What Is JDBC?

This section provides a quick answer to the question of 'What is JDBC?'

JDBC is an API (Application Programming Interface) that provides universal database access for the Java programming language. JDBC is the trademarked name and is not an acronym. But JDBC is often thought of as standing for "Java Database Connectivity."

The current version of JDBC API is JDBC 4.3 API which is implemented in Java SE 9 (JDK 9) and newer versions. It includes two packages:

The specification of JDBC 4.3 API is documented in JSR (Java Specification Request) 221 maintained by JCP (Java Community Process). See JSR 221: JDBC 4.0 API Specification at https://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=221.

In order to use JDBC to connect Java applications to a specific database server, you need to have a JDBC driver that supports JDBC API for that database server. For example, Microsoft JDBC Drive allows you to access Microsoft SQL Server through the JDBC API.

By the way, JDBC 4.2 API was implemented in Java SE 8 (JDK 1.8).

Table of Contents

 About This Book

JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) Introduction

What Is JDBC?

 JDBC Version and History

 JDBC Driver Types

 Establishing Connections from JDBC to Databases

 DriverManager - Loading JDBC Driver

 DriverManager - Connection URL

 JDK (Java SE) Installation

 Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition

 Microsoft JDBC Driver for SQL Server

 Microsoft JDBC Driver - Query Statements and Result Sets

 Microsoft JDBC Driver - DatabaseMetaData Object

 Microsoft JDBC Driver - DDL Statements

 Microsoft JDBC Driver - DML Statements

 SQL Server - PreparedStatement

 SQL Server CLOB (Character Large Object) - TEXT

 SQL Server BLOB (Binary Large Object) - BLOB

 JDBC-ODBC Bridge Driver - sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver

 JDBC-ODBC Bridge Driver - Flat Text Files

 JDBC-ODBC Bridge Driver - MS Access

 JDBC-ODBC Bridge Driver - MS SQL Server

 Archived Tutorials

 References

 Full Version in PDF/EPUB