBC driver capabilities.
JDBC Overview 1-21

1
Statement, PreparedStatement, and CallableStatement

Interfaces
Statement functions as a container for executing a SQL statement on a

given connection. There are two important subtypes of Statement:
PreparedStatement and CallableStatement. PreparedStatement
holds the precompiled SQL statement so that it can be executed
multiple times. CallableStatement executes SQL stored procedures.
ResultSet Interface
A ResultSet represents a set of return data provided when SELECT

SQL queries are executed; it is the result of executing a statement.
Within a row, you can access its column values in any order. You can
use the ResultSetMetaData interface to get information about the
ResultSet. A ResultSet maintains a cursor pointing to its current
row of data. Initially the cursor is positioned before the first row; the
next method moves the cursor to the next row.
The classes and interfaces in the JDBC Core API are shown in
Figure 1-6.

1
java.lang.Object
Array*
java.lang.Throwable
Blob*
java.lang.Exception
Clob*
SQLException
Struct*
BatchUpdateException
SQLData*
SQLWarning
DataTruncation
SQLInput*
Connection
SQLOutput*
DatabaseMetaData
Driver
DriverManager java.util.Date
DriverPropertyInfo Date
Ref* Time
ResultSet TimeStamp
ResultSetMetaData Legend
Statement Class
Abstract
Class
PreparedStatement
Interface
Extends
CallableStatement
Types * New with JDBC 2.0
Figure 1-6 java.sql Core API Class Hierarchy
JDBC Overview 1-23

1
Identifying a Database Using a URL
Overview
A JDBC URL provides a way of identifying a database so that the
appropriate driver can recognize it and establish a connection with it.
The protocol, subprotocol, and specific data source are identified in the
URL. For example, the URL jdbc:odbc:fred indicates that the driver
should use the jdbc protocol to connect to an ODBC-type data source
named fred.
Driver vendors determine the JDBC URL that identifies their

particular driver. You do not need to form a JDBC URL; simply use the
URL supplied with the drivers you are using. The role of the JDBC API
is to recommend conventions for driver writers to follow when
structuring their JDBC URLs.

1
Overview
The JDBC URL mechanism is intended to provide a framework so that
different drivers can use different naming systems that are appropriate
for their needs. Each driver need only understand a single URL
naming syntax, and can reject any other URLs that it encounters. The
conventions are flexible, implementing the following features.
JDBC URLs allow driver writers to encode all necessary

connection information within them. For example, an applet can
talk to a given database to open the database connection without
requiring the user to do any system administration tasks.
JDBC URLs also allow a level of indirection. This means that the
JDBC URL can refer to a logical host or database name that is
dynamically translated to the actual name by a network naming
system.
This allows system administrators to avoid specifying particular

hosts as part of the JDBC name. There are several different
network name services (such as the network information service,
NIS), and there is no restriction on which ones you can use.
JDBC Overview 1-25

1
Basic URL Syntax

This section describes the standard syntax for JDBC URLs. The syntax
has three parts, separated by colons.
URL syntax
jdbc:subprotocol:subname
Example
jdbc:odbc:wombat
The protocol is always jdbc; the subprotocol is the type of connection,

odbc in this example; and the subname fred identifies the database.
Variations on this basic syntax are sometimes required for remote
connections, providing more information about connecting to the
database, and so on.
Each part of the URL is covered in the following sections.

1
jdbc
This is the protocol. The protocol in a JDBC URL is always jdbc.
JDBC Overview 1-27

1
subprotocol
This is the name of the driver or the type of database connectivity
mechanism, which can be supported by one or more drivers. Different
drivers must have a different subprotocol identifier for the
DriverManager to be able to distinguish among them.
In the example jdbc:odbc:wombat, the subprotocol is odbc.

1
subprotocol
Using a Network Naming Service as the Subprotocol
To specify a network naming service (so that the database name in the
JDBC URL does not have to be its actual name), use the subprotocol.
Naming service URL syntax

jdbc:namingService:dataSrcName
Example
jdbc:dcenaming:accounts-payable
In this example, the URL specifies that the local DCE naming service
should resolve the database name accounts-payable into a more
specific name that can be used to connect to the real database.
Note To use a network naming system, JNDI and the JDBC 2.0
standard extensions must be installed. These are covered in Module 6,
JDBC 2.0 Standard Extensions.
odbc Subprotocol
The odbc subprotocol is reserved for URLs that specify ODBC-style

data source names. Name-value pairs also can be included.
Syntax
jdbc:odbc:dataSrcName[;attributeName=attributeValue]
Example
Valid URLs include the following:

jdbc:odbc:fred
jdbc:odbc:wombat
jdbc:odbc:wombat;CacheSize=20;ExtensionCase=LOWER
jdbc:odbc:qeora;UID=kgh;PWD=fooey
JDBC Overview 1-29

1
subname
The subname provides enough information to locate the database. The
subname is determined by the driver vendor doing the
implementation (identified by the subprotocol).
In the example jdbc:odbc:fred, fred identifies the database.
A subsubname is sometimes required after the subprotocol; the syntax

is determined by the driver vendor.

1
Connecting to a Remote Server

In the example jdbc:odbc:fred, fred is enough to identify the
database because ODBC provides the remainder of the information.
However, a database on a remote server requires more information.
For example, if users will access the database over the Internet, the
network address should be included in the JDBC URL as part of the
subname. In this case, follow the standard Internet URL naming
convention.
URL syntax for connecting to a remote server

jdbc:subprotocol://hostname:port/subsubname
Example
Assume that dbnet is a protocol for connecting to a host on the

Internet.
jdbc:dbnet://wombat:3560/fred
JDBC Overview 1-31

1
Check Your Progress
Before continuing on to the next module, check that you are able to
accomplish or answer the following:
Describe the purpose of the JDBC API
Explain how to use the JDBC API to connect a Java application to

a database
Define the different components of the JDBC architecture
Select the correct kind of JDBC driver for a given application

architecture
Describe the URL syntax used to identify a database

1
Think Beyond
From what you now know of the JDBC API, list the steps that would
be necessary to connect to and retrieve data from a database.
JDBC Overview 1-33

Using JDBC 2
Objectives
Select an appropriate method to register a JDBC driver
Establish a database connection with the registered JDBC driver
Query a database using the JDBC connection
Select the appropriate type of statement given the data query

requirements
Manipulate data in the database using a JDBC connection
Process the results of a query
Shut down the appropriate objects after a JDBC process is

complete
This module describes the steps necessary to enable a Java application

to connect to a relational database and retrieve data. The material
covered in this module is valid for both the JDBC 1.0 and 2.0 API
specifications.
Note Module 5, JDBC 2.0 Core Features and Module 6, JDBC 2.0
Standard Extensions, cover the functionality that is available only in
the latest JDBC release.
2-1
2
Relevance
Discussion Suppose you are tasked with writing an application that

retrieves, updates, modifies, and deletes information from a database.
Consider the following questions:
1. What do you need to know about the database?
2. What is the impact on the end-user (client) program if a different

database is used?
3. What considerations must be made to make the system flexible

and responsive to changes in the business? For example, suppose
that you deny service to certain customers.

2
Creating a Basic JDBC Application
Now that you have learned the components of the JDBC API in
Module 1, JDBC Overview, the next step is to develop the code to
request and return information from a relational database
management system (RDBMS). The six main steps are as follows:
Note This list and the following sections cover the standard methods
for using the JDBC API to connect with and retrieve data from a
database. The information is not specific to versions 1.0 or 2.0.
Advanced features of JDBC 1.0, and the enhancements added with
JDBC 2.0, are covered in subsequent modules.
Step 1 Register a driver.
The driver connects to the database using DriverManager.
Step 2 Establish a connection to the database.
The DriverManager.getConnection method requires a URL to

locate the appropriate driver to use.
Using JDBC 2-3

2
Step 3 Create a statement.
With the connection established, you can create (instantiate) a

Statement, CallableStatement, or PreparedStatement object,
which is used for your SQL command.
Step 4 Execute the SQL.
Use the executeQuery method of the Statement object to execute

the SQL statement.
Step 5 Process the results.
The Statement object returns a ResultSet. The ResultSet object

is all the rows of the table that satisfy the query. You can step
through the set to view each row. There are several methods
within the ResultSet to retrieve the data items from the row.
Step 6 Close down JDBC objects.
Close down the connection and other components of the JDBC

function.

2
The steps are illustrated in the following portion of example code,

which connects to a database named accounts on a server machine
named java1.com, using the JDBC-ODBC bridge.
// Step 1
1 Class.forName("oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver");
// Step 2
2 Connection con = DriverManager.getConnection
("jdbc:oracle:thin:@java1.com:1521:accounts", "marcl", "mpuppet");
// Step 3
3 Statement stmt = con.createStatement();
// Step 4
4 String SQL_stmt = "SELECT a, b, c FROM table1";
5 ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery(SQL_stmt);
// Step 5
6 while (rs.next()) {
7 System.out.println("a=" + rs.getInt("a"));
8 System.out.println("b=" + rs.getString("b"));
9 System.out.println("c=" + rs.getFloat("c"));
10 }
// Step 6
11 rs.close();
12 stmt.close();
13 con.close();
The following sections provide details about each step.
Using JDBC 2-5

2
Step 1 Registering a Driver
Overview
The driver makes the connection to the database through the
DriverManager class. When attempting to connect to a database, the
JDBC API uses the first driver it finds that can successfully connect to
the given URL. Registering the driver is simple but critical, because
without the driver, you cannot make a connection to the database.
You do not need to create an object unless you need to explicitly

reference it.
Loading a driver consists only of loading the correct class into a

running Java Virtual Machine (JVM) session. It brings in the correct
bytecodes, and registers the driver with the appropriate structure in
the Java Virtual Machine: the driver manager. Registration lasts for the
duration of a particular JVM session only.
You can load multiple drivers in memory at the same time.

2
Approaches to Registering a Driver

There are several ways to register a driver within a Java application:
Use the Class loader
Instantiate a driver
Use the jdbc.drivers property
Note You need to gain access to the JDBC interfaces before you
begin. To do so, be sure to import the java.sql package, or only the
classes in that package that you need.
Using JDBC 2-7

2
Using the Class Loader

To communicate with a particular database engine using the JDBC
API, you must first load the JDBC driver. The driver has a static
initializer that creates a Driver object, which registers the driver with
the driver manager. This driver remains behind the scenes, handling
any requests of that type of database.
To load the driver using the Class loader, call the driver name using
the complete path.
Syntax
Class.forName(driverName);
Example
The following line shows how to load the Oracle driver:

Class.forName("oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver");

2
Instantiating a Driver
If you need an explicit reference to the Driver object, use the new
keyword to register the driver. You do not need to associate the driver
object with a variable, because it exists in memory and is accessible to
the DriverManager.
Syntax
Driver drvRefVar = new DriverConstructor;
Example
This example registers the driver with the driver manager, which
subsequently manages the driver for the JVM session. It is not
necessary to retain a reference to the created object.
Driver drv = new oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver();
Using JDBC 2-9

2
Notes

2
Using the jdbc.drivers Property

A running JVM has a number of properties, which allow you to define
and retrieve values associated with JVM functionality. One of those
properties is jdbc.drivers.
You can register the driver using two approaches:
Defining the jdbc.drivers property
Using the -D option with the java command
Defining the jdbc.drivers Property
You can register a driver by defining the jdbc.drivers property as a

colon-separated list of driver class names.
Using JDBC 2-11

2
Defining the jdbc.drivers Property
Note This approach must be done on the command line, or run by a

script, before launching the Java application.
Syntax
jdbc.drivers = driverName[:driverName]
Example
jdbc.drivers = oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver:acme.cool.Driver

2
Using the -D Option With the java Command
When attempting to connect to a database, the JDBC API uses the first
driver it finds that can successfully connect to the given URL. It first
tries each driver specified in the properties list, in order from left to
right. It then tries any drivers that are already loaded in memory, in
the order that the drivers were loaded.
You can register the driver by loading it into the system properties. To
use this method, specify the name=value pair (the name is always
jdbc.drivers and the value is the driver name).
Syntax
java -Djdbc.drivers=driverName[:driverName]
Example
java -Djdbc.drivers=oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver:acme.cool.Driver
Using JDBC 2-13

2
Choosing the Best Registration Approach

Discussion For each approach, what are the advantages and
disadvantages, and why?

2
Step 2 Establishing a Connection to the Database
Connection Process
The steps for establishing a connection occur in the following order:
1. The DriverManager calls getConnection(urlString), which

calls Driver.connect(urlString) on all the registered drivers
until a match is found.
Note The URL is described in Identifying a Database Using a URL

on page 1-24 in Module 1, JDBC Overview.
The drivers are checked in the following order:
Properties list
Memory
2. The URL is parsed.
3. When a driver responds positively to the database URL, the

DriverManager makes a connection to the database.
Using JDBC 2-15

2
Connection Process
4. If the driver does not match, null is returned and the next driver
is checked.
5. If the Java application cannot connect to the database, a

SQLException is thrown. This would happen if no suitable driver
can be found, or because the last driver found was suitable but
failed during the attempt to connect.
Exception handling in JDBC is covered in Module 4, JDBC

Advanced Topics.

2
Connection Process
Figure 2-1 illustrates how a DriverManager resolves a URL string
passed in the getConnection method. When the driver returns a null,
the driver manager continues to call the next registered driver until
either the list is exhausted or a Connection object is returned.
getConnection(urlString)
DriverManager
Application
connect(urlString)
Connection
null null
jdbc:A jdbc:B jdbc:odbc

driver driver driver
Successful
connection
accounts
Figure 2-1 Example of Database Resolution
Note If a driver attempts to connect but fails, DriverManager

continues through the list of additional drivers.
Using JDBC 2-17

2
You can use either of two methods to establish a connection.
DriverManager.getConnection method
Driver.connect method
DriverManager.getConnection
There are three getConnection methods; you can use any of them to
establish a connection:
getConnection (urlString)
getConnection (urlString, PropertiesObject)
getConnection (urlString, user, password)
Syntax
Connection conRefVar = DriverManager.getConnection(arguments);

2
DriverManager.getConnection
Example
The following example establishes a connection con to the database

named accounts on the specified host.
Connection con = DriverManager.getConnection
("jdbc:oracle:thin:@java1.com:1521:accounts");
Using JDBC 2-19

2
Driver.connect
The Driver.connect method attempts to make a database connection
to the given URL.
This method makes a direct call to a specific Driver object. Use it to

avoid the problems of the standard approach to finding a driver, in
which DriverManager calls first one driver, then the next, and so on. If
the DriverManager requests a driver that is written badly to connect
to a given database, the driver may attempt to do so, even if it cannot,
and prevents other drivers from connecting.

2
Driver.connect
Syntax
Connection conRefVar = Driver.connect(urlString, PropertiesInfo);
Example
There is an assumed import of the java.sql package in the following

example, as well as the presence of a supporting class and method.
1 Driver drv = new oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver();
2 Connection con = null;
3 try{
4 // Pass the connection request directly to THIS driver.
5 // If the connection attempt fails, the application
6 // will NOT try to connect to any other JDBC drivers.
7 con = drv.connect("jdbc:oracle:thin:@java1.com:1521:accounts",
null);
8 }
9 catch (SQLException exc){
10 // If unable to obtain a connection, take some kind
11 // of recovery action here. Options might include
12 // connecting to an alternate DB, prompting the user
13 // for action, or exiting the application.
14 }
Using JDBC 2-21

2
Step 3 Creating a Statement
You can use three types of statements.
Statement Executes a standard query
PreparedStatement Executes a precompiled SQL statement
CallableStatement Executes non-SQL statement

2
Statement
To submit a standard query, first get a Statement object from the
Connection.createStatement method.
Syntax
Statement stmtRefVar = conRefVar.createStatement();
Examples
1 Statement stmt;
2 try {
3 stmt = con.createStatement();
4 } catch (SQLException e) {
5 System.out.println (e.getMessage());
6 }
7 ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery
("SELECT * FROM customer WHERE ID = 11");
Using JDBC 2-23

2
Statement
Note For more information about SQL commands, refer to Appendix

A, Database Basics.

2
PreparedStatement
If the same SQL statements are executed multiple times, use a
PreparedStatement object. A prepared statement is a precompiled SQL
statement that is more efficient than calling the same SQL statement
over and over. The SQL statement is parsed only once. The
PreparedStatement interface extends the Statement interface to add
the capability of passing parameters inside of a statement.
Syntax
PreparedStatement pstmtRefVar = conRefVar.prepareStatement(sqlString);
You can use question marks within the SQL statement as placeholders
for data values.
Using JDBC 2-25

2
PreparedStatement
Examples
1 public boolean prepStatement(float sales, String name){
2 PreparedStatement prepStmnt = con.prepareStatement
("SELECT * FROM coffees WHERE cof_name = ?");
3 prepStmnt.setString(1, "Espresso");
4 ResultSet rs = prepStmnt.executeQuery();
5 }
1 PreparedStatement ps = c.prepareStatement(
"UPDATE customer SET order_num = ? WHERE cid = ?");
2 ps.setInt(1, 543);
3 ps.setString(2, "0147");
4 int result = ps.executeUpdate();
Note For prepared statements, placeholders have a beginning index

of 1, not 0.
Refer to the PreparedStatement interface in the Java 2 Platform API

Specification for a list of the setXXX methods. These methods, used
for setting SQL IN parameter values, must specify types that are
compatible with the defined SQL type of the input parameter. For
example, if the IN parameter has SQL type Integer, then use setInt.

2
CallableStatement
A callable statement allows non-SQL statements (such as stored
procedures) to be executed against the database. The
CallableStatement interface extends the PreparedStatement
interface, which provides the methods for setting IN parameters.
Because the PreparedStatement interface extends the Statement
interface, methods for retrieving multiple results with a stored
procedure are supported with the Statement.getMoreResults
method.
Syntax
CallableStatement cstmtRefVar = conRefVar.prepareCall(sqlString);
sqlString must be a query statement.
As with PreparedStatement, you can use question marks within the

SQL statement as placeholders for data values.
Using JDBC 2-27

2
CallableStatement
Example
You could use a CallableStatement if you wanted to store a

precompiled SQL statement to query a database containing the coffee
inventory or suppliers.
1 String coffeeName= "Espresso";
2 CallableStatement querySales = con.prepareCall
("{call return_sales[?, ?]}");
3 try {
4 querySales.setString(1, coffeeName);
5 querySales.registerOutParameter(2, Type.REAL);
6 querySales.execute();
7 float sales = querySales.getFloat(2);
8 } catch (SQLException e){
9 System.out.println("Query failed");
10 e.printStackTrace();
11 }
1 CallableStatement cs = c.prepareCall
("{call get_order_number [?, ?]}");
2 cs.setString(1, "0147");
3 cs.registerOutParameter(2, Type.INTEGER);
4 cs.execute();
5 int returnVal = cs.getInt(2);
Before executing a stored procedure call, you must explicitly call

registerOutParameter to register the java.sql.Type of any SQL
OUT parameters.

2
Comparing Statement Interfaces

Table 2-1 compares the three types of statement interfaces.
Table 2-1 Comparing Statement Interfaces
Statement PreparedStatement CallableStatement
Where is code Client Client Server

created?
Where is code Client Server Server
stored?
Technologies for Java programming Java programming The procedural
writing code language, SQL language, SQL language for the
operations operations database on the
target platform, such
as PLSQL (the
procedural language
for SQL)
Configurability High High the first time, Low
then low
Portability High High, provided the Low
database supports
PreparedStatement
Efficiency for Low Low the first time, High
transferring then high
data
Using JDBC 2-29

2
Step 4 Executing the SQL Statement
When you submit the SQL statement to the database, the JDBC API
passes the SQL statement to the underlying database connection
unaltered. The JDBC API does not attempt to interpret queries.
The result of executing a query statement is a table of data that you

can access using a java.sql.ResultSet object.
The statement, whether it is a Statement, CallableStatement, or

PreparedStatement object, is coupled with the corresponding
ResultSet. If you run the statement again, the contents of the first
ResultSet will be overwritten by the results of the second statement.

2
Step 4 Executing the SQL
Statement
You can use several approaches to execute the SQL statement.
For a SELECT statement, use

Statement.executeQuery(sqlString).
For INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statements, use

Statement.executeUpdate(sqlString), which returns an
integer.
For any process, you can use

Statement.execute(sqlString), which returns a boolean,
indicating whether a result set has been returned.
Using JDBC 2-31

2
Step 4 Executing the SQL
Statement
Syntax
1 Connection conRefVar = DriverManager.getConnection(urlString);
2 Statement stmtRefVar = conRefVar.createStatement();
3 ResultSet resultsetRefVar = stmtRefVar.executeQuery (sqlString);
Example
1 Connection con = DriverManager.getConnection(
"jdbc:odbc:accounts");
3 ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery("SELECT * from employees");
PreparedStatement and CallableStatement

Use the same three approaches listed for the Statement interface,
except that the PreparedStatement and CallableStatement
interfaces do not take an argument because the statement is already
defined.

2
Step 5 Processing the Results
To retrieve data from the ResultSet object that was returned, use its
assessor methods, which enable access to the various column values of
the current row. One method is provided for each SQL type.
You can retrieve these values using either a column name or an index.
You should use an index when referencing a column. When you use a
name to reference a column, one or more columns could have the same
name, which causes a conflict. Indexes begin at 1.
Note The name used to reference a column is case sensitive.
A ResultSet keeps a cursor pointing to the current row of data and is

initially positioned before its first row. The first call to next makes the
first row the current row, the second call makes the second row the
current row, and so on.
Using JDBC 2-33

2
Step 5 Processing the Results
Refer to the Java 2 Specification API for the getXXX methods to access
columns within the ResultSet. These include getBoolean(int
columnIndex), getByte(int columnIndex), and getInt(int
columnIndex).
To retrieve data from the ResultSet object, you must be familiar with
the columns returned and their data types. A table mapping Java types
to SQL data types is provided in Table 3-1 of Module 3, OOAD and
Database Design.
Syntax
1 while (resultsetRefVar.next()) {
2 System.out.println ("column: " +
resultsetRefVar.getXXXMethod(column));
3 }
column can be either the column name or column number.
Example
The following example retrieves specific columns in the coffee table

from the ResultSet. Column names are shown, but you could use
column IDs instead.
2 System.out.println();
3 System.out.println("Coffee Name: " + rs.getString(1));
4 System.out.println("Supplier ID: " + rs.getInt(2));
5 System.out.println("Price : " + rs.getFloat(3));
6 System.out.println("Sales : " + rs.getInt(4));
7 }

2
Step 6 Closing Down JDBC Objects
After each connection and retrieval of data, close down the following
JDBC objects:
Connection Disconnects from the database in a controlled

manner.
Statement Detaches the statement from its previous business

function
ResultSet Deallocates JDBC-based resources.
None of the three are reusable after closing.
Using JDBC 2-35

2
Step 6 Closing Down JDBC Objects
The following example shows how to close down a ResultSet,

Statement, and Connection object, and catching any resulting
exceptions.
1 try {
2 rs.close();
3 stmt.close();
4 con.close();
5 }
6 catch (SQLException ex) {
7 ex.printStackTrace();
8 }
Note Be sure that you do the closing down inside a finally block of
exception handling to ensure that the objects are closed when you exit.

2
Exercise: Using JDBC
Exercise objective Practice the concepts and tasks you have learned
in this module.
Tasks
Go to the SL330 directory on your computer and change to the lab files
directory. Open the directory for this module, then the directory for
this exercise, and read the readme file. Follow the instructions in that
file to complete this exercise.
If additional instructions or materials are required, your instructor will

provide them.
Using JDBC 2-37

2
Exercise: Using JDBC
Exercise Summary
Discussion Take a few minutes to discuss what experiences, issues,
or discoveries you had during the lab exercises.
Experiences
Interpretations
Conclusions
Applications

2
Check Your Progress
Select an appropriate method to register a JDBC driver
Establish a database connection with the registered JDBC driver
Query a database using the JDBC connection
Select the appropriate type of statement given the data query

requirements
Manipulate data in the database using a JDBC connection
Process the results of a query
Shut down the appropriate objects after a JDBC process is

complete
Using JDBC 2-39

2
Think Beyond
The Java programming language is object oriented; a relational

database is not. What do you need to do to connect the Java
technology object model logically to the database?

OOAD and Database Design 3
Objectives
Describe the purpose of an object ID
Describe two ways to create an object ID
Given a class diagram, map objects to a relational database
Given a class diagram, map object relationships in the database
This module covers the design issues associated with object-oriented

applications.
3-1
3
Relevance
Discussion What would be the best way to correlate objects with

tables in your database?

3
References

additional detail on the topics presented in this module:
Object-relational mapping strategies. [Online.] Available:

http://www.objectmatter.com/vbsf/docs/maptool/
ormapping.html
Ambler, Scott W. Mapping Objects to Relational Databases. [Online.]

Available: http://www.ambysoft.com/mappingObjects.pdf
Yoder, Joseph W., Ralph E. Johnson, Quince D. Wilson. Connecting

Business Objects to Relational Databases. [Online.] Available:
http://jerry.cs.uiuc.edu/~plop/plop98/
final_submissions/P51.pdf
Keller, Wolfgang. Mapping Objects to Tables: A Pattern Language.

[Online.] Available:
http://www.sdm.de/g/arcus/publicat/mapo2t.ps
OOAD and Database Design 3-3

3
Module Overview
When you develop an object-oriented application that accesses a

database, it is important to also consider how you will store data from
objects in the database, and how you will use and retrieve the data.
You need to take into account many issues, including the following:
How you will uniquely identify each row in the database
How the database tables will relate to the objects in your

application
How the database tables will relate to each other
This module describes how to deal with these issues, through object
IDs (OIDs) and object-relational mapping.
Note The principles discussed apply to any object-oriented

application, not only to those created using the Java programming
language.

3
Object ID Overview
A requirement in classic relational DBMS is that every row entry in a

table must be uniquely identifiablethat is, there should be a way to
uniquely identify every record.
In databases, this is represented at the table level by a primary key, a

value unique for every database record in the table. However,
sometimes you need to retrieve and combine data from multiple
tables, and the primary key might not be unique in this case.
This section describes object IDs (OIDs), which are unique record
identifiers that have no business meaning, and explains how they can
be used more effectively than other indexes, such as primary keys, to
uniquely identify objects (records) in one or more databases.

3
Object IDs and Primary Keys
Using primary keys has the advantage of being easy to implement and
maintain. OIDs, on the other hand, must be generated and maintained
outside of individual tables. However, there are several advantages, to
offset the extra maintenance:
OIDs can transcend individual tables.
Unlike indexes, OIDs can be generated for every object to be

stored in the database, rather than only being unique for each
table. The result is that you can store the unique OID for every
object in the database, regardless of its table mapping, and have a
simple, efficient way to retrieve all of the data for any object in
your system.

3
OIDs can transcend databases.
In more complex architectures, client applications can access

different database servers over time. In such a system, you can
generate unique OIDs for multiple databases, and therefore know
that the object ID was truly unique across all of the applications.
This is an important issue if data is shared among databases.
OIDs simplify mapping of an object to a table or multiple tables

(mapping is described later in the Object-Relational Mapping
section on page 3-15).
If an object is mapped to multiple tables, you must join the tables

to retrieve the object. This is easily done with an OID. Without the
OID, you would have to create or use an existing attribute to link
the tables together.
OIDs do not have unnecessary ties to business meaning
Primary keys are often based on the content of the record. For
example, an employee ID is the primary key for the employee
table and uniquely identifies each employee. The employee
number field has a set format, such as XX-MMDDYY-1234. The
format has business meaning; the first part could identify the
employees department, the second could specify the employees
start date, and the third a unique number assigned to the
employee.
However, the departments can change and be identified with three

letters, or the company might grow so that the last part of the ID
needs to be longer to make the IDs unique. In this case, the format
of the ID must change, so the tables must change. An OID does
not need to change when the business changes.
If the employee ID were based on department, start date, and

clearance, two employees might have the same ID, and developers
would need to add business logic to ensure thatthis would not
happen. With OIDs, this is not a consideration, because they have
no business meaning and are automatically guaranteed to be
unique.

3
Another example could be a national identification number (social

security number in the United States). Many applications use this
number as a primary key; if the country changes its system of
identifying residents, or if a country with a different system of
identification numbers needs to use the application, the
application and tables would need to change.

3
You can make an OID unique within a class, unique within a class
hierarchy, or unique across all classes.
If you make the OID unique only within a class, then you can have
12345 as the OID for a customer, an employee, an order, and any
other classes in the class diagram.
This is not a problem until an employee needs to become a

customer or a customer wants to be an employee. At this point,
you would need to assign the employee object a new OID.

3
If you make OIDs unique to each class, you separately create OIDs
for every table that stores object data in the system. This has the
following implications.
It could be faster to generate OIDs (because you generate a

unique OID for each table. You are not tying up the entire
database when you create an OID, you are just locking that
specific table)
You generate separate OIDs for each table, so there will

probably be duplicate values for the tables. This means that if
you have a row entry for an employee who then becomes a
customer, you must work out a strategy to map between the
customer and employee tables in the database. You cannot
assume that you can carry over the OID from the employee
table, because it is entirely possible that the OID has already
been assigned to a different record in the customer table.
The solutions for this are to reassign a matching OID for both
tables. This is costly because you must find one that is free in
both tables, use a database join table, which is less efficient, or
place a foreign key in one or both tables. This is wasteful if
there are only a few employees who are also customers.
If the OID is unique within the class hierarchy, then this problem is
alleviated. You do not need to reassign OIDs when changes occur
within the class hierarchy, such as a customer becoming an
employee.
If the OIDs are unique across all classes, you never have to change
them based on the object model. This provides the best results for
unique object identification, but can result in slower performance.

3
Creating Object IDs
You can use the following approaches to calculate OIDs.
Single-row table
High/low
Single-row Table
In this method, use a single-row table that stores the next available
unique OID. Each time the OID is used and assigned to a new object,
the value in the table is incremented.
However, there are concurrency issues because each time you create an
object, you must lock the table and update the OID to ensure the OID
is not duplicated. This can significantly decrease performance because
the same table must be accessed every time a new object is created.

3
Creating Object IDs
High/Low
With the high/low approach, the OID is a String composed of two
parts, a high and a low value. By appending the low value to the high,
you create a unique OID for each object.
The first part, or high value, comes from a single-row table that is
retrieved at the beginning of the session. However, the high-low
approach is different from the single-row table approach because
you do not have to retrieve the value from the table for each
object; you do it only once per user session. Each user retrieves a
different value, but during that session each user has the same
high value. All OIDs are based on the high value but differentiated
by an incremented low value.
The second part, or low value, is assigned and incremented by the

application. It is appended to the high value, and is incremented
with each new object. It typically occurs with any save operation;
the value is sometimes incremented using a third value to
distinguish between saves.

3
Creating Object IDs
High/Low
For example, assume a single-row table has the value 5000 and is
incremented by 1 at the beginning of each session. The application
begins the low values at 1 for each user and increments the low values
by 1 each time the user creates an object.
Note This process is illustrated in Figure 3-1 on page 3-14.
1. When user A starts the application, he or she retrieves the high

value from the table (5000). User A uses this high value
throughout the session.
2. The high value is incremented to 5001.
3. User B logs in and retrieves the next high value from the table,
5001.
4. The high value is incremented to 5002.
5. When user A creates his or her first new object, such as a new
customer record, the OID is 5000 with 1 appended to produce the
OID 50001.
The second object created by user A is 50002, and so on.
6. When user B creates new objects, they are assigned OIDs of 50011,
50012, and so on.

3
Creating Object IDs
High/Low
Figure 3-1 illustrates each step in the example.
High Value
1 User A
5000
High Value
2 User A
5000 5001
5000
High Value
3 User B
5001
High Value
4 User B
5001 5002
5001
User A
5000
OID CustID FirstName LastName SSN

5
50001 C239PPL Joe Mays 674-58-4013
User B
5001
OID CustID FirstName LastName SSN

6
50011 C244SOL Kara Stelter 101-12-0086
50012 C249FGW Mike Grom 503-50-9901
Figure 3-1 High/Low Example

3
Object-Relational Mapping
Once you have determined how to uniquely identify each object, you
need to design the tables in your database, and decide how they will
relate to the classes in your application.
In an object-oriented application, data is stored as sets of related

values (attributes in OOAD terminology) within an object. (You can
store the attributes of an object in the relational database, but not the
operations.)
Relational databases store data as sets of related values (rows) within

one or more tables. This means that an important task in determining
a data storage strategy for an application is to map the object model to
the relational model. To do so, map the attributes of the classes to the
appropriate relational tables.

3
Inheritance complicates mapping classes to tables, because any

subclass has more attributes than are in the class definition. An
important part of mapping is deciding how to store the inherited
attributes in the database: in the same table as the subclass table, or in
another table.
Note Objects, not classes, are stored in tables. The point at which you
actually save the objects in the database is implementation-dependent.

3
To connect your object model with the database, complete these steps
before you begin defining your database.
Map classes to tables
Map attributes to columns
Map class relationships to tables

3
Mapping Classes to Tables
Classes map to tables, but usually not directly. With a simple object
model, you can achieve a one-to-one mapping of object to table.
However, most object models are not simple.
Most object models have some inheritance, which causes the most
complexity when mapping classes to tables. There are three
fundamental approaches to mapping class inheritance to a relational
database; you can choose to follow any that meet your needs.
One table for each class

One table for an entire class hierarchy
One table for each concrete class
Note Depending on the method or methods you choose, your object

model can change because you might not need some attributes. These
changes are noted on the following pages.
In addition, with any of these approaches, you might need to map

two or more classes to one table, if you have created some objects
with very few attributes.

3
One Table for Every Class

This approach, shown in Figure 3-2, has one table per class. Each class,
regardless of type, has a table. Inherited attributes are not stored in the
table, so no data is duplicated across tables.
Classes
abstractPerson
personOID
firstName
lastName
address
Customer Employee
customerOID employeeOID
salutation SSN
Tables
Person
personOID firstName lastName address
Customer Employee
customerOID salutation personOID employeeOID SSN personOID
Figure 3-2 Mapping One Table for Each Class

3
Note personOID is not in the Customer and Employee classes in the

object model in Figure 3-2, but was added to the Customer and
Employee tables so that it can be used to look up information in those
tables. It is stored and maintained in all three tables.

3
Advantages
This approach most closely conforms to object-oriented concepts.
It supports polymorphism because an object can have multiple

roles.
It is easy to add an attribute to a class, because you affect only one

table. Maintenance is simple because there is no duplication. You
can quickly create new subclasses by adding an additional table.

3
Disadvantages
There are many tables to maintain.
It takes longer to read and write to the tables, because you might
have to read from multiple tables to create one object.
Reporting without a prepared report becomes extremely difficult

because of all the different tables, though you can alleviate this by
using database views.

3
One Table for Each Concrete Class

This approach has one table per concrete class (a class that is not
abstract). Each table would contain all attributes for the class plus the
attributes of the inherited class. Figure 3-3 shows mapping the Person,
Employee, and Customer classes using this approach.
Classes
abstractPerson
firstName
lastName
address
Customer Employee
customerOID employeeID
salutation SSN
Tables
Customer
firstName lastName address customerOID salutation
Employee
firstName lastName address employeeOID SSN
Figure 3-3 Mapping One Table for Each Concrete Class

3
Note In Figure 3-3, each subclass has its own OID, because there is a
table for each. personOID was removed from the abstractPerson class
in the object model because there is no table in that class for this
approach to table design.

3
Advantages
Reporting directly from tables, without a prepared report, is still

easy, because all the data you need to access is available from one
table per class.
Disadvantages
To modify a class, you must modify its table and the tables for any
subclasses.
Data definitions are duplicated. In the Person abstract class

example, if a Person is both a Customer and an Employee, data for
the Person class is duplicated in both the Customer and Employee
tables. Therefore, the data is difficult to maintain.

3
One Table for an Entire Class Hierarchy

This approach has one table for all attributes of all classes in the
hierarchy. Figure 3-4 shows mapping the Person, Employee, and
Customer classes.
Classes
abstractPerson
firstName
lastName
address
personOID
Customer Employee
salutation SSN
Table
Person
firstName lastName address personOID salutation SSN
Figure 3-4 Mapping One Table for an Entire Class Hierarchy

3
Advantages
It is easy to understand how the tables are related.
Polymorphism is supported.
ad hoc reporting (reporting directly from tables without a pre-made

report) is easy. For example, assume there is an abstract Person
class that has subclasses of Employee and Customer. With one
table for the entire class hierarchy, if the Person were to take on
different roles then all the necessary data is available.

3
Disadvantages
Database tables can become extremely large. All fields are not
needed for all records; for example, the salutation field is required
only for customers, not employees.
It is difficult and costly to enforce rules on the database. Business

rules needed for only some fields are applied to all fields in the
row, and the rules can conflict, slow performance, or both.
Each time you add a new attribute anywhere in the class

hierarchy, the database table requires a change.
When you add a new column, if it cannot have a null value, you
must update all records with a value for that column.
Routine maintenance, such as removing damaged rows, takes

longer.
Many operations need to access the same table, which can reduce
performance.

3
Mapping Two Classes to One Table

In some situations, you might need to map two classes to one
relational table. Figure 3-5 shows an example.
Classes
Address PostalCode
addressOID addressOID
line1 postcodeOID
line2 postalCode
city
state
Table
addressOID line1 line2 city state postcodeOID postalCode
Figure 3-5 Mapping Two Classes to One Table

3
Mapping Two Classes to One Table

Figure 3-5 shows an example of an Address class that has a postal
code. You might want postal code to be a class of its own, so you can
verify that the postal code is valid for a state and city. However, when
you map to the relational table, you would combine the Address and
Postal Code classes into one table.

3
Mapping Class Attributes to Table Columns
Once you have mapped classes to tables, you need to map the class
attributes to columns in the tables. To do so, first review Table 3-1,
which shows the standard Java technology data types (Java types)
and the corresponding common SQL types.
Table 3-1 Mapping SQL Types to Java Types
SQL Type Java Type
CHAR String
VARCHAR String
LONGVARCHAR String
NUMERIC java.math.BigDecimal
DECIMAL java.math.BigDecimal
BIT boolean
TINYINT byte
SMALLINT short
INTEGER int
BIGINT long
REAL float
FLOAT double
DOUBLE double
BINARY byte[]
VARBINARY byte[]
LONGVARBINARY byte[]
DATE java.sql.Date
TIME java.sql.Time
TIMESTAMP java.sql.Timestamp

3
Mapping Class Attributes to Table Columns
You need to understand how to manage data translation between the

application and database so that there is no chance for data truncation
or incorrect conversion. For every attribute to be stored on the
database, decide what its corresponding SQL data type will be.
Several of the Java types have two or more corresponding types in

SQL, so you must decide how you will store data with these Java types
in the database.

3
Mapping Class Relationships to Tables
Now that you have mapped the classes to tables, you need to map the
object relationships to tables in the database.
Foreign keys are used to reference a row in another table, to implement

class relationships in their corresponding tables. If you store the
primary key from table A in table B, that primary key is a foreign key
for table A.
To implement the one-to-one or one-to-many relationships in an object

model, you need a primary key in one table and a foreign key in the
other. If you use the OID as the primary key, then that OID becomes a
foreign key in the related table.

3
One-to-One Relationships
In a one-to-one relationship, the mapping is straightforward.
Sometimes it is only one-way; one table references another. Figure 3-6
illustrates the one-to-one relationship.
Classes
Car Engine
1 1
carOID engOID
engOID carOID
year model
model cylinders
doors serNum
Tables
Car
carOID engOID year model doors
Engine
engOID carOID model cylinders serNum
Figure 3-6 One-to-One Relationship

3
One-to-One Relationships
Figure 3-6 shows an example of the relationship between a Car class
and an Engine class, with a corresponding table for each. It is a one-to-
one relationship where the Car OID would be in the Engine table as a
foreign key, or the Engine OID would be in the Car table as a foreign
key.

3
One-to-Many Relationships
In a one-to-many relationship, for every one record in the first table
there are one or more records in the second table. The OID of the class
in the first table is added to the class of the second table.
Figure 3-7 shows tables for Order and OrderLine classes, which have a
one-to-many relationship from Order to OrderLine (each order can
have one or more line items; each line item can have only one order).
Classes
Order OrderLine
1 *
orderOID OLOID
isPrePaid orderOID
number quantity
dateReceived price
orderlines[ ]
Tables
Order
orderOID isPrePaid number dateReceived
OrderLine
OLOID orderOID quantity price
Figure 3-7 One-to-Many Relationship Mapping

3
One-to-Many Relationships
In an order entry program, for example, there are many line items for
each order, so the orderOID is added to the OrderLine table. Add the
orderLineOID to the Order table because you need an array in the
Order table to handle all the orderLineOIDs that are associated with
the order.

3
Many-to-Many Relationships
Figure 3-8 shows the object model and tables with a many-to-many
relationship.
Classes
Address Customer
* *
addrOID custOID
line1 name
line2 address [ ]
city
state
postalCode
Tables
Address
addrOID line1 line2 city state postalCode
Customer CustomerAddress table (join table)

custOID name addrOID custOID
Figure 3-8 Many-to-Many Relationship Mapping

3
Figure 3-8 show the relationship of Address to Customer; a Customer
can have many Addresses and an Address can belong to many
Customers. In this case, you can use a join table, such as
CustomerAddress, to link the class attributes.

3
Table 3-1 shows possible OID values in each of the three tables, with
the many-to-many relationships in boldface.
Table 3-2 Join Table in Many-to-Many Relationship
Address table Join table Customer table
addrOID addrOID custOID custOID

38 38 23 23
7 38 314 314
114 10 3 614
584 22 43 39
48 93 47 322
22 22 15 15
10 7 15 3

3
Exercise: OOAD and Database Design
Exercise objective Practice the concepts you have learned in this

module.
Tasks

provide them.

3
Exercise: OOAD and Database Design
Exercise Summary
Experiences
Interpretations
Conclusions
Applications

3
Check Your Progress
Describe the purpose of an object ID
Describe two ways to create an object ID
Given a class diagram, map objects to a relational database
Given a class diagram, map object relationships in the database

3
Think Beyond
What additional features would you like to have available for use in a
database application?

JDBC Advanced Topics 4
Objectives
Write code to catch exceptions in JDBC processes
View metadata for a table or result set
Create transactions
Use concurrency control to determine how data is read and

changed
This module describes the JDBC 1.0 topics of exception handling,

metadata, transactions, and concurrency control.
4-1
4
Relevance
Discussion Multi-user access to a database can require you to make

decisions, such as whether to allow changes that have not yet been
committed. What similar situations might you encounter when
manipulating data in a database?

4
Exceptions
Overview
When a Java application communicates with the database, the
following elements are present:
The application
The JDBC code, which takes requests from the application,

translates them to queries, then executes them on the server
The database
When any part of this process goes wrong, the server must tell the
application. This is usually done using a SQLException, which
indicates any kind of error during a JDBC operation, or SQLWarning,
which indicates nonfatal problems. To address exceptions, use a
try/catch or throw construct.
JDBC Advanced Topics 4-3

4
Exceptions
SQLException
SQLException is different from other exceptions because it can have a
list of exception objects.
In the SQLException class, the method getNextException returns

the SQLException object that is next in line. In addition,
getErrorCode returns an integer error code specified by the database
vendor, and getMessage returns a String error.
Possible failure points include:
JDBC-server communication, such as physical problems with the

connecting cable
Incorrectly formatted commands
Use of unsupported functions
Referencing records that do not exist

4
Exceptions
SQLException
Many errors can occur on the server, such as attempting to select
columns that do not exist. An error is returned for each incorrect
column name.

4
Exceptions
SQLWarning
SQLWarning is a subclass of SQLException that is returned for non-
fatal SQL states. SQLWarnings are not thrown; they are chained
together, and you can refer to them at any time. To retrieve them, call
the getWarnings method. You can call this method on several
different objects: anything that could generate a warning, such as a
Connection, all statement objects, and a ResultSet.
SQLWarning has the same methods as SQLException, except that you

should use getNextWarning, instead of getNextException.

4
Metadata
Metadata is information about data, such as the column definitions in

the table. Data is a persons phone number; metadata is how many
characters the number can contain, whether the data is alphanumeric,
and so on.
Knowing the metadata for the information your application stores can
be very useful. The data is always available, which means you do not
need to generate it, only retrieve it.
Two types of metadata are available through the JDBC API:
Database metadata
Result set metadata

4
Metadata
Database Metadata
Use the Connection.getMetaData method to retrieve database
metadata.
This method returns a DatabaseMetaData reference that allows you to

use a number of methods to get information about the database. For
example, the isReadOnly method returns a boolean indicating
whether the database is editable.

4
Metadata
Result Set Metadata

Use the ResultSetMetaData class to view information about a result
set. If you want to use the metadata for result set, call the
ResultSet.getMetaData method for your result set; it retrieves a
ResultSetMetaData reference.
Once the reference is retrieved, you can use a variety of methods to

retrieve the information, such as getColumnCount to return an integer
that specifies the number of columns in the result set. You could then
iterate through the columns and retrieve the column names.

4
Transactions
Overview
In database manipulation, a transaction is a logical group of work
consisting of one or more instructions. For example, the instructions
might be to enter a customer record, create a new order record, add a
line item to an order, and so on.
For a transaction to execute successfully, all of its instructions must be

successfully executed for the database. If there is an error any time
during transaction execution, the previous operations must be
reversed. This is referred to as backing out or performing a rollback on
a transaction. Use transactions to partition work to minimize the
chances of data corruption.

4
Transactions
JDBC Transaction Methods

To perform transactions in JDBC, perform the following steps:
Call the setAutoCommit method with a boolean value of false.

This method allows you to turn on or off the default commit
process. In standard data manipulation, a connection by default
has auto-commit enabled. This means that every SQL statement is
considered a transaction and is committed upon successful
completion of the SQL statement. setAutoCommit(false) turns
off auto-commit mode.
Perform one or more operations on the database. For transactions,

you can perform SQL INSERT, DELETE, and UPDATE operations.
You can do this using the executeUpdate method (available for
Statement, PreparedStatement and CallableStatement).
To finalize the changes, call the commit method. Calling the

commit method on the connection makes all changes that have
been made since the previous commit/rollback permanent and
releases any database locks currently held by the Connection.
This method should be used only when auto-commit mode has
been disabled.
To drop the changes since the last commit, call the rollback
method. Calling the rollback method on the connection drops all
changes that have been made since the previous commit/rollback
and releases any database locks currently held by this
Connection. This method should be used only when auto-commit
has been disabled.
Note Put a rollback in a catch block when performing exception

handling in transactional code.

4
Transactions
Basic Syntax
Syntax
In the following syntax, transactionEndMethod is either commit or

rollback.
1 Connection conRefVar = DriverManager.getConnection(urlString);
2 conRefVar.setAutoCommit(false);
3 Statement stmtRefVar = con.createStatement();
4 stmtRefVar.executeUpdate(sqlString);
5 conRefVar.transactionEndMethod;
Example
The following code shows a series of inserts and updates combined

into a transaction.
1 try {
2 con.setAutoCommit(false);
4 stmt.executeUpdate("INSERT INTO customer(1011,'XYZ Corporation')");
5 stmt.executeUpdate("INSERT INTO order(21,1011,12.43f)");
6 con.commit();
7 } catch (SQLException ex) {
8 try {
9 con.rollback();
10 } catch (SQLException ex2){}
11 }

4
Transactions
Concurrency Control
Creating a transaction in the JDBC API is handled through the
Connection interface. For each connection, you can identify the
transaction isolation level, which determines what types of manipulation
are allowed. For example, it lets you control whether a row is reread if
it is altered after the first read.
The transaction isolation levels control the following:
Dirty reads When a row changed by one transaction is read by

another transaction before any changes in that row have been
committed.
Non-repeatable reads When one transaction reads a row, a

second transaction alters the row, and the first transaction rereads
the row, getting different values the second time.
Phantom reads When one transaction reads all rows that satisfy
a WHERE condition, a second transaction inserts a row that
satisfies that WHERE condition; the first transaction rereads for
the same condition, getting the additional row in the second read.

4
Transactions
Concurrency Control
To see the current isolation level, use the getTransactionIsolation
method.
To set the transaction isolation level, call the

Connection.setTransactionIsolation method.
The following static variables set the isolation level.
TRANSACTION_NONE Indicates that transactions are not

supported. This is typically used to test whether a driver or
database supports transactions.
TRANSACTION_READ_UNCOMMITTED Allows dirty reads,

non-repeatable reads, and phantom reads. If any of the changes
are rolled back, the second transaction will have retrieved an
invalid row.

4
Transactions
Concurrency Control
TRANSACTION_READ_COMMITTED Prevents dirty reads.
Non-repeatable reads and phantom reads can occur.
TRANSACTION_REPEATABLE_READ Prevents dirty reads and

non-repeatable reads. Phantom reads can occur.
TRANSACTION_SERIALIZABLE Prevents dirty reads, non-

repeatable reads, and phantom reads.

4
Transactions
Concurrency Control
Syntax
conRefVar.setTransactionIsolation(Connection.isolationLevel);
Note This method cannot be called while in the middle of a

transaction.
Example
1 Connection con;
2 con.setTransactionIsolation
(Connection.TRANSACTION_READ_UNCOMMITTED);
3 InitialContext initCtx =
Class.forName("oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver");
4 con = DriverManager.getConnection
("jdbc:oracle:thin:@java1.com:1521:accounts", "marcl","mpuppet");

4
Exercise: JDBC Advanced Topics
Exercise objective Practice the concepts you have learned in this

module.
Tasks

provide them.

4
Exercise: JDBC Advanced Topics
Exercise Summary
Experiences
Interpretations
Conclusions
Applications

4
Check Your Progress
Write code to catch exceptions in JDBC processes
View metadata for a table or result set
Create transactions
Use concurrency control to determine how data is read and

changed

4
Think Beyond
What additional features would be useful in a database application?

JDBC 2.0 Core Features 5
Objectives
List the new features in the JDBC 2.0 Core API
Explain how to scroll forward and backward within a result set
Understand how to use a scroll cursor to process the results of a

query
Use a scroll cursor to manipulate data in the database
Describe how to perform batch processing with statements
List the new data types added to JDBC 2.0
This module describes how to use the main features added in the latest
release of the JDBC API.
5-1
5
Relevance
Discussion Should a result set show or hide changes that have been
made to a database since it was retrieved? What advantages and
disadvantages are there for each approach?

5
Enhancements to the JDBC 2.0 API
JDBC 2.0 has two sets of enhancements.
The JDBC 2.0 Core API
Based on current Java technology features, and provided in the

java.sql package. These features are covered in this module.
The JDBC 2.0 Standard Extension API
Based on extended Java technology features not included in the

Java 2 Standard Edition, and provided in the javax.sql package.
These features are covered in Module 6, JDBC 2.0 Standard
Extensions.
JDBC 2.0 Core Features 5-3

5
Enhancements to the JDBC 2.0 API
Core API Enhancements

These features are almost all required to be implemented by driver
vendors who want to be JDBC 2.0 compliant.
JDBC 2.0 is a superset of JDBC 1.0. The classes and interfaces in the
java.sql package works for database drivers for either specification,
provided that you do not try to use the expanded JDBC 2.0
functionality with a JDBC 1.0 driver. Core API features in the JDBC 2.0
include:
Result set enhancements
Scrollability
Updatability
Enhancements to Statement, CallableStatement, and
PreparedStatement, for batch updates
Advanced JDBC data types to support SQL3
Each of these features is covered in more detail in this module.

5
Result Set Enhancements
The JDBC 2.0 API includes two types of enhancements for result sets.
Scrollability
Allows you to scroll forward and backward within a result set
Enables absolute and relative positioning
Updatability Allows you to manipulate data using a scroll cursor
Note JDBC driver vendors are not required to implement these

enhancements to be designated as JDBC 2.0 compliant.

5
Scrollability
Scroll Settings
In JDBC 1.0, a ResultSet was forward only. In JDBC 2.0, a ResultSet

can be any of the following:
Forward-only
Scroll-insensitive
Scroll-sensitive
The forward-only mode matches the functionality provided in JDBC

1.0.

5
Scrollability
Scroll Settings
Scroll-sensitive and scroll-insensitive result sets differ in two ways

from the JDBC 1.0 functionality.
You can move forward or backward within the ResultSet.
You can specify whether the ResultSet displays changes made

while it is open (scroll-sensitive) or whether it does not (scroll-
insensitive).
A scroll-sensitive ResultSet provides a dynamic view of the

database. This means that while your ResultSet is open, any
changes that clients make to the rows in the database also
show up in your ResultSet.
The scroll-insensitive ResultSet is generally not sensitive to

changes that are made to the database data while it is open. It
is a static view of the underlying database, meaning the order
of rows and column values are set at the time of creation.
Use the Statement.getResultSetType method to determine what a

result sets scrolling type is currently set to.

5
Scrollability
Scroll Settings
You can use the items listed in Table 5-1 to control scroll sensitivity
and other aspects of the result set. (These are also listed in the Java 2
Platform API Specification.)
Table 5-1 Field Summary
Field Type Description
CONCUR_READ_ONLY static int The concurrency mode for a

ResultSet object that you can not
update.
CONCUR_UPDATABLE static int The concurrency mode for a
ResultSet object that you can
update. You can update, insert,
and delete rows in an updatable
result set.
FETCH_FORWARD static int The rows in a result set are
processed in a forward direction;
first-to-last.
FETCH_REVERSE static int The rows in a result set are
processed in a reverse direction;
last-to-first.
FETCH_UNKNOWN static int The order in which rows in a result
set are processed is unknown.
TYPE_FORWARD_ONLY static int The type for a ResultSet object
whose cursor can move only
forward.
TYPE_SCROLL_INSENSITIVE static int The type for a ResultSet object
that is scrollable but not sensitive
to changes made by others.
TYPE_SCROLL_SENSITIVE static int The type for a ResultSet object
that is scrollable and sensitive to
changes made by others.

5
Scrollability
Scroll Settings
Syntax
Statement stmtRefVar = conRefVar.createStatement
(int resultSetType, int resultSetConcurrency);
ResultSet resultsetRefVar = stmtRefVar.executeQuery
(sqlString);
Examples
This example uses none of the new features, and works in JDBC 1.0 or
2.0, using only 1.0 functionality.
3 ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery("SELECT * FROM employees");
The previous example has been modified to use 2.0 features. It

establishes the connection, then uses 2.0 features to create a scrollable
result set that is updatable and scroll-sensitive.
2 Statement stmt = con.createStatement(
ResultSet.TYPE_SCROLL_SENSITIVE,ResultSet.CONCUR_UPDATABLE);

5
Scrollability
Scroll Settings
This example shows an example of an updatable, scroll-sensitive

cursor that retrieves 25 rows at a time: To specify the number of rows
to be retrieved at a time, use the Statement.setFetchSize method.
2 Statement stmt = con.createStatement(
ResultSet.TYPE_SCROLL_SENSITIVE,ResultSet.CONCUR_UPDATABLE);
3 stmt.setFetchSize(25);

5
Scrollability
Positioning
A ResultSet can also support absolute and relative positioning.

Absolute positioning is the ability to move directly to a row by
specifying its position in the ResultSet. Relative positioning is the
ability to move to a row by specifying a new row that is forward a
given number of rows from the current row position.

5
Scrollability
Positioning
You can use the methods in Table 5-2 to move and position within the
result set; these methods and others not listed here are included in the
API Specification.
Table 5-2 Methods
Method Type Description
absolute(int row) boolean Moves the cursor to the given row

number in the result set.
afterLast() void Moves the cursor to the end of the
result set, just after the last row.
beforeFirst() void Moves the cursor to the front of the
result set, just before the first row.
first() boolean Moves the cursor to the first row in
the result set.
last() boolean Moves the cursor to the last row in
the result set.
next() boolean Moves the cursor down one row
from its current position.
previous() boolean Moves the cursor to the previous
row in the result set.
relative(int) boolean Moves the cursor a relative
number of rows, either positive or
negative.

5
Scrollability
Positioning
The JDBC 2.0 API also provides methods for you to determine where
you are within the ResultSet, shown in Table 5-3:
Table 5-3 Methods for Maneuvering Within the ResultSet
Method Type Description
isAfterLast() boolean Indicates whether the cursor is

after the last row in the result set.
isBeforeFirst() void Indicates whether the cursor is
before the first row in the result set.
isFirst() void Indicates whether the cursor is on
the first row of the result set.
isLast() boolean Indicates whether the cursor is on
the last row of the result set.

5
Updatability
Updatability allows you to manipulate data using the ResultSet scroll
cursor. This provides the capability of using one query to read
multiple rows from a database, then update rows in the database one
at a time. You can update, delete, and insert rows.
You can update a result set if the concurrency type is

CONCUR_UPDATABLE. You can use the
Statement.getResultSetConcurrency method to determine what a
result sets concurrency type is currently set to. The statement
constructor allows you to set the concurrency type. Table 5-1 on page
5-8 lists concurrency types.

5
Updatability
To update the specific columns of a row, use the updateXXX methods,
which associate to the column type.
Updating a Row
The concurrency type must be CONCUR_UPDATABLE.
Syntax
Write an updateXXX statement for each column to update.

resultsetRefVar.updateXXX(column, value);
resultsetRefVar.updateRow();
column can be either the column number or name.
Example
The following code updates the first row of the result set.
1 rs.updateString(1, "100020");
2 rs.updateFloat("salary",60000.0f);
3 rs.updateRow();
You can specify the column number or column name when calling
updateXXX. The update performed on the result set is not applied to
the underlying database until you call updateRow. If you move the
cursor from the current row before calling updateRow, then the update
is discarded. In addition, you can call cancelRowUpdate to explicitly
cancel the updates, but you must call it before you make a call to
updateRow.

5
Updatability
Deleting a Row
Syntax
resultsetRefVar.deleteRow();
Example
The following example shows how to delete a row. The sixth row in
the result set is deleted from the database.
1 rs.absolute(6);
2 rs.deleteRow();
Inserting a New Row
To insert a new row, use the method moveToInsertRow to position the

cursor at the next empty row for creating the context of a new row.
Use the same updateXXX methods to set the values of specific columns
of the insert row before inserting it into the database with insertRow.
A ResultSet tracks the previous cursor position while the cursor is
temporarily positioned at the insert row, and the cursor is
automatically returned to that cursor position after the insert is
completed.
Syntax
Write an updateXXX statement for each column to update.

resultsetRefVar.movetoInsertRow();
resultsetRefVar.updateXXX(column, value);
resultsetRefVar.insertRow();

5
Updatability
Inserting a New Row
Example
The following example shows how to insert a new row into the
ResultSet and database.
1 rs.moveToInsertRow(); rs.updateString(1, "100050");
2 rs.updateFloat(2, 80000.0f);
3 rs.insertRow();

5
Updatability
Restrictions
Due to differences in database implementations, the JDBC 2.0 API

does not specify an exact set of SQL queries that yield an updatable
result set. This is regardless of whether concurrency is set to
CONCUR_UPDATABLE.
Queries that meet the following criteria can produce an updatable

ResultSet. Other scenarios depend on the JDBC driver vendors
implementation.
The query references only a single table.
The query does not contain any join operations.
The query selects the primary key of the table.
The query selects all of the non-nullable columns in the table, and
all columns that do not have a default value.

5
Statement Enhancements for Batch Updates
The batch update feature allows you to submit multiple SQL

commands to a database for processing at once. Submitting multiple
updates together, instead of individually, can greatly improve
performance in some situations.
The JDBC API cannot perform any operation during batch processing
that would produce a result set; if a result set is produced, an
exception is thrown. This ensures that you do not write code that can
generate multiple ResultSet objects during batch operations. Any
attempt to execute a ResultSet that produces a JDBC action during
batch operations results in an exception.
You can use the following to submit batch updates:
Statement
PreparedStatement
CallableStatement

5
Statement
The batch update feature allows a Statement object to submit a set of
heterogeneous update commands together as a single unit, or batch, to
the underlying DBMS. In the following example, all of the update
operations required to insert a new employee record into a company
database are submitted as a single batch.
Syntax
Statement stmtRefVar = conRefVar.createStatement();
stmtRefVar.addBatch(sqlString);
// submit a batch of update commands for execution
intArrayRefVar = stmtRefVar.executeBatch();

5
Statement
Example
3 stmt.addBatch("INSERT INTO employees VALUES (1000, 'Joe Mays')");
4 stmt.addBatch("INSERT INTO departments VALUES (260, 'Shoe')");
5 stmt.addBatch("INSERT INTO emp_dept VALUES (1000, 260)");
6 int[] updateCounts = stmt.executeBatch();
7 con.commit();
In this example, auto-commit mode is disabled to prevent the JDBC

API from committing the transaction when the
Statement.executeBatch method is called. Disabling autocommit
allows the application to decide whether to commit the transaction in
the event that an error occurs and some of the commands in a batch
fail to execute. For this reason, you should usually turn off auto-
commit mode when you do batch updates.

5
Statement
In JDBC 2.0, a Statement object can keep track of a list of commands
that can be submitted together for execution. When a statement is
created, its associated list of commands is empty. The
Statement.addBatch method adds an element (a SQL command) to
the calling statements list of commands.
A SQLException is thrown when Statement.executeBatch is called

if the batch contains a command that attempts to return a result set.
Only Data Definition Language (DDL) and Data Manipulation
Language (DML) commands that return a simple update count can be
executed as part of a batch. You can call the method
Statement.clearBatch to reset a batch if the application decides not
to submit a batch of commands that has been constructed for a
statement.

5
Statement
The Statement.executeBatch method submits a batch of commands
to the underlying DBMS for execution. Commands are executed in the
order in which they were added to the batch. The executeBatch
method returns an array of update counts for the commands that were
executed. The array contains one entry for each command in the batch,
and the elements in the array are ordered according to the order in
which the commands were executed (which, again, is the same as the
order in which the commands were originally added to the batch).
Calling executeBatch closes the calling Statement objects current
result set if one is open. The statementss internal list of batch
commands for the rest of the statements is reset to empty once
executeBatch returns.
The executeBatch method throws a BatchUpdateException if any

of the commands in the batch fail to execute properly. You can call the
BatchUpdateException.getUpdateCounts method to return an
integer array of update counts (int data types) for the commands in
the batch that were executed successfully.
The executeBatch method stops when the first command returns an

error, and commands are executed in the order that they are added to
the batch. Thefore, if the array returned by
BatchUpdateException.getUpdateCounts contains n elements, this
means that the first n commands in the batch executed successfully
when executeBatch was called.

5
PreparedStatement
The batch update feature is used with prepared statements to associate
multiple sets of input parameter values with a single
PreparedStatement object. The sets of parameter values can then be
sent to the underlying DBMS engine for execution as one unit.
The following example inserts two new employee records into a

database as a single batch. The PreparedStatement.setXXX methods
create each parameter set (one for each employee), and the
PreparedStatement.addBatch method adds a set of parameters to
the current batch.

5
PreparedStatement
Syntax
PreparedStatement pstmtRefVar = conRefVar.prepareStatement
(sqlString);
pstmtRefVar.setXXXMethod(column, value);
// add other lines as necessary
pstmtRefVar.addBatch();
// submit the batch for execution
intArrayRefVar = pstmtRefVar.executeBatch();
Example
2 PreparedStatement stmt = con.prepareStatement
("INSERT INTO employees VALUES (?, ?)");
3 stmt.setInt(1, 2000);
4 stmt.setString(2, "Joe Mays");
5 stmt.addBatch();
6 stmt.setInt(1, 3000);
7 stmt.setString(2, "Kara Stelter");
8 stmt.addBatch();
9 // submit the batch for execution
10 int[] updateCounts = stmt.executeBatch();
11 con.commit();
Finally, PreparedStatement.executeBatch is called to submit the

updates to the DBMS, then commit. Error handling in the case of
PreparedStatement objects is analogous to error handling for
Statement objects.

5
CallableStatement
The batch update feature works the same way with
CallableStatement objects as it does with PreparedStatement
objects. You can associate multiple sets of input parameter values with
a callable statement and send them to the DBMS together.
Stored procedures invoked using the batch update facility with a

callable statement:
Must return an update count
Cannot have out or inout parameters
This means that you can perform batch operations on

CallableStatement objects, such as database stored procedures, but
you cannot have any values in the CallableStatement that can
potentially be output. The CallableStatement.executeBatch
method should throw an exception if this restriction is violated.

5
Advanced Data Types
Overview
The data types commonly referred to as SQL3 types are the new data
types being adopted in the next version of the ANSI/ISO standard
(American National Standards Institute/International Organization for
Standardization). The JDBC 2.0 API provides interfaces that represent
the mapping of these SQL3 data types into the Java programming
language. With these new interfaces, you can work with SQL3 data
types the same way you do other data types.
The new SQL3 data types give a relational database more flexibility in
what can be used as a type for a table column. For example, you can
now use a column to store the new type BLOB (binary large object),
which can store large amounts of data as raw bytes. A column can also
be of type CLOB (character large object), which can store large amounts
of data in character format. The new type ARRAY makes it possible to
use an array as a column value. The new SQL user-defined types,
structured types, and distinct types, can now be stored as column
values.

5
Advanced Data Types
Overview
The following list includes the JDBC 2.0 interfaces that map the SQL3
types.
A Blob instance maps a SQL BLOB instance (stores a large amount

of binary data, such as images, audio files, and objects; size is
typically database specific).
A Clob instance maps a SQL CLOB instance (stores a large amount

of text data, such as documents and large strings; size is typically
database specific).
An Array instance maps a SQL ARRAY instance.
A Struct instance maps a SQL structured type instance.
A Ref instance maps a SQL REF instance.

5
Advanced Data Types
Using SQL3 Data Types

Retrieve, store, and update SQL3 data types the same way you do
other data types. Use either ResultSet, getXXX, or
CallableStatement.getXXX methods to retrieve them,
PreparedStatement.setXXX methods to store them, and updateXXX
methods to update them. Approximately 90 percent of the operations
performed on SQL3 types involve using the getXXX, setXXX, and
updateXXX methods.
Table 5-4 shows which methods to use.
Table 5-4 SQL3 Types and Corresponding Methods
SQL3 Type getXXX setXXX updateXXX

ResultSet CallableStatement ResultSet
PreparedStatement
BLOB getBlob setBlob updateBlob

CLOB getClob setClob updateClob
ARRAY getArray setArray updateArray
Structured type getObject setObject updateObject
REF (structured type) getRef setRef updateRef
Arrays
For example, the following code fragment retrieves a SQL ARRAY

value. For this example, the column SCORES in the table STUDENTS
contains values of type ARRAY. The variable stmt is a Statement
object.
1 ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery(
"SELECT scores FROM students WHERE id = 2238");
2 rs.next();
3 Array scores = rs.getArray("scores");
The variable scores is a logical pointer to the SQL ARRAY object stored
in the table students in the row for student 2238.

5
Advanced Data Types
Arrays
The following example shows how to get an array of primitives.

1 import java.sql.*;
2
3 public class DBArray{
4 public static void main(String [] args){
5 try{
6 Class.forName("DriverClass");
7 Connection cnct = DriverManager.getConnection("ConnectInfo");
8 Statement stmt = cnct.createStatement();
9 // Create and execute the query
10 String dbQuery =
"SELECT scores FROM students WHERE id = 2238";
11 ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery(dbQuery);
12 // If you get a record back
13 if (rs.next()){
14 // Get array and store underlying Object reference.
15 // The object will be a type of array, but you must
16 // check for which type it is by using the instanceof
17 // keyword (unless you know the storage type in advance)
18 Array scores = rs.getArray("scores");
19 Object arrayVar = scores.getArray();
20 // If the object reference is an array of float,
21 // cast it and retrieve all of the values, printing
22 // the result.
23 if (arrayVar instanceof float []){
24 float [] scoreValues = (float [])arrayVar;
25 for (int i = 0; i < scoreValues.length; i++){
26 System.out.println(scoreValues[i]);
27 }
28 }
29 }
30 }
31 catch (Exception exc){}
32 }
33 }

5
Advanced Data Types
Clob
2 import java.io.*;
3
4 public class ReadDBClob{
5
6 public static void main(String [] args){
7
8 try{
9 Class.forName("str");
10 Connection cnct = DriverManager.getConnection("str");
11 Statement stmt = cnct.createStatement();
12 // Create and execute the query
13 String dbQuery = "SELECT notes FROM support_rec WHERE
id = 2238";
14 ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery(dbQuery);
15 // If you get a record back
16 if (rs.next()){
17 // Get the CLOB and use it to construct a BufferedReader
18 // (so that you can get the CLOBs content. Clob
19 // is just a reference in Java; to use the underlying CLOB
20 // in the DB, you have to get an InputStream or Reader)
21 Clob sptNotes = rs.getClob("notes");
22 BufferedReader dbNote = new
BufferedReader(sptNotes.getCharacterStream());
23 String clobLine = dbNote.readLine();
24 // Echo the content to standard output
25 while (clobLine != null){
26 System.out.println(clobLine);
27 clobLine = dbNote.readLine();
28 }
29 }
30 }
31 catch (Exception exc){}
32 }
33 }

5
Advanced Data Types
Blob, Clob, and Array Objects

An important feature of Blob, Clob, and Array objects is that you can
manipulate them without having to bring all of the data from the
database server to your client machine. An instance of any of these
types is actually a logical pointer to the object in the database that the
instance represents. A SQL BLOB, CLOB, or ARRAY object can be large, so
this feature can improve performance dramatically.
You can use SQL commands and the JDBC 1.0 and 2.0 API with Blob,
Clob, and Array objects just as if you were operating on the actual
object in the database. However, if you want to work with any of them
as an object in the Java programming language, you need to bring all
their data to the client, which is referred to as materializing the object.

5
Advanced Data Types
Blob, Clob, and Array Objects

For example, if you want to use a SQL ARRAY object in an application
as if it were an array in the Java programming language, you need to
materialize the ARRAY object on the client and then convert it to an
array in the Java programming language. Then you can use array
methods in the Java programming language to operate on the
elements of the array. The interfaces Blob, Clob, and Array all have
methods for materializing the objects they represent.

5
Advanced Data Types
Structured Types and Distinct Types

SQL structured types and distinct types are the two data types that a
user can define in SQL. They are often referred to as UDTs (user-
defined types), and you create them with a SQL CREATE TYPE
statement.

5
Advanced Data Types
Structured Types
A SQL structured type is similar to structured types in the Java
programming language in that it has members, called attributes, that
can be of any data type. In fact, an attribute can be another structured
type.
This example shows a simple definition creating a new SQL data type:
1 CREATE TYPE PLANE_POINT
2 (
3 X FLOAT,
4 Y FLOAT
5 )

5
Advanced Data Types
Structured Types
Unlike Blob, Clob, and Array objects, a Struct object contains values
for each of the attributes in the SQL structured type and is not just a
logical pointer to the object in the database. For example, suppose that
a PLANE_POINT object is stored in column POINTS of table PRICES.
1 ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery(
"SELECT points FROM prices WHERE price > 3000.00");
3 Struct point = (Struct)rs.getObject("points");
4 // do something with point
5 }
If the PLANE_POINT object retrieved has an X value of 3 and a Y value

of -5, the Struct object point contains the values 3 and -5.
You might have noticed that Struct is the only type not to have a
getXXX and setXXX method with its name as XXX. You must use
getObject and setObject with Struct instances. This means that
when you retrieve a value using the method getObject, you get an
Object in the Java programming language that you must explicitly
cast to a Struct, as was done in the previous code example.
You can retrieve the internal values by calling the getAttributes

method.

5
Advanced Data Types
Distinct Types
The second SQL type that a user can define in a SQL CREATE TYPE
statement is a distinct type. A SQL distinct type is similar to a typedef
in C or C++ because it is a new type based on an existing type. The
following is an example of creating a distinct type.
CREATE TYPE MONEY AS NUMERIC(10, 2)
This definition creates the new type called MONEY, which is a number of
type NUMERIC that is always base 10 with two digits after the decimal
point. MONEY is now a data type in the schema in which it was defined,
and you can store instances of MONEY in a table that has a column of
type MONEY.

5
Advanced Data Types
Distinct Types
A SQL distinct type is mapped to the type in the Java programming
language to which its underlying type would be mapped. For
example, NUMERIC maps to java.math.BigDecimal, so the type MONEY
maps to java.math.BigDecimal. To retrieve a MONEY object, use
ResultSet.getBigDecimal or CallableStatement.getBigDecimal;
to store a MONEY object, use PreparedStatement.setBigDecimal.

5
Advanced Data Types
SQL3 Advanced Features

The Struct interface is the standard mapping for a SQL structured
type. To make working with a SQL structured type easier, you can
map it to a class in the Java programming language. The structured
type becomes a class, and its attributes become fields. You do not have
to use a custom mapping, but it is often more convenient.
You might want to work with a logical pointer to a SQL structured

type rather than with all the values contained in the structured type.
This might be true, for example, if the structured type has many
attributes or if the attributes are themselves large. To reference a
structured type, you can declare a SQL REF type that represents a
particular structured type. A SQL REF object is mapped to a Ref object
in the Java programming language, and you can operate on it as if you
were operating on the structured type object that it represents.

5
Exercise: JDBC 2.0 Core Features
in this module.
Tasks

provide them.

5
Exercise: JDBC 2.0 Core Features
Exercise Summary
Experiences
Interpretations
Conclusions
Applications

5
Check Your Progress
List the new features in the JDBC 2.0 Core API
Explain how to scroll forward and backward within a result set
Understand how to use a scroll cursor to process the results of a

query
Use a scroll cursor to manipulate data in the database
Describe how to perform batch processing with statements
List the new data types added to JDBC 2.0

5
Think Beyond
An application must specify a JDBC URL when connecting to a

database using the driver manager. Would this be restricting at times?
What system could make it easier to change the URL?

JDBC 2.0 Standard Extensions 6
Objectives
List the features in the JDBC 2.0 Standard Extension API
Understand how to use Java Naming and Directory Interface

functionality to reduce the dependence of a JDBC program on a
particular driver
Describe how connection pooling is used to connect an application

to a database
Understand how distributed transactions work
Explain how to use row sets to encapsulate rows for use with the
JavaBeans component model
6-1
6
Relevance
Discussion So far, you have learned that you need to establish a

connection each time you want to connect to the database. What
advantages would there be in a system that provided an existing
supply of connections?

6
References

additional detail on the topics presented in this module:
javax.sql package download page and JDBC 2.0 Standard

Extension API. [Online.] Available:
http://java.sun.com/products/jdbc/download.html
JNDI Documentation page. [Online.] Available:

http://java.sun.com/products/jndi/docs.html
Java Transaction API (JTA) Specification. [Online.] Available:

http://java.sun.com/products/jta/index.html
Java Transaction Service (JTS) Specification. [Online.] Available:

http://java.sun.com/products/jts/index.html
Enterprise JavaBeans Specification. [Online.] Available:

http://java.sun.com/products/ejb/docs.html
JDBC 2.0 Standard Extensions 6-3

6
Standard Extension Enhancements to the JDBC 2.0 API
These features are optional and driver vendors are not required to
implement them. The features are included in the javax.sql package,
which is included in the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition, and also
from the following site.
http://java.sun.com/products/jdbc/download.html
Standard extension API changes with JDBC 2.0 include:
Support for JNDI
Connection pooling
Distributed transactions
Row sets
Each of these features is covered in more detail in this module.

6
JNDI
Overview
The Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) is a standard
extension to the Java platform, providing Java technology-enabled
applications with a uniform way for applications to find and access
remote services over the network. This allows you to connect
seamlessly to multiple enterprise naming and directory interfaces. The
JDBC 2.0 API provides support for JNDI.
The remote services you access using JNDI can be any enterprise
service, including a messaging service or application-specific service.

6
JNDI
JNDI Advantages
As described in Module 1, JDBC Overview, an application can
connect to a database using the JDBC driver manager. In this
approach, the JDBC driver that is used to create a database connection
must first be registered with the JDBC driver manager.
For example, when the driver class includes an appropriate static

initializer, the following statement loads and registers the JDBC driver
implemented by the JDBCDriverClassName class.
Class.forName("JDBCDriverClassName");
However, the JDBC driver class name usually identifies a particular

JDBC driver vendor, which can make the code that loads the driver
specific to a particular vendors product and, therefore, non-portable.
In addition, an application must specify a JDBC URL when connecting
to a database using the driver manager:
Connection con = DriverManager.getConnection
("jdbc:vendorX_subprotocol:machineY:portZ");

6
JNDI
JNDI Advantages
This code demonstrates that a JDBC URL might be specific not only to
a particular vendors JDBC product, but also to a particular machine
name and port number on that machine. This can make the application
difficult to maintain because the computing environment changes.
Using JNDI with JDBC solves these problems by allowing an

application to specify a logical name that JNDI associates with a
particular data source. This makes deploying and maintaining JDBC
applications easier. The driver is specified using two separate
programs:
One program associates the driver with a data source name you
choose.
The second program references that data source name.
This makes changing the driver easier, because you need to change it
in only one place.

6
JNDI
JDBC DataSource
A JDBC DataSource object is a Java programming language instance
of the javax.sql.DataSource interface. A data source object is a
factory for JDBC connections.
1 public interface DataSource {
2 Connection getConnection() throws SQLException;
3 Connection getConnection(String username, String password) throws
4 SQLException;
5 ...
6 }
Like other interfaces in the JDBC API, such as java.sql.Connection

and java.sql.ResultSet, implementations of
javax.sql.DataSource are provided by JDBC driver vendors as part
of their JDBC 2.0 products.

6
JNDI
JDBC DataSource
A class that implements the DataSource interface provides a set of
properties that must be given values so that a connection to a
particular data source can be made. These properties, which follow the
design pattern specified for JavaBeans model components, are usually
set when a data source object is used. Examples of data source
properties include the location of the database server, the name of the
database, the network protocol to use to communicate with the server,
and so on.
The JDBC 2.0 API specifies the following standard names for data
source properties:
Table 6-1 Standard Data Source Properties
Property Name Type Description
databaseName String Name of a database on a server

dataSourceName String Name of the class that
implements the data source
functionality
description String Description of this data source
networkProtocol String Network protocol used to
communicate with the server
password String A database password
portNumber int Port number where a server
listens for requests
roleName String The initial SQL role name
serverName String Database server name
user String Users account name

6
JNDI
JDBC DataSource
A data source must support the description property. Support for the
other properties listed is not required because they might not be
needed by all data sources. However, if a data source needs to use one
of the properties listed in Table 6-1, it must use the standard property
name.
The standard properties are included in the JDBC specification to

encourage uniformity among data sources from different vendors. For
example, this standardization allows you to write a utility that lists
available data sources and their descriptions along with other
information if it is available.

6
JNDI
JDBC DataSource
For each property, you must be able to write to it and read it using
accessor and mutator methods.
For example, if sds denotes a data source object that supports the
serverName property, the following methods must be provided.
sds.setServerName("my_database_server");
String prop = sds.getServerName();
See the JavaBeans API specification for a full description of properties

and their accessor methods.
The accessor and mutator methods for a property are defined on the
implementation class and not in the DataSource interface. This creates
some separation between the management API for DataSource objects
and the API used by applications. Applications should not need to
access or change properties, but management tools can access them
using introspection.
A data source can contain a property that is not included on the list of
standard properties in Table 6-1. In this case, use a vendor-specific
name for the property.
The JDBC 2.0 API specifies a simple policy for assigning JNDI names
to data sources. All JDBC data sources should be registered in the jdbc
naming subcontext of a JNDI namespace, or in one of its child
subcontexts. The JDBC subcontext is the child of the root naming
context.
You can use JNDI to complete the first and second steps of the JDBC
process: registering the driver and connecting to the database.

6
JNDI
Registering a DataSource Object

To register the driver, you associate it with the DataSource object.
You can create, deploy, and manage a DataSource object within JNDI
separately from the Java applications that use it. This section describes
the use of DataSource objects.
Syntax
DataSourceClass is a class provided by a vendor.

DataSourceClass dataSourceRefVar = new DataSourceClassConstructor();
dataSourceRefVar.mutatorMethod(serverName);
dataSourceRefVar.accessorMethod(databaseName);
Context contextRefVar = new InitialContext();
contextRefVar.bind (logicalDatasource, dataSourceRefVar);

6
JNDI
Registering a DataSource Object

Example
This example registers a data source object with a JNDI naming

service.
1 SampleDataSource sds = new SampleDataSource();
2 sds.setServerName("akron");
3 sds.setDatabaseName("accounts-payable");
4 Context ctx = new InitialContext();
5 ctx.bind("jdbc/AccountMain", sds);
The first line of code in the example creates a data source object. The
SampleDataSource class implements the javax.sql.DataSource
interface. (A JDBC driver vendor supplies the SampleDataSource
class.) The next two lines initialize the data sources properties. Then, a
Java programming language object that references the initial JNDI
naming context is created by calling the InitialContext constructor,
which is provided by JNDI. System properties (not shown) are used to
tell JNDI the service provider to use.
The JNDI name space is hierarchical; this is similar to the directory

structure of many file systems. The data source object is bound to a
logical JNDI name by calling Context.bind. In this case, the JNDI
name identifies a subcontext, jdbc, of the root naming context and a
logical name, EmployeeDB, within the jdbc subcontext. This code is
sufficient to deploy a data source object within JNDI.
Note This example is provided mainly for illustrative purposes.

Developers or system administrators should normally use a graphical
user interface (GUI) tool to deploy a data source object.

6
JNDI
Establishing a Connection Using JNDI

Once you have registered a data source with JNDI, a JDBC application
can use it.
Syntax
Context contextRefVar = new InitialContext();
DataSource dataSrcRefVar = (DataSource)contextRefVar.lookup
(logicalDataSrc);
Connection conRefVar = dataSrcRefVar.getConnection
("userID", "password");
Example
1 Context ctx = new InitialContext();
2 DataSource ds = (DataSource)ctx.lookup("jdbc/AccountMain");
3 Connection con = ds.getConnection("marcl", "mpuppet");

6
JNDI
Establishing a Connection Using JNDI

The first line in the example creates a Java object that references the
initial JNDI naming context. Next, the initial naming context does a
lookup operation using the logical name of the data source. The
Context.lookup method returns a reference to a Java object, which is
narrowed to a javax.sql.DataSource object. In the last line, the
DataSource.getConnection method is called to produce a database
connection.
Note The DataSource feature provides an alternative to the JDBC

DriverManager, essentially duplicating all of the driver manager's
useful functionality. Although the same application can use both
mechanisms, it is a good idea to regard the DriverManager as a legacy
feature of the JDBC API. Applications should use the JNDI
DataSource API whenever possible. A JDBC implementation that is
accessed using the DataSource API should not automatically register
itself with the DriverManager.

6
Connection Pooling
Note For an example of using connection pooling, refer to Appendix

B of the JDBC 2.0 Standard Extension API, included in the lab files for
this course.
Overview
A connection pool is a cache of database connections that is
maintained in memory, so that the connections can be reused.
Connection pooling can increase performance, especially when the
JDBC API is used in a middle-tier server environment, such as a Web
server capable of running Java applications.
The application does not register drivers; middle-tier code does the
registration. Connection pooling can simplify client code because
clients no longer have to deal with registering a driver.
You can use connection pooling to complete step 2 of the JDBC

process, establishing a connection.

6
Connection Pooling
Overview
Connection pooling has no impact on the code that you write. You
simply take advantage of a connection pool that has been
implemented in the driver, rather than writing code yourself.
Figure 6-1 provides an example of the basic components that might

compose a distributed, three-tier application that uses the JDBC 2.0
APIs connection-pooling feature.
Network
Application code
Client
(browser)
DataSource
Middle-tier server code
ConnectionPoolDataSource Network
DBMS
JDBC driver
Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3
Figure 6-1 Three-tier Application Using Connection Pooling
In Figure 6-1, the client portion of the application is shown invoking

some application codefor example, a Java technology servlet that
executes in the middle tier. The middle-tier application code uses the
JDBC API to access a database. The application developer uses the
DataSource interface in the standard way to obtain a Connection
object. The DataSource implementation performs connection pooling
and is implemented, in this case, by the middle-tier server vendor. The
connection pooling implementation uses the features provided by the
JDBC 2.0 driver vendor to implement the connection caching
algorithm that it chooses.
The three parts of this example are performed by the JDBC driver
vendor, the middle-tier server vendor, and the application developer.

6
Connection Pooling
Overview
To support connection pooling, a JDBC driver vendor must provide an
implementation of the javax.sql.ConnectionPoolDataSource
interface. This interface and the closely related
javax.sql.PooledConnection interface (not shown in Figure 6-1)
provide methodsor hooksthat enable a third party, such as a
middle-tier server vendor to implement connection pooling as a layer
on top of the JDBC API.
The JDBC 2.0 API provides hooks to support connection pooling

instead of mandating a particular connection pooling implementation,
because there are many possible connection pooling algorithms that
JDBC users might use. Of course, JDBC driver vendors can also
provide connection pooling implementations.

6
Connection Pooling
Connecting
A party, such as a middle-tier server vendor, who wants to implement
connection pooling should provide a data source class (a class that
implements the javax.sql.DataSource interface) to interact with
their particular connection pooling implementation. Application code
that you write can retrieve instances of this data source class from
JNDI and use it to obtain a database connection in the usual manner.
If you use connection pooling, the client does not have to register the
driver.
The following syntax and example show how to establish a

connection.
Syntax
Connection conRefVar = dataSrcRefVar.getConnection
(logicalDataSrc, "userID", "password");
// Do all the work as a single transaction (optional).
conRefVar.setAutoCommit(false);
// Work is done using standard JDBC code as defined in the
// rest of the JDBC API.
conRefVar.commit();
// Close the connection. This returns the underlying physical
// database connection to the pool.
conRefVar.close();
Example
1 Connection con = ds.getConnection("jdbc/webDatabase", "marcl",
"mpuppet");
// The actual work (queries and updates) would go here.
3 con.commit();
4 con.close();

6
Distributed Transactions
Overview
A distributed transaction is two or more tasks, on different entities (a
database, or other entity), that need to be committed as one
transaction. For example, moving money from an account in one bank
to an account in another is a distributed transaction.
Support for distributed transactions allows a JDBC driver to support

the standard two-phase commit protocol used by the Java Transaction
API (JTA). JDBC driver support for distributed transactions allows you
to write Enterprise JavaBeans that are transactional across multiple
DBMS servers.

6
Architecture
Figure 6-2 shows a simplified example of the basic components in a
distributed, three-tier application that uses the distributed transaction
features in the JDBC 2.0 API.
Network
Application code
Client
(browser)
DataSource
Transaction manager
Middle-tier server code
XADataSource
Network DBMS
JDBC driver
Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3
Figure 6-2 Components of Application Using Distributed

Transactions

6
Architecture
On the client, a browser invokes a piece of application code that
executes in a middle-tier server environment. The middle-tier server
could be a Web server supporting Java technology, an Enterprise
JavaBeans server, or some other type of application server that
supports the Java programming language. The middle-tier application
code uses the JDBC API to access a pair of databases in the context of
a global (distributed) transaction.
Using distributed transactions does not significantly affect the code

that you write. The application code uses the DataSource interface in
the standard way to obtain a Connection object. The DataSource
implementation, which the middle-tier server vendor provides,
interacts with the transaction manager to set up the transactional
environment for the Connection returned to the application, and
typically maintains a pool of database connections to achieve
maximum performance. The DataSource implementation uses the
features provided by the JDBC 2.0 driver vendor to implement
connection pooling and to enable distributed transactions.

6
Implementation
To support distributed transactions, a JDBC driver vendor must
provide implementations of the javax.sql.XADataSource and
javax.sql.XAConnection interfaces. These interfaces are similar to
the ConnectionPoolDataSource and PooledConnection interfaces.
They provide the same hooks to enable connection pooling, and add
the ability to do distributed transactions.
A middle-tier server vendor who wants to support distributed

transactions should provide a data source classan implementation of
the javax.sql.DataSource interfacethat interacts with the middle-
tier servers transaction infrastructure.
The transaction infrastructure includes a transaction manager, such as

an implementation of the Java Transaction Service API, and a JDBC
driver that supports the JDBC 2.0 API. You can retrieve instances of
this data source class from JNDI using application code executing in
the middle tier that obtains a database connection in the usual manner.

6
Implementation
Note Distributed transactions do not impact application code

significantly. However, there are coding differences of which you
should be aware. There are differences because the JDBC API assumes
that distributed transaction boundaries are controlled by either the
middle-tier server or another API, such as the user transaction portion
of the Java Transaction API.
Distributed transactions are intended to be used by component-based

transactional applications that operate in a modern application server
environment, such as an Enterprise JavaBeans server, in which
declarative transactions are used.

6
Implementation
Transaction boundaries are controlled by the middle-tier server, so the
application code must not call the Connection.commit or
Connection.rollback methods. These methods throw a
SQLException if they are called.
In addition, the Connection object that is returned by a DataSource

when distributed transactions are being done has autocommit mode
turned off by default. If you attempt to enable autocommit mode by
calling Connection.setAutoCommit with a value of true, a
SQLException is thrown.

6
Row Sets
Overview
A RowSet object encapsulates a set of rows that have been retrieved
from some tabular data source, such as results of a database query,
This makes it easy to send tabular data over a network. A RowSet
object must implement the javax.sql.RowSet interface, which adds
support to the JDBC API for the JavaBeans component model. The
RowSet interface inherits from the ResultSet interface.
The RowSet object provides a way to represent the rows so that they
can be used with the JavaBeans component model; a RowSet object is a
JavaBean that can be combined with other components in an
application. You can create row sets at design time and use them in
conjunction with other JavaBeans components in a visual JavaBeans
builder tool to construct an application
You also can use RowSet objects to provide scrollable result sets or
updatable result sets when the underlying JDBC driver does not
support them.

6
Row Sets
Overview
You can serialize a row set implementation.
A row set might maintain an open database connection. When a row

set is disconnected from its data source, updates performed on the row
set are propagated to the underlying database using an optimistic
concurrency control algorithm.
Unlike statements and result sets, row sets are not tied to a specific
connection. A row set is affiliated with a connection only for the
duration of its use with a particular query.

6
Row Sets
Types of Row Set Implementations

Row sets can have many different implementations to fill different
needs. There are two categories: row sets that are connected and those
that are disconnected.
Disconnected Row Sets
A disconnected row set obtains a connection to a data source to get or

change data in the data source, but most of the time it does not have a
connection open. While it is disconnected, it does not need a JDBC
driver or the full JDBC API, so its footprint is small. A row set is an
ideal format for sending data over a network to a thin client.

6
Row Sets
Types of Row Set Implementations
Disconnected Row Sets
Because it is not continually connected to its data source, a

disconnected row set stores its data in memory. It needs to maintain
metadata about the columns it contains and information about its
internal state. It also needs a way to make connections, for executing
commands, and for reading and writing data to and from the data
source.
Connected Row Sets
A connected row set obtains a connection and keeps it open for as long
as the row set is in use.

6
Row Sets
Row Sets at Design Time
Properties
The RowSet interface provides a set of JavaBeans properties that allow

you to configure a RowSet instance to connect to a data source and
retrieve a set of rows, as shown in the following example.
1 rset = new RowSet();
2 rset.setDataSourceName("jdbc/SomeDataSourceName");
3 rset.setTransactionIsolation(Connection.TRANSACTION_READ_COMMITTED);
4 rset.setCommand("SELECT NAME, BREED, AGE FROM CANINE");
This example uses a variable rset of type RowSet, and sets three
RowSet properties: data source name, transaction isolation, and
command. The data source name property is used by a RowSet to look
up a JDBC DataSource object in a JNDI naming service. (JDBC data
sources are the most common type of data source used by row sets.)

6
Row Sets
Properties
The DataSource object is used internally to create a connection to the

underlying data source. The transaction isolation property specifies
that only data that was produced by committed transactions can be
read by the row set. Lastly, the command property specifies a
command that is executed to retrieve a set of rows. In this case the
NAME, BREED, and AGE columns for all rows in the CANINE table
are retrieved.

6
Row Sets
Events
RowSet components support JavaBeans events, which allows other

JavaBeans components in an application to be notified when an
important event on a row set occurs. A component that wishes to
register for RowSet events must implement the RowSetListener
interface. Event listeners are registered with a row set by calling the
addRowSetListener method, as shown in the following example. Any
number of listeners can be registered with an individual RowSet
object.
RowSetListener listener ...;
rset.addRowSetListener(listener);

6
Row Sets
Events
Row sets can generate three different types of events.
Cursor movement events indicate that the row sets cursor has
moved.
Row change events indicate that a particular row has been

inserted, updated, or deleted.
Row set change events indicate that the entire contents of a row set
changed. For example, this can happen when RowSet.execute is
called.

6
Row Sets
Events
When an event occurs, an appropriate listener method is called to

notify a listener. If a listener is not interested in a particular event type,
it can implement an event-handling method with an empty method
body. An event listener is passed a RowSetEvent object, which
identifies the source of the event when an event occurs.

6
Row Sets
Row Sets at Runtime
Parameters
You can use the row set to execute queries, and pass values.
In the RowSet interface example shown previously, a simple SQL

command that takes no input parameters was used. However, a row
set can also use a command that accepts input parameters. A group of
setXXX methods provide a way to pass input parameters to a row set.
The following example shows a command that takes a String input
parameter. The RowSet.setString method is used to pass the input
parameter value to the RowSet. Typically, the command property is
specified at design time, while parameters are not set until runtime
when their values are known.
rset.setCommand("SELECT NAME, BREED, AGE FROM CANINE WHERE NAME = ?");
rset.setString(1, "spot");

6
Row Sets
Row Sets at Runtime
Traversing a Row Set
The javax.sql.RowSet interface extends the java.sql.ResultSet

interface, so in many ways a row set behaves just like a result set. In
fact, most components that make use of a RowSet component will
likely treat it as a ResultSet object. A RowSet is simply a ResultSet
that can function as a JavaBeans component.
The following example shows how to iterate forward through a row

set; it is the same process that would be used for a result set.
1 // iterate forward through the row set
2 rset.beforeFirst();
3 while (rset.next()) {
4 System.out.println(rset.getString(1) + " " + rset.getFloat(2));
5 }
You iterate backward through the row set, positioning the cursor to a
specific row, and so on in the same way as a result set.

6
Row Sets
Row Sets at Runtime
Command Execution
You can fill a row set with data by calling the RowSet.execute
method. This method uses the appropriate property values that have
been set to connect to a data source, and retrieve data. The exact
properties that you must set can vary between RowSet
implementations. Check the documentation for the particular row set
being used to find out what properties are required.
The RowSet interface contains the properties that are needed to

connect to a JDBC data source.
The current contents of the row set, if any, are lost when an execute
method is called.

6
Overview of Row Set Implementation
Most implementations are provided by vendors offering RowSet

classes designed for fairly specific purposes. To make writing an
implementation easier, the Java Software division of Sun Microsystems
plans to provide reference implementations for three different styles of
row sets in the future.
A CachedRowSet class Currently available from

http://java.sun.com/products/jdbc. It is a disconnected row
set that caches its data in memory; not suitable for large data sets,
but an ideal way to provide thin Java technology clients, such as a
Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or Network Computer (NC),
with tabular data.
A JDBCRowSet class A connected row set that serves mainly as a

thin wrapper around a ResultSet object to make a JDBC driver
look like a JavaBeans component.

6
Overview of Row Set Implementation
A WebRowSet class A connected row set that uses the HTTP

protocol internally to talk to a Java technology servlet that
provides data access. This is used to make it possible for thin Web
clients to retrieve and possibly update a set of rows.
CachedRowSet is described in Module 7, Row Set Implementation.

JDBCRowSet and WebRowSet are not covered, but are listed here to
give a preview of the types of row set implementations that will likely
be available in the future.

6
Check Your Progress
List the features in the JDBC 2.0 Standard Extension API
Understand how to use Java Naming and Directory Interface

functionality to reduce the dependence of a JDBC program on a
particular driver
Describe how connection pooling is used to connect an application

to a database
Understand how distributed transactions work
Explain how to use row sets to encapsulate rows for use with the
JavaBeans component model

6
Think Beyond
What elements might be necessary in an implementation of the

CachedRowSet class?

Row Set Implementation 7
Objectives
Explain how to use the CachedRowSet implementation
Modify a RowSetReader or RowSetWriter
Understand the benefit provided by using the CachedRowSet

implementation
7-1
7
Relevance
Discussion How would you modify your application to retrieve data

from a different source of data, such as a spreadsheet?

7
CachedRowSet Class Overview
The CachedRowSet class is similar to row set implementations that

provide a disconnected, serializable, scrollable container for tabular
data. You can think of a CachedRowSet object as a disconnected set of
rows that are being cached outside of a data source. Because all data is
cached in memory, CachedRowSets are not appropriate for extremely
large data sets.
Note The CachedRowSet implementation is available at

http://java.sun.com/products/jdbc
Row Set Implementation 7-3

7
Using a CachedRowSet enables the following capabilities.
You can pass a CachedRowSet between different components in a

distributed system.
Figure 7-1 shows that you can use a CachedRowSet to provide Java
technology clients with access to tabular data in situations where it
would be inappropriate to use a JDBC driver directly in the client
due to resource limitations or security considerations.
Java client Tier 1
RMI/CORBA
CachedRowSet
Tier 2
JDBC
DBMS Tier 3
Figure 7-1 CachedRowSet Architecture

7
CachedRowSets can also provide scrolling and updating for

ResultSets that do not provide these capabilities themselves. You
can use a CachedRowSet to augment the capabilities of a JDBC
driver that does not have full support for scrolling and updating.

7
Creating a CachedRowSet
A CachedRowSet is a JavaBean, so CachedRowSet instances are often

created by a visual Beans development tool when an application is
assembled. Applications can also create instances at runtime using any
public constructor that the CachedRowSet class provides.

7
Retrieving Data
A CachedRowSet object can contain data retrieved using a JDBC driver

or data from some other source, such as a file. CachedRowSet objects
usually contain data that was fetched from a SQL database using
JDBC. One way to get data into a CachedRowSet is to call the
CachedRowSet.populate method (defined on the CachedRowSet
class), as shown in the following example.
1 ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery
("SELECT NAME, SALARY FROM EMPLOYEE");
2 CachedRowSet crset = new CachedRowSet();
3 crset.populate(rs);

7
Retrieving Data
The example uses a variable stmt of type Statement. The populate

method takes a parameter that is a ResultSet containing some data.
The populate method reads the contents of the ResultSet, and
caches the contents in the CachedRowSet object.
You can use the term disconnected to describe a CachedRowSet.

Disconnected means that a CachedRowSet object caches its data
outside of a data source. Once the populate method returns, the
CachedRowSet object does not maintain a connection to the
underlying data source that produced the initial ResultSet. The
populate method does not require that any properties be set ahead of
time to enable data source connectivity.

7
Retrieving Data
Another way to get data into a CachedRowSet object is to call the

execute method. There are two forms of execute: one method takes a
Connection object as a parameter and the other that does not.
If a Connection is passed to execute, then there is no need to set

properties ahead of time to enable data source connectivity. However,
execute always requires that a command be specified using the
command property. The CachedRowSet only makes use of the JDBC
connection briefly while data is being read from the database and used
to populate it with rows. To use the execute method, you should call
it once you have set the appropriate properties.
1 // There is already a connection associated
2 // with the CachedRowSet
3 CachedRowSet crset = new CachedRowSet();
4 crset.setCommand(
"SELECT year, model FROM car WHERE manufacturer = FORD");
5 crset.execute();

7
Retrieving Data
In this case, because a Connection is not passed to the execute

method, the CachedRowSet must create a Connection internally and
use it to retrieve a set of rows. (This approach is based on the
assumption that a JDBC data source is being accessed.)

7
Accessing Data
The contents of a CachedRowSet are accessed using methods inherited

from the ResultSet interface. A CachedRowSet is always scrollable,
and its type is ResultSet.

7
Modifying Data
A CachedRowSet object keeps track of both its original value and its
current value. The original value is set by methods
CachedRowSet.execute and populate. For example, when execute
is called, the original value is typically assigned the set of rows
returned by executing the row sets command. After calling execute
(or populate) the original value and the current value are the same.
The CachedRowSet.updateXXX methods (which are inherited from

ResultSet) can be called to update the current value of a
CachedRowSet. Calling an updateXXX method does not affect the
original value, or the values stored in the underlying data source. Only
the current value of the CachedRowSet, which is cached in memory, is
changed.

7
Modifying Data
The following example illustrates these concepts.
When CachedRowSet.execute is called in the first line of the

example, the original and current values of the CachedRowSet, which
are maintained in main memory, are initialized. The cursor is then
positioned at the first and second rows, in turn, and the updateString
and updateFloat methods are called to modify the current value of
the first two rows in the row set, which contain an employee name and
salary.
Call the updateRow method to signal the completion of each row

update. Once updateRow is called, cancelRowUpdates can no longer
be called to undo updates to the current value of the row.
UpdateRow does not affect the original value of the row or the
underlying values in the data source. Deleting and inserting rows is
done exactly as for ResultSets, so this is not shown in the example.
1 // initialize the original and current values
2 crset.execute();
3 // update the current value of the first row
4 crset.first();
5 crset.updateString(1, "Joe Mays");
6 crset.updateFloat(2, 50000f);
7 crset.updateRow();
8 // update the current value of the sixth row
9 crset.relative(5);
10 crset.updateString(1, "Kara Stelter");
11 crset.updateFloat(2, 38000f);
12 crset.updateRow();
13 // update the original value and the database
14 crset.acceptChanges();
After making some changes, you can call acceptChanges to propagate

any updates, inserts, and deletes back to the underlying data source.
The acceptChanges method invokes a writer component internally to
actually update the data source. Typically, a writer compares the
original value of each updated row with the values stored in the
database to be sure that the underlying data has not been changed by
someone else. If nothing has been changed, the row sets updates are
written to the database. The original value is set to the current value
before acceptChanges returns.

7
Modifying Data
Alternatively, an application can call the method restoreOriginal if

it discards the updates that it has made on a CachedRowSet. Calling
restoreOriginal simply replaces the current value of the row set
with the original valuethere is no interaction with the underlying
data source.

7
Miscellaneous Methods
The CachedRowSet.clone and CachedRowSet.createCopy methods

both create an exact copy of a row set that is independent from the
original.
In contrast the CachedRowSet.createShared method creates a row

set that shares its state with the original row set; that is, both the new
and the original row set share the same physical, in-memory copy of
their original and current values. Updates made by calling an
updateXXX method on one shared row set are reflected in the other.
The createShared method, in effect, allows an application to create
multiple cursors over a single set of rows.
CachedRowSets also provide methods for easy conversion to a Java

technology collection. The crs.toCollection method allows a
java.util.Connection object to be created from a CachedRowSet.

7
Reading and Writing Data
Overview
The row set framework provides an extensible reader/writer facility
that allows you to customize data retrieval and updating, for complex
or specialized situations.The CachedRowSet class uses this facility.
Custom readers and writers are useful because they can enable a
RowSet to read its data from a regular file data source or from some
other non-SQL data source, such as a spreadsheet.
This approach separates where you get data from, and what you do
with it.
You can make a CachedRowSet style implementation that has been

configured with a custom reader/writer available as a normal
JavaBeans component. Therefore, developers writing applications can
generally ignore the details of the customization process and focus on
more important aspects of using row sets.

7
Overview
When an application calls the CachedRowSet.execute method:
The CachedRowSet invokes an object that implements the

RowSetReader interface internally to handle the task of reading
data from a data source.
The RowSetReader interface provides a single method, readData,

which is called to read the new contents of the row set.
A CachedRowSet object exposes itself as an object of type

RowSetInternal to the RowSetReader.The RowSetInternal
interface contains some additional methods that are needed by the
RowSetReader to do its work.

7
Overview
Similarly, when the CachedRowSet.acceptChanges method is called,
the CachedRowSet invokes an object that implements the
RowSetWriter interface internally to handle the task of writing
changed rows back to the data source. The RowSetWriter.writeData
method is invoked by the row set to write any data that has been
changed. This method might detect a conflict with the underlying data
and signal this by returning a value of true to the caller.
To register readers and writers with a CachedRowSet object, call the

methods CachedRowSet.setReader and CachedRowSet.setWriter.
A CachedRowSet style implementation should also provide
corresponding accessor methods.
The RowSetReader, RowSetWriter, and RowSetInternal interfaces

are used by the row set implementation classes.

7
Overview
Figure 7-2 outlines how readers and writers interact with a data source
and the CachedRowSet.
CachedRowSet
data in data out
RowSetReader RowSetWriter
Data source*
*A database, spreadsheet, or other source of data
Figure 7-2 RowSetReader and RowSetWriter Interaction

7
RowSetReader
Refer to Appendix C of the JDBC 2.0 Standard Extension API (file name
jdbc20stdext.pdf), included in the specifications directory in your
lab files for this course, for an example of a RowSetReader
implementation.
The example in the appendix uses JDBC to read data from a SQL
database. A row set that supports the reader/writer paradigm should
implement the RowSetInternal interface and pass a reference to itself
when invoking the readData method.
The example readData method uses the calling row sets properties to
create a Connection to a data source. A PreparedStatement is
created using the command property and the PreparedStatement is
passed any properties that were set on the row set.

7
RowSetReader
The example is designed to be used with the CachedRowSet row set
implementation. You use the CachedRowSet.populate method to
read the rows from a ResultSet object into the row set. The example
assumes the caller is of type CachedRowSet. A SQLException is
thrown if anything goes wrong.
An alternative reader implementation could read data directly from a

regular file. In this way, you can use a row set to provide access to
non-SQL data. A reader of this type can use the RowSet.insertRow
method to insert new rows into the row set. InsertRow updates the
original value of the row set when invoked by a reader. The
RowSetMeta interface can also be used by such a reader to
communicate the format of the data being read to the row set
implementation.

7
RowSetWriter
Refer to Appendix D of the JDBC 2.0 Standard Extension API (file name
jdbc20stdext.pdf), included in the specifications directory in your
lab files for this course, for an example of a RowSetWriter
implementation.
This writer works in conjunction with the reader shown in the

previous section. The writer enforces an optimistic concurrency control
policy that requires a row in the database to be unchanged for it to be
updated. For simplicity, some details are not shown.
The writer calls the reader to create a Connection, and to find out if it
needs to reset itself. This might be necessary if new data has been read
since the command used to read the data might have changed. The
writer iterates through each row of the row set and updates the
underlying database when necessary.

7
Exercise: Row Set Implementations
in this module.
Tasks

provide them.

7
Exercise: Row Set Implementations
Exercise Summary
Experiences
Interpretations
Conclusions
Applications

7
Check Your Progress
Explain how to use the CachedRowSet implementation
Modify a RowSetReader or RowSetWriter
Understand the benefit provided by using the CachedRowSet

implementation

7
Think Beyond
What considerations should you take into account when designing the
architecture of your Java application?

JDBC and Application Architecture 8
Objectives
Define the components in a multi-tier application
Explain which components belong to each tier in a multi-tier

application
Explain where JDBC components should be installed in a multi-

tier application
Describe when to use a two-tier application architecture in a

database application
Describe when to use a three-tier application architecture
Describe when to use an n-tier application architecture
This module explores the issues associated with multi-tier database

application design and JDBC.
8-1
8
Relevance
Discussion N-tier architectures allow better flexibility and

maintenance of a software subsystem. The most common is the three-
tier architecture. How do the components of a three-tier system
interact with each other?
What is the deciding factor for these divisions?

8
References
Additional resources The following reference can provide additional

details on the topics discussed in this module:
Balick, Fritzinger, and Siegel. 1996. Effective 3-tiered Engineering.

SunSoft, Sun Microsystems Inc.
Fritzinger, Steve, Dan Berg. 1997. Advanced Java Programming

Techniques. Wiley.
JDBC and Application Architecture 8-3

8
Tiered Application Architecture Overview
A tier is a software module that supplies some part of functionality for

a full application. A tier can be, but is not always, a standalone
program, and resides on a separate machine from other tiers or on the
same machine.
The advantage of dividing parts of a full application into separate tiers

is so that you can change one aspect of the application, such as the
presentation, with minimal impact on other parts, such as how the
data is stored or the business rules.

8
Tiered Application Architecture Overview
In addition, as shown in Figure 8-1, you can use tiers as a way to

coordinate the efforts of multiple clients.
Client
Client Middle DBMS

tier
Client
Figure 8-1 Coordinating Clients Using a Middle Tier
The JDBC API supports multi-tier architectures for database access.

8
Tiers and Components
Distributed applications are frequently characterized in terms of three

logical components, sometimes called layers. Each part of the
application provides certain services and fulfills certain responsibilities
within the architecture.
The following components make up both the two-tier and three-tier

designs, shown in the diagrams in the next section.
Presentation This component receives the data and data

processing requests. It is the graphical user interface (GUI) or
character-based interface, and is typically in the first tier, the client.
Business logic This component implements business rules, such

as how data must be formatted, or what data must be checked
before you can enter other data. It is typically in the first tier in a
two-tier model, or in the second tier in a three-tier model.
Data This component stores and allows access to the data, and is
typically in the third tier, the server.

8
Two-Tier Architecture
In the two-tier architecture, the application front end is in the first tier.
The database is in the second tier, the server tier. The Java application
or applet functioning as the presentation communicates directly with
the database. A users actions are translated in JDBC-based SQL
commands and are delivered to the database. The results of those
statements are sent back to the user.
You can store the database on another machine to which the user is
connected using a network. The network can be an intranet or the
Internet. This architecture enables the data to reside locally or
remotely.
If other users need a different presentation to the same data, you need
to develop only a new interface on the front end.

8
Figure 8-2 shows a two-tier application design.
Client machine Presentation Applet or

component application
Business logic
component*
JDBC driver
DBMS
protocol
Database Data
server machine component DBMS
*You can store business logic on either tier or both tiers
Figure 8-2 Two-Tier Database Design
Note In the examples shown in this course, tiers are often shown on
separate machines; however, you can store tiers on the same machine.
You can support caching results of database queries by introducing the

caching functionality into the front-end presentation on the client
machine, or into the database on the server machine.
The first tier is responsible for making connections to any additional

database servers.

8
Three-Tier Architecture
In a three-tier architecture, the first tier (client) sends commands to a

middle tier, which then sends SQL statements to the database on the
third tier (server). The database processes the SQL statements and
sends the results back to the middle tier, which then sends them to the
user.
This middle tier enables you to develop the following functionality

separately: secure socket classes, cache data, or business rules. Java
applications in the middle tier usually interact with the database with
JDBC, and with the client using one of the following mechanisms.
HTTP Hypertext transfer protocol
RMI Remote method invocation
CORBA Common object request broker architecture
TCP/IP (sockets) Transmission control protocol/Internet

protocol
UDP User datagram protocol

8
Having the business rules enforcement component in a separate tier,

between the client and database, has the following advantages:
It enables using secure socket classes, caching data, and managing

business rules separately.
It enables the rules to be created once and then kept in a single,

easily maintained location.
It allows you to use database connection pooling.
You can manage connections among multiple data sources.
It enables data synchronization.
It simplifies the client requirements. A Web client needs no JDBC

code or driver, only the capability of using HTTP 1.0.

8
A well-implemented three-tier architecture makes changing any aspect

of the application easier, because the different components are
separated logically. For example, information systems departments,
using a three-tier model, can maintain control over access and updates
to corporate data by controlling the middle tier. In many cases, the
three-tier architecture also can provide performance advantages.

8
You can implement all data validation, including business rules, in the
middle tier. The middle tier also can take over responsibility for
making connections to additional database servers.
Figure 8-3 shows a three-tier application design.
Client machine Presentation Java applet or

component HTML browser
RMI/CORBA,
HTTP
Application server
Server machine Business logic
component (Java technology)
JDBC driver
DBMS
protocol
Database Data
server machine component DBMS
Figure 8-3 Three-Tier Database Design
For greater security, do not include SQL and the business logic on the
client.

8
N-Tier Architecture
N-tier architectures extend the two-tier and three-tier architectures by

further breaking out functional modules into tiers.
You can create an n-tier architecture by partitioning the application

vertically or horizontally.
Vertically Adds tiers between client and server to further

subdivide the functionality of the middle layer in the architecture.
The vertical n-tier architecture can be thought of as a way to

augment the application capabilities. If the interface between the
tiers is sufficiently well planned, you can add new functionality
with a minimum amount of rework.

8
N-Tier Architecture
For example, a three-tier application that needs to support a

greatly increased number of end users could manage the increased
work load by adding a local or regional cache tier to provide a
store of objects, and reduce the number of transactions that users
had to perform directly on the database. This is shown in
Figure 8-4.
First tier
Client
Caching control
Second tier Application server
Third tier
DBMS
Figure 8-4 Vertical N-Tier Architecture

8
N-Tier Architecture
Horizontally Creates additional parts of client functionality that

can be managed by a server or servers, and breaks these out into
additional tiers. An example, shown in Figure 8-5, is a client that
requests a different service from a different server, such as a print
server.
First tier
Client
Second tier Application server Print server
Third tier
DBMS
Figure 8-5 Horizontal N-Tier Architecture

8
Choosing an Architecture
The JDBC API does not enforce a particular application architecture.

You can use a two-tier, three-tier, or n-tier architecture, depending on
the application and other considerations. Use this section to learn how
to determine how to choose the architecture that works best for your
requirements.
Two-tier architecture is simple, straightforward, and typically suitable
for small applications. It is easier to implement if development
resources are significantly limited.
A limitation of the two-tier model is that the GUI and application logic
are tightly coupled, so the client program is responsible for all error
checking and all data is exposed on the network, which is not secure.
In addition, if database table schema changes on the server, you must
restructure the client code.

8
Installing drivers requires more work.
For two-tier solutions, this means that you must install drivers on
every client machine, which is a potentially time-consuming task
for systems with many clients.
In a three-tier or n-tier application, you would need to install the

driver code on only one or two application servers (the middle tier
of a three-tier application).
You can store business logic on either tier; however, when storing the
business logic on the server in the form of stored procedures, you lose
the platform- and DBMS-independence of JDBC.

8
Three-Tier and N-Tier Architecture

Three-tier and n-tier architectures resolve many of the issues that a
two-tier architecture addresses without the associated limitations.
The client might be much thinner than on the two-tier model and
consists essentially of the presentation, as well as control logic and
code that communicates with the middle tier. This might allow you to
use less powerful client machines. It also makes it easier to support
client machines of multiple platforms, because there is less code on
each.
You can customize the middle tier to your applications requirements.

Enforcing the business rules in the middle tier, between the client and
database, enables you to create the rules once and keep them in a
single, easily maintained location.

8
Three-Tier and N-Tier Architecture

The three-tier and n-tier architecture models are more scalable. If
support for additional clients is required, such architectures are
typically flexible enough to accommodate added middle-tier or
database systems to handle the increased load.
The disadvantage of using a three-tier or n-tier architecture is that it

increases the number of possible failure points. A two-tier architecture
has only three possible failure points: client, network, and server. A
three-tier architecture has five: client, network, application server,
network, and database server.
Overall application complexity is increased, though each tier is

simplified.
Despite these disadvantages, the three-tier or n-tier model is the

preferred architecture for database applications. The added level of
abstraction eases development and maintenance of the whole
application. Furthermore, it is easier to integrate several databases or
even legacy systems in an application.

8
Check Your Progress
Define the components in a multi-tier application
Explain which components belong to each tier in a multi-tier

application
Explain where JDBC components should be installed in a multi-

tier application
Describe when to use a two-tier application architecture in a

database application
Describe when to use a three-tier application architecture
Describe when to use an n-tier application architecture

8
Think Beyond
Based on this course, can you begin implementing JDBC in your

work? What other information would be useful to help you get
started?

Database Basics A
Objectives
Upon completion of this appendix, you should be able to:
Define database and database management system (DBMS)
Identify three major DBMS categories
Describe major characteristics of relational databases
Describe guidelines for partitioning work into transactions
Explain the importance of SQL
Query a database using the SQL statement SELECT
Modify database contents using the SQL statements INSERT,

UPDATE, and DELETE
This appendix describes database concepts, introduces commonly

used database management systems, and presents characteristics of
relational database management systems. Use these concepts when
writing SQL queries, and when designing databases for your Java
application.
A-1
A
References
Additional resources The following reference can provide additional

details on the topics discussed in this appendix:
Bowman, Judith S., Sandra L. Emerson, Marcy Darnovsky. 1996.

The Practical SQL Handbook: Using Structured Query Language.
Addison-Wesley.
Melton, Jim, Alan Simpson. 1993. Understanding the New SQL. San
Francisco: Morgan Kauffman Publishers.
Codd, E. F. Is your DBMS really relational? Computerworld, October

14, 1985: 1-9.
Codd, E. F. Does your DBMS run by the rules? Computerworld,

October 21, 1985: 49-64.
A-2 Database Application Programming With Java Technology

A
Database Overview
A database is a shared collection of logically related data and a

description of the data that has been developed to meet the
information requirements of an organization.
A database management system, or DBMS, is normally used to

maintain a database. A DBMS is a software system specially designed
to provide certain standard databases services.
Create, change, and delete databases
Store, retrieve, and modify data stored in a database
Manage users and user permissions for the database
For data to be stored in a database and managed by a DBMS, three

conditions must be met:
The data must have a format that the DBMS and computer system
understands.
The data should be stored, retrieved, and changed only by the

DBMS.
The data should be under transaction controlthat is, a formal set

of rules should be enforced to ensure the integrity of the data.
For example, when money is transferred from one bank account to

another, it is common to subtract the transfer amount from one
account and add it to the other. If the operation is interrupted after
the subtraction but before the addition, the money would not be in
either account. A DBMS can prevent this from happening by
applying rules to the operations.
Database management systems are categorized according to the

approach they use for storing and managing their data. Most
applications developed today use one of three main kinds of database
management systems:
Relational Database Management System (RDBMS)
Object-Oriented Database Management System (ODBMS)
Object/Relational Database Management System (ORDBMS)
Database Basics A-3

A
Database Overview
An RDBMS is a database management system that conforms to a set of

rules, including the following.
Information must be represented in tables.
The logical representation of data must be independent of its

physical storage characteristics.
A high-level language must be provided to permit structuring,

querying, and changing the data.
This course focused principally on developing Java applications to

interact with RDBMS data sources.

A
Relational Database Structure
In relational databases, data is represented in tables. A table is made

up of columns and rows.
Each database column (also called a field) provides information about

a particular element to be stored in the database. This information
includes its name, data type and any special characteristics it
possesses.
A database row (also called a record) contains the values for a specific
set of data stored in the database.
Table A-1 shows an example table named Customers with six columns
and three rows.
Customer Name Address City State PostalCode
C4201 Kara Stelter 410 E Colfax Denver CO 80021

C7023 Sonja Wang 115 Ludlow Fargo ND 58047
C9900 Mike Slade 2210 23rd St. Montclair NJ 10029
Table A-1 Example Table
In most cases, a column is used in a table to hold values to uniquely

identify records. In this case, the column is referred to as the primary
key for the table.
Additionally, a database record sometimes references one or more

records in other tables. In this case, there must be a column that
contains a value that can be used to reference the other record(s). This
type of column is referred to as a foreign key, because it can be used to
reference records in a different table of the database.
Database Basics A-5

A
Data Independence
A relational database allows data to be managed independently from

the way in which it is stored.
The physical model of data storage for a relational database can be

determined by the RDBMS. From the users perspective, it is not
important to know how data is stored for the system. The user works
with a logical model of the data (tables, rows, and columns) that
represents the users window on the stored data.

A
Transactions
In database manipulation, a transaction is a logical group of work

consisting of one or more instructions. For example, the instructions
might be to enter a customer record, create a new order record, add a
line item to an order, and so on. For a transaction to execute
successfully, all of its instructions must be successfully executed for the
database. If there is an error any time during transaction execution, the
previous operations must be reversed. This is referred to as backing
out or performing a rollback on a transaction. Use transactions to
partition work to minimize the chances of data corruption.
A transaction starts with a begin work command, and contains all

database data manipulation information; the transaction either is
completed successfully with a commit work command or fails with a
rollback. The begin work command tells the database to start logging
all database data manipulation actions. The commit work command
tells the database that the transaction has completed successfully and
to stop logging. The rollback command tells the database to stop
logging and to reverse any data manipulation that had occurred.
The business rules of your application have a major impact on how

you should partition tasks into transactions. If your application
requires that users enter a certain set of valid information before they
enter associated information, the first set should be a transaction.
Partitioning transactions is an art, not a science. There are advantages

and disadvantages to most of the ways you partition tasks into
transactions; it depends on the types of risks and advantages and
disadvantages you prefer.
Using an order entry system as a example, assume a new customer has

just accessed your Web site and wants to enter a new order. How
would you partition the entry of the information to limit the
customers chances of lost data entry from an error?
Ask the following questions in this situation, to determine how to

partition the information:
Can you have a customer without an order?
Can you have an order without items?
Can you have a completed order without payment?
Database Basics A-7

A
Transactions
Discussion One way to partition this example would be to have all

work done by the customer as one transaction. What problems might
this cause?
Another way to partition this example is to have the customer

information as one transaction, the order as another transaction, and
the payment as another. What problems might this cause?

A
Transactions
Figure A-1 shows a Customer table, followed by a begin work

command and various inserts, updates, and deletes, followed by a
commit work and the effect on the Customer table.
Customer table, before:

CustID Name Addr City State PostalCode
C303 Joe Mays 408 E Sperling Fargo ND 58012
C272 Eliza Durham PO Box 907 Juneau AK 99821
C7640 June Jacobson 1688 Ashley Lk Rd Denver CO 80022
C7842 Bran Andrews 678 Zinc Spur Netcong NJ 10022
BEGIN WORK
INSERT into CUSTOMER ("C8007", "Michael Wang","PO Box 42","Willmar", "MN", "56273"
INSERT into CUSTOMER ("C8014", "Agata Omole","99 W Slade","Kalispell", "MT", "59901"
UPDATE CUSTOMER set Addr = "PO Box 709" where CustID = "C272"
DELETE from CUSTOMER where CustID = "C8007"
COMMIT WORK
Customer table, after:

C8014 Agata Omole 99 W Slade Kalispell MT 59901
Figure A-1 Begin Work and Commit Work
Database Basics A-9

A
Transactions
Figure A-2 shows how, if one part of a transaction fails, the entire
transaction is reversed, or rolled back. The same beginning Customer
table is used.
Customer table, before:

BEGIN WORK
INSERT into CUSTOMER ("C8007", "Michael Wang","PO Box 42","Willmar", "MN", "56273"
INSERT into CUSTOMER ("C8014", "Agata Omole","99 W Slade","Kalispell", "MT", "59901"
UPDATE CUSTOMER set Addr = "PO Box 709" where CustID = "C272"
DELETE from CUSTOMER where CustID = "C8007"
DELETE FAILS
ROLLBACK
Customer table, after (no change):

Figure A-2 Begin Work and Rollback

A
Locking
Locking the database is necessary to allow only one person access to a

particular column or row at a time. The idea of allowing multiple
users access to the same row in a database is called concurrency.
Relational databases use two basic row locking strategies, pessimistic
and optimistic, to deal with concurrency.
Pessimistic locking locks a row for the entire time the row is in
memory. This concurrency approach ensures that the row cannot be
updated by someone else at the same time you are updating. In
essence, there is no concurrency, because you are given exclusive
control of updating the row.
Pessimistic locking is best for batch processing, when multiple tables

are being updated and must be consistent. Batch processing is
common in accounting applications.
Optimistic locking locks a row only for the time that it is being
accessed in the database. When you read the row from the database, it
is locked during the read but released as soon as it is in memory. The
row is then locked again when you perform your update or delete.
This approach allows multiple people to work with the same row
simultaneously, but can cause people to overwrite each others
updates. Consider the following example.
User A opens a customer information window and selects a

record, so the row from the database is read by the program. When
User A opens the record, the Preferred Customer checkbox to set it
to yes.
User B then opens the same record.
Next, User A unmarks the checkbox so that it is set to no, and the
database row is updated.
At the same time User B is updating different fields and leaves the
Preferred Customer checkbox as yes.
When User B saves the changes and updates the row, it overwrites
the update from User A and sets the Preferred Customer checkbox
back to yes.
Database Basics A-11

A
Locking
To resolve this shortcoming in the optimistic locking strategy, you

could use a timestamp on each row, which is updated with each
update.
Read the timestamp on the row when it is opened.
Before updating the row, reread the row and compare the
timestamp to the one in memory for that row.
At that point, you can include programming that will warn the user
that the record has changed since he or she first accessed it, and ask
Do you want to see the changes? or Do you want to make your
changes? Depending on the response, you would refresh the data or
perform your update.
Optimistic locking is best for online processing, such as updating a

master record for a customer.

A
SQL Basics
Overview
Review the following if you are not familiar with SQL syntax.
The SQL standard specifies a set of commands and a specific syntax

for the retrieval and modification of data, as well as commands for the
administration of tables. Each SQL statement is issued to the database
system and parsed.
There are five main categories of SQL; most statements fall into the
second category, Data Manipulation Language (DML):
Data Definition Language (DDL) Used to create and alter the

structure of a database.
Data Manipulation Language (DML) Used for operations, such

as SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE.
SELECT Retrieves zero or more records from a named table
INSERT Adds a new record to a named table
DELETE Removes one or more records from a table
UPDATE Modifies one or more fields of particular records
Transaction control language Provides the ability to perform

commit and rollback actions on a sequence of Data Manipulation
Language commands.
Session control language Used for operations on clients in a

client/server environment.
System control language Used for operations on the server in a

client/server environment.
You can read the syntax of SQL clauses like English commands. For
example, a SQL command could be to get me all of the fields in the
table named Employee Data, where the employee ID is 10223. If the
Employee Data table contained fields that held a name, employee ID,
date of hire, social security number, and current salary, you would
expect to receive a single employee record with these values.

A
SQL Basics
Overview
This command is written using the following statement syntax:
SELECT * FROM employee_data WHERE employee_id = '10223'
Note The employee_id field is presented here as a string, but if it

were an integer or a real number, you would not need the single
quotes.
SQL statements are not case sensitive, but the examples shown
highlight the keywords with capital letters.
SELECT Statement
Overview
The SELECT statement is the primary command used for data retrieval
from a SQL database. It supports the following:
Joins
DISTINCT row selection
ORDER BY clauses
Regular expression matching
Column-to-column comparisons in WHERE clauses

A
SQL Basics
SELECT Statement
Syntax
The formal syntax for SQL the SELECT is:

SELECT [table.]column [ , [table.]column ]...
FROM table [ , table]...
[ WHERE [table.]column OPERATOR VALUE
[ AND | OR [table.]column OPERATOR VALUE]... ]
[ ORDER BY [table.]column [DESC] [, [table.]column [DESC] ]
OPERATOR can be <, >, =, <=, >=, <>, or LIKE.
VALUE can be a literal value or a column name.
The regular expression syntax supported by LIKE clauses is that of

standard SQL:
An underscore (_) matches any single character.
A percent sign (%) matches zero or more characters of any value.
A back slash (\) escapes special characters (for example, \%

matches % and \\ matches \).
All other characters match themselves.
Examples
SELECT first_name, last_name FROM emp_details

WHERE dept = 'finance'
The following shows the returned data in ascending order by

last_name and descending order by first_name.
ORDER BY last_name, first_name DESC
Note Here DESC applies to both last_name and first_name.

A
SQL Basics
SELECT Statement
Examples
To remove any duplicate rows, you can use the DISTINCT operator:
SELECT DISTINCT first_name, last_name FROM emp_details
ORDER BY last_name, first_name DESC
Note DISTINCT is useful when you do not have a primary key.
To search for anyone in the finance department whose last name

consists of a letter followed by ughes, such as Hughes, the query
could look like the following:
WHERE dept = 'finance' AND last_name LIKE '_ughes'
Joins
The power of a relational query language is apparent when you start

joining tables during a SELECT operation. For example, if you have
two tables definedone containing staff details and another listing the
projects being worked on by each staff memberand each staff
member has been assigned an employee number that is unique to that
person, you can generate a sorted list of who was working on what
project with the following query:
SELECT emp_details.first_name, emp_details.last_name,
project_details.project
FROM emp_details, project_details
WHERE emp_details.emp_id = project_details.emp_id
ORDER BY emp_details.last_name, emp_details.first_name
Most relational databases place no restriction on the number of tables

joined during a query. You would have 15 tables, all containing
information related to an employee ID in some manner. You can
extract data from each of those tables, though slowly, by a single
query.

A
SQL Basics
SELECT Statement
Joins
Note You must qualify all column names with a table name. SQL
does not support the concept of uniquely named columns spanning
multiple tables. You must qualify every column name as soon as you
access more than one table in a single SELECT.
INSERT Statement
Note Unlike ANSI SQL, you cannot nest a SELECT statement within
an INSERT statement. That is, you cannot insert the data returned by a
SELECT statement.
The INSERT statement adds new SQL records to a table. You must
specify the names of the fields into which the data is to be inserted.
You cannot specify the values without the field name; the server does
not insert the data into the correct fields by default.
Use the following syntax for INSERT:

INSERT INTO table_name ( column [ , column ]... )
VALUES (value [, value]... )
For example:
INSERT INTO emp_details ( first_name, last_name, dept, salary)
VALUES ('Joe', 'Mays', 'I.T.S.','12345')
The number of values supplied must match the number of columns.

However, the column names are optional if every column value is
matched with an INSERT value.

A
SQL Basics
DELETE Statement
The DELETE statement removes records from a SQL table. The syntax
for DELETE is:
DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE column OPERATOR value
[ AND | OR column OPERATOR value ]...
OPERATOR can be <, >, =, <=, >=, <>, or the keyword LIKE.
For example:
DELETE FROM emp_details WHERE emp_id = '12345'
UPDATE Statement
The UPDATE statement is the SQL mechanism for changing the contents
of a SQL record. To change a particular record, you must identify what
record from the table you want to change. The UPDATE statement
cannot use a column name as a value. You can use only literal values
as an UPDATE value. The syntax for UPDATE is:
UPDATE table_name SET column=value [ , column=value ]...
WHERE column OPERATOR value
[ AND | OR column OPERATOR value ]...
OPERATOR can be <, >, =, <=, >=, <>, or the keyword LIKE.
For example:
UPDATE emp_details SET salary=30000 WHERE emp_id = '1234'

Using SQLJ B
Objectives
Upon completion of this appendix, you should be able to:
Explain how SQLJ works
Explain the purpose of the SQLJ Translator
Code database queries with SQLJ
Code database manipulation with SQLJ
This appendix defines SQLJ, and describes how to use SQLJ to connect
a Java application to a relational database.
B-1
B
References
Additional resources The following resource can provide additional

detail on the topics presented in this module:
SQLJ Group resources. [Online.] Available:

http://www.sqlj.org
Database Programming in SQLJ: The ANSI Standard for Embedded

SQL in the Java Programming Language. [Online.] Available:
http://industry.java.sun.com/javaone/99/
event/0,1768,616,00.html
Oracle SQLJ resources. [Online.] Available:

http://www.oracle.com/java/sqlj
SQLJ: The open sesame of Java database applications. [Online.]

Available: http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/
jw-05-1999/jw-05-sqlj.html
B-2 Database Application Programming With Java Technology

B
SQLJ Overview
SQL is used for defining and manipulating data in a relational

database; embedded SQL is SQL written directly in the source file of a
program. Most applications written in C and C++ that interact with a
relational database use embedded SQL.
Oracle Corporation, in conjunction with other leading database

vendors, wanted to be able to embed SQL in the Java programming
language. This group created SQLJ. SQLJ is a language for embedding
static SQL in the Java programming language. It is an alternative
method, in addition to the JDBC API, to connect a Java application to a
relational database.
SQLJ is for static SQL, as opposed to the JDBC API, which is for static
or dynamic SQ:; you can use both in your programs. SQLJ uses JDBC
calls, so you can combine the two in the same program. You can
initialize a JDBC connection with a SQLJ connection context, or a SQLJ
connection with a JDBC connection context.
You still need a JDBC driver to connect to the database using SQLJ.
While you need the driver for both the JDBC API and SQLJ, using
SQLJ is sometimes a better choice because its source programs are
smaller and it does compile-time type checking. You can verify queries
against the database before actually running the application.
SQLJ code can be smaller, more compact, and more self-explanatory

than JDBC code.
You also can create a JDBC ResultSet from a SQLJ iterator, covered
later in this module in the Executing the Query and Reviewing the
Result Set Using Iterator Objects. section. Therefore, the dynamic SQL
API for SQLJ is the JDBC API.
Using SQLJ B-3

B
SQLJ Architecture
Figure B-1 shows that the architecture of a database application using

SQLJ is similar to one that uses the JDBC API.
Java application*
SQLJ Runtime
JDBC API
JDBC driver manager
JDBC-Net JDBC-ODBC Driver A Driver B ...

Driver Bridge driver
ODBC and
DB drivers
* Contains SQLJ program files
Figure B-1 SQLJ Architecture
The SQLJ Runtime is a thin layer of 100% Pure Java code that is
located above the JDBC driver and is used to communicate with your
program. Programs translated by SQLJ can access any database with a
JDBC driver and a compliant SQLJ Runtime. This allows programs to
be portable across platforms and databases.

B
How SQLJ Works
SQLJ program files contain the static SQL calls to connect to the
relational database, and are indicated with a .sqlj extension.
SQLJ uses a translator, a preprocessor, to replace the embedded static

SQL in the SQLJ program with calls to the JDBC API. The SQLJ
Translator is run against the .sqlj file, using the compile command
sqlj filename, and produces one or more .java source files that
you can compile with any standard Java programming language
compiler.
Figure B-2 shows the series of compilation steps.
sqlj filename.sqlj
Step 1
.sqlj file SQLJ Translator .java file(s)
javac filename.java
Step 2
.java file javac compiler .class file(s)
Figure B-2 Compiling a SQLJ Program
The SQLJ Translator performs two important functions. It replaces the

static SQL with JDBC calls, and performs SQL syntax-checking,
schema-checking, and type-checking of host variables at the time of
translation. This means that the SQL will work and not generate an
error, if executed against the same database.
Using SQLJ B-5

B
How SQLJ Works
Note If a program is compiled pointing to database A, then run on

database B with tables that are not in sync with the tables in database
A, there can be errors at runtime.
Code Example
To see how the .sqlj file looks before and after compiling, open the
lab files directory for this course. Locate the directory for SQLJ, and
open the files named SqljDemo.sqlj and SqljDemo.java.

B
Using SQLJ
The steps for using SQLJ to connect to and review data from a
database are similar to the six main steps that you follow to use the
JDBC API, and shown in Table B-1.
Table B-1 SQLJ Development Steps
Step 1 Registering a driver These two steps are completed using

Step 2 Establishing a connection to the SQLJ database connection
the database management feature.
Step 3 Creating a statement Use the SQLJ clauses and host
variables features to complete this
step.
Step 4 Executing the SQL You can use iterator objects to
Step 5 Processing the results complete these two steps.
Step 6 Shutting down objects Complete this step in the same way
you would for a JDBC application.
Using SQLJ B-7

B
Registering and Connecting to the Database Using Database
Connection Management
SQLJ defines a default database connection that is global to the SQLJ

program; you do not have to explicitly define the connection.
You also can use SQLJ programs to manipulate multiple database

connections. You can explicitly create a connection context at any point
that a Java programming language class declaration is permitted. A
connection context manages a set of SQL operations performed during
a session with a specific database. SQLJ comes with a
DefaultContext that you can use, or you can define your own
context that will be specific to your application.
Syntax
DefaultContext ctxtVariable;
ctxtVariable = new DefaultContext (JDBCConnection);
DefaultContext.setDefaultContext (ctxtVariable);
This syntax corresponds to the bold lines in the following example.

B
Example
The following is a sample generic Connection class that returns a

Connection or DefaultContext. The sample was created by Oracle
Corporation and is included as part of the SQLJ implementation.
1 /* Copyright (c) 1997 Oracle Corporation */
3 import sqlj.runtime.ref.DefaultContext;
4
5 /**
6 This is a utility class for establishing SQLJ connections.
7 **/
8 public class ConnectionManager {
9
10 private static String uid = "system" ;
11 private static String pwd = "manager" ;
12 private static String dburl =
"jdbc:oracle:thin:@java1.com:1521:stock1";
13 private static String driver = "oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver";
14
15 /**
16 Creates and returns a new JDBC Connection object.
17 If an error occurs, an error message is printed to System.err
18 and the programs exits.
19 **/
20 static public Connection newConnection() {
21 Connection conn = null;
22
23 //Verify that the access parameters are defined.
24 if (uid== null || pwd==null || dburl==null ) {
25 System.err.println
("Please set DBURL, UID, and PWD, and try again." ) ;
26 System.exit(1) ;
27 }
28
29 try {
30 Class driverClass = Class.forName(driver);
Using SQLJ B-9

B
31 DriverManager.registerDriver((Driver)driverClass.newInstance());
32 conn = DriverManager.getConnection (dburl, uid, pwd);
33 } catch (Exception e) {
34 System.err.println( "Could not establish the JDBC connection:") ;
35 System.err.println(e); System.exit(1);
36 }
37 return conn;
38 }
39
40 /**
41 Returns the currently installed SQLJ default context.
42 If the current default context is null, a new default context
43 instance is set up using a connection obtained from
44 <code>getConnection()</code>.
45 **/
46 static public DefaultContext initContext()
47 {
48 DefaultContext ctx = DefaultContext.getDefaultContext();
49 if (ctx == null) {
50 try {
51 ctx = new DefaultContext(newConnection());
52 } catch (SQLException e) {
53 System.out.println("Error: could not get a default context");
54 System.err.println(e) ; System.exit(1);
55 }
56 DefaultContext.setDefaultContext(ctx);
57 }
58 return ctx;
59 }
60 }

B
The ConnectionManager class makes it easy to create a new context.

The new context is used with the SQLJ clause in the resetTable
method, in line 19. The SQL DELETE statement now uses the DemoCtx
context instead of the DefaultContext.
1 import java.sql.* ;
2
3 /* Declare a ConnectionContext class named DemoCtx. Instances of this
4 class can be used to specify where SQL operations should execute.
5 */
6 #sql context DemoCtx;
7
8 class ContextDemo {
9 private DemoCtx ctx;
10
11 public ContextDemo() {
12 try {
13 ctx = new DemoCtx(ConnectionManager.newConnection());
14 } catch (Exception e) {
15 System.err.println
("Error setting database connection: " + exception);
16 }
17 }
18
19 public resetTables() throws SQLException {
20 #sql [ctx] { DELETE FROM TABLE1 };
21 }
22 }
Using SQLJ B-11

B
Creating a Statement Using SQLJ Clauses and Host Variables
SQLJ Clauses
Static SQL appears in a SQLJ program as a SQLJ clause. A SQLJ clause
begins with the token #sql and then contains a SQL statement that is
enclosed in curly braces. A SQLJ clause can be any place in the
program that a Java programming language statement might appear.
Syntax
#sql {SQLString};
Example
The following SQLJ clause selects the first and last name from the
Customer table for a given customer ID:
1 String firstName;
2 String lastName;
3 int customerID;
4 #sql{SELECT fname, lname INTO :firstName, :lastName FROM Customer
WHERE custID = :customerID};

B
Creating a Statement Using SQLJ Clauses and Host Variables
Host Variables
Host variables are used to pass the input and output of SQL
statements. A host variable is a Java programming language variable,
parameter, or field that is embedded in a SQL statement prefixed by a
colon.
Defining a Host Variable
Syntax
type can be a primitive type or reference type.

type variable
Example
String firstName
Using a Host Variable
Syntax
:variable
Example
The IterDemo1.sqlj file in your sqlj directory uses the following.

:itemID,:itemName,:dateSold,:totalCost,:salesRepID,:salesRepName
Using SQLJ B-13

B
Executing the Query and Reviewing the Result Set Using
Iterator Objects
In a SQLJ program, a result set returned by a SQL query is accessed by

means of an iterator object, which iterates through the rows in the result
set. You can define an iterator class with the #sql token and the
keyword iterator. The clause that defines a named iterator lists the
names and types of columns in a row returned in the result set. You
can define iterators anywhere a class definition can appear.
Defining an Iterator Class

Syntax
#sql iterator tableName(type columnName[, type columnName]);
Example
The following code creates an iterator for a SalesRecs table row.

#sql iterator SalesRecs(
int item_number,
String item_name,
Date sales_date,
double cost,
Integer sales_rep_number,
String sales_rep_name );

B
Executing the Query and Reviewing the Result Set Using
Iterator Objects
Using an Iterator Class
Syntax
tableName iteratorRefVar;
#sql iterator = {SQL_statement};
Example
1 SalesRecs sales;
2 #sql sales = { SELECT item_number,item_name,sales_date,cost,

3 sales_rep_number,sales_rep_name FROM sales };
4 while( sales.next() )
5 {
6 System.out.println( "ITEM ID: " + sales.item_number() );
7 System.out.println( "ITEM NAME: " + sales.item_name() );
8 System.out.println( "COST: " + sales.cost() );
9 System.out.println( "SALES DATE: " + sales.sales_date() );
10 System.out.println( "SALES REP ID: " + sales.sales_rep_number() );
11 System.out.println( "SALES REP NAME: " + sales.sales_rep_name() );
12 System.out.println();
13 }
14 sales.close() ;
15 }
16 }
Note At this time, SQLJ supports only moving forward within a

result set, like the JDBC 1.0 ResultSet.
To see a complete .sqlj file and the resulting .java file using
iterators, open the lab files directory for this course. Locate the
directory for SQLJ, and open the files named IterDemo1.sqlj and
IterDemo1.java.

Using SQLJ B-15

Glossary
ANSI
American National Standards Institute.
Business rules
Rules governing what operations are permitted on application
data and what constraints apply to those operations. These
rules generally vary depending on the business requirements of
the application being designed.
Client/server
An application architecture where functionality is divided
between service requestors (clients) and service providers
(servers). Generally, the client part of the architecture allows the
user to interact with the system and the server provides the
ability to store and manipulate application data or resources.
Client/server architectures tend to be very flexible, allowing
one or more clients to use resources from one or more servers.
Column
A description of a data element that resides in a relational table.
The description of a column is referred to as its metadata, and
consists of the elements name, data type, and special attributes,
such as being a non-null field.
Commit
The act of finalizing a transaction (set of operations) on a
database.
Concurrency
In databases, the attempt by several users to access the same
database structure. In relational databases, this means accessing
the same table.
Glossary-1
Connection pool
A managed set of database connections. A connection pool can
be used in a distributed system and can provide performance
improvements for the application.
Database
A shared collection of logically related data and a description of
the data elements.
Database Management System (DBMS)
A software system allowing users to define, create, and
maintain databases and the data stored within. A DMBS also
provides controlled access to a database.
Dynamic SQL
An approach to generating SQL queries where the SQL
command is first stored in a local variable, then is passed to the
database for execution. This provides the application with the
flexibility to change the SQL instruction and execute the
command on the fly. In the Java programming language, JDBC
provides support for dynamic SQL.
Embedded SQL
Hard-coded SQL instructions directly written into a program. In
the Java programming language, SQLJ provides this capability.
Foreign key
In relational databases, a column that matches database rows in
one table to zero or more rows within another table. This is
used to represent a one-to-many relationship for tables in
databases.
ISO
International Standards Organization.
Java 2 SDK
The latest release of a set of program modules, applications, and
class files used to develop and run applications written in the
Java programming language (previously referred to as the
JDK).
Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI)
An extension to the Java platform that provides applications
with a unified interface to multiple naming and directory
services in an enterprise environment.
Glossary-2 Database Application Programming With Java Technology

Java Runtime Environment (JRE)
The set of program modules needed to run Java technology on a
computer. This is different than the Java technology plug-in,
which is used to run Java applets on a client Web browser.
JDBC
The Java API used to connect to a database and execute SQL
statements on it. Although JDBC is not an acronym, it is often
referred to as Java Database Connectivity. JDBC has been a
part of the Java programming language since JDK 1.1; to date,
there have been two major releases of the API.
Join
An operation in SQL that involves creating a temporary table
with columns from multiple database tables. The join table can
be used to organize and represent data in ways that go beyond
the physical storage within the relational database. SQL defines
two kinds of joins: outer joins and inner joins. For an inner join,
records that do not match the join criteria are not included in
the result table. An outer join includes records that do not
match join criteria, filling in subsequent fields in the table with
null values.
Layer
A part of an application architecture. The terms layer and tier
are sometimes used interchangeably.
Locking
Preventing multiple users from accessing a specific database
resource. Relational databases typically support row-level
locking, where one or more database records can be modified,
accessed, or both, by only one user at a time.
Metadata
In a relational database, information that describes the tables
and columns in the database.
n-Tier
An architecture for client/server systems. N-tier architectures
extend the concept of three-tier systems, allowing multiple
functional servers to be defined for different functions within
the application. See also two-tier and three-tier.
Object ID (OID)
A way to uniquely identify an object within a database that is
not tied to business meaning.
Glossary Glossary-3
Object Oriented Database Management System (OODBMS)
A database management system that supports storage and
maintenance of a persistent and sharable collection of objects.
Object Relational Database Management System (ORDBMS)
A hybrid between an RDBMS and an OODBMS. An object
relational database management system is a relational database
management system that provides extended support for object
storage and retrieval. The SQL3 standard defines the extensions
to SQL required to support this model.
Optimistic Locking
A locking strategy, where transactions are allowed to run until
completion. At commit time, a check is made to see if a conflict
occurred. In the case of conflict, the transaction that caused the
conflict is rolled back and restarted.
Pessimistic Locking
A locking strategy where one or more rows in a database table
are locked (unavailable) for the duration of a specific
transaction. During this time, other transactions cannot perform
operations on the locked row or rows.
Primary key
A column in a relational database table used to uniquely
identify records within that table.
Query
In SQL, a request, command, or instruction for the database.
Relational Database Management System (RDBMS)
A kind of database management system that stores its data in
tables consisting of rows and columns. A column represents one
data type within the table. A row is a database record, a set of
values for the given table. RDBMS systems allow data to be
freely organized between the storage tables, providing a flexible
strategy for dynamically relating data elements based on the
needs of an application. Most RDBMS systems define some
form of SQL to provide the capability for clients to perform
operations on the relational database.
Rollback
In a transaction, the act of reversing the previous operations to
restore a database to its previous state. This is also called
backing out of a transaction.

Row
A single set of associated values stored within a table of a
relational database. A row is also called a database record.
SQL
A language used to programmatically query databases. It has
become the de facto standard for communications with
databases in general, and Relational Databases in particular.
Although it is not an acronym, SQL is often referred to as the
Structured Query Language. SQL is a standard maintained by
ISO and ANSI committees. The three standards are commonly
referred to as SQL/89, SQL92 (also called SQL2) and SQL3.
SQLJ (Java)
A standard for embedding static SQL statements and constructs
in Java technology programs. See also SQL and Embedded SQL.
Table
In relational databases, a structure for data storage consisting of
rows and columns. A column represents one data type within
the table. A row is a database record, a set of values for the
given table.
Three-tier
An architecture for client/server systems, consisting of three
logical layers, or tiers. The first tier (sometimes called the front
end or presentation tier) is generally located on a users
machine; it displays data and allows a user to interact with the
application. The front end communicates with a middle tier
(also known as the business logic tier), which coordinates client
requests and commands and is often used to implement
business rules for the application. The middle tier passes client
requests to the third tier. (also called the back end or data tier)
The third tier provides data management and storage services
to the client(s) through one or more middle tiers.
Tier
A part of an application architecture responsible for fulfilling
some function. A tier might not be an independent code
module. More than one tier can reside on the same machine.
Tiers are sometimes referred to as layers.
Glossary Glossary-5
Transaction
In database manipulation, a logical group of work consisting of
one or more instructions. For a transaction to execute
successfully, all of its instructions must be successfully executed
for the database. If there is an error any time during transaction
execution, the previous operations must be reversed. This is
referred to as backing out or performing a rollback on a
transaction.
Two-tier
An architecture for client/server systems. Normally, a client
interface, located on a users computer system, interacts with a
database management system on another machine. The
database management system generally services requests from
many clients.

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SL-330 Database Application Programming With Java 1999

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Database Application Programming

With Java Technology

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Revision A.1, October 1999

iv Database Application Programming With Java Technology

vi Database Application Programming With Java Technology

viii Database Application Programming With Java Technology

Note JDBC is not an acronym; however, it is considered to stand for

You will also learn how to map an object-oriented design to a

Database Application Programming With Java Technology provides you

Information on SQLJ, another method for connecting a Java

x Database Application Programming With Java Technology

Note Before taking this course, you should be somewhat familiar

About This Course xi

xii Database Application Programming With Java Technology

This course contains the following modules:

Module 1 JDBC Overview

Module 2 Using JDBC

This module describes the steps necessary to enable a Java

Module 3 OOAD and Database Design

This module describes how to map your object-oriented Java

About This Course xiii

Module 4 JDBC Advanced Topics

This module describes the JDBC 1.0 topics of exception handling,

Module 5 JDBC 2.0 Core Features

This module describes how to use the core features, such as

Module 6 JDBC 2.0 Standard Extensions

This module describes how to use the advanced features, such as

Module 7 Row Set Implementation

This module describes the CachedRowSet implementation and

Module 8 JDBC and Application Architecture

This module describes application architecture considerations

xiv Database Application Programming With Java Technology

Appendix A Database Basics

This appendix reviews different types of databases, concepts such

Appendix B Using SQLJ

This appendix defines SQLJ, and describes how to use SQLJ to

About This Course xv

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

Design a multi-tier database application architecture

Create a multi-tier database application using the Java

Map an object-oriented design to a relational database

Explain the features added to the JDBC 2.0 API

xvi Database Application Programming With Java Technology

Design a multi-tier database application architecture

About This Course xvii

The following table provides a rough estimate of pacing for this

Module Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4

About This Course A.M.

xviii Database Application Programming With Java Technology

Object-oriented theory Covered in SL-210: Migrating to OO

Java programming language basics Covered in SL-275: Java

Relational database design and SQL basics

Refer to the Sun Educational Services catalog for specific information

About This Course xix

xx Database Application Programming With Java Technology

About This Course xxi

To enable you to succeed in this course, these course materials employ

Objectives What you should be able to accomplish upon

Relevance The Relevance section for each module provides

Overhead image Reduced overhead images for the course are

Lecture The instructor will present information specific to the

xxii Database Application Programming With Java Technology

Exercise Lab exercises will give you the opportunity to practice