JDBC and Database Programming

in Java
Agenda
• Overview of Databases and Java
• Overview of JDBC
• JDBC APIs
• Other Database Techniques
Database Architectures
• Two-tier
• Three-tier
• N-tier
Two-Tier Architecture
• Client connects directly to server
• e.g. HTTP, email
• Pro:
– simple
– client-side scripting offloads work onto the client
• Con:
– fat client
– inflexible
Three-Tier Architecture
• Application Server sits between client and
database
Three-Tier Pros
• flexible: can change one part without affecting
others
• can connect to different databases without
changing code
• specialization: presentation / business logic /
data management
• can cache queries
• can implement proxies and firewalls
Three-Tier Cons
• higher complexity
• higher maintenance
• lower network efficiency
• more parts to configure (and buy)
N-Tier Architecture
• Design your application using as many “tiers”
as you need
• Use Object-Oriented Design techniques
• Put the various components on whatever host
makes sense
• Java allows N-Tier Architecture, especially with
RMI and JDBC
Database Technologies
• Hierarchical
– obsolete (in a manner of speaking)
– any specialized file format can be called a hierarchical DB
• Relational (aka SQL) (RDBMS)
– row, column
– most popular
• Object-relational DB (ORDBMS)
– add inheritance, blobs to RDB
– NOT object-oriented -- “object” is mostly a marketing term
• Object-oriented DB (OODB)
– data stored as objects
– high-performance for OO data models
Relational Databases
• invented by Dr. E.F.Codd
• data stored in records which live in tables
• maps row (record) to column (field) in a single
table
• “relation” (as in “relational”) means row to
column (not table to table)
Joining Tables
• you can associate tables with one another
• allows data to nest
• allows arbitrarily complicated data structures
• not object-oriented
Join example
• People
– name
– homeaddress
– workaddress
• Addresses
– id
– street
– state
– zip
SQL
• Structured Query Language
• Standardized syntax for “querying” (accessing)
a relational database
• Supposedly database-independent
• Actually, there are important variations from
DB to DB
SQL Syntax
INSERT INTO table ( field1, field2 ) VALUES (
value1, value2 )
– inserts a new record into the named table
UPDATE table SET ( field1 = value1, field2 =
value2 ) WHERE condition
– changes an existing record or records
DELETE FROM table WHERE condition
– removes all records that match condition
SELECT field1, field2 FROM table WHERE
condition
– retrieves all records that match condition
Transactions
• Transaction = more than one statement which
must all succeed (or all fail) together
• If one fails, the system must reverse all
previous actions
• Also can’t leave DB in inconsistent state
halfway through a transaction
• COMMIT = complete transaction
• ROLLBACK = abort
Part II: JDBC Overview
JDBC Goals
• SQL-Level
• 100% Pure Java
• Keep it simple
• High-performance
• Leverage existing database technology
– why reinvent the wheel?
• Use strong, static typing wherever possible
• Use multiple methods to express multiple
functionality
JDBC Architecture

Application JDBC Driver

• Java code calls JDBC library

• JDBC loads a driver
• Driver talks to a particular database
• Can have more than one driver -> more than one
database
• Ideal: can change database engines without changing
any application code
JDBC Drivers
• Type I: “Bridge”
• Type II: “Native”
• Type III: “Middleware”
• Type IV: “Pure”
JDBC Drivers (Fig.)

Type I ODBC
ODBC
“Bridge” Driver

Type II
JDBC CLI (.lib)
“Native”

Type III Middleware

“Middleware” Server

Type IV
“Pure”
Type I Drivers
• Use bridging technology
• Requires installation/configuration on client
machines
• Not good for Web
• e.g. ODBC Bridge
Type II Drivers
• Native API drivers
• Requires installation/configuration on client
machines
• Used to leverage existing CLI libraries
• Usually not thread-safe
• Mostly obsolete now
• e.g. Intersolv Oracle Driver, WebLogic drivers
Type III Drivers
• Calls middleware server, usually on database
host
• Very flexible -- allows access to multiple
databases using one driver
• Only need to download one driver
• But it’s another server application to install
and maintain
• e.g. Symantec DBAnywhere
Type IV Drivers
• 100% Pure Java -- the Holy Grail
• Use Java networking libraries to talk directly to
database engines
• Only disadvantage: need to download a new
driver for each database engine
• e.g. Oracle, mSQL
Part III: JDBC APIs
java.sql
• JDBC is implemented via classes in the java.sql
package
Loading a Driver Directly
Driver d = new
foo.bar.MyDriver();
Connection c = d.connect(...);
• Not recommended, use DriverManager
instead
• Useful if you know you want a particular driver
DriverManager
• DriverManager tries all the drivers
• Uses the first one that works
• When a driver class is first loaded, it registers
itself with the DriverManager
• Therefore, to register a driver, just load it!
Registering a Driver
• statically load driver
Class.forName(“foo.bar.MyDriver”);
Connection c =
DriverManager.getConnection(...);
• or use the jdbc.drivers system
property
JDBC Object Classes
• DriverManager
– Loads, chooses drivers
• Driver
– connects to actual database
• Connection
– a series of SQL statements to and from the DB
• Statement
– a single SQL statement
• ResultSet
– the records returned from a Statement
JDBC Class Usage
DriverManager

Driver

Connection

Statement

ResultSet
JDBC URLs
jdbc:subprotocol:source
• each driver has its own subprotocol
• each subprotocol has its own syntax for the
source
jdbc:odbc:DataSource
– e.g. jdbc:odbc:Northwind
jdbc:msql://host[:port]/database
– e.g. jdbc:msql://foo.nowhere.com:4333/accounting
DriverManager
Connection getConnection
(String url, String user,
String password)
• Connects to given JDBC URL with given user
name and password
• Throws java.sql.SQLException
• returns a Connection object
Connection
• A Connection represents a session with a specific database.
• Within the context of a Connection, SQL statements are
executed and results are returned.
• Can have multiple connections to a database
– NB: Some drivers don’t support serialized connections
– Fortunately, most do (now)
• Also provides “metadata” -- information about the database,
tables, and fields
• Also methods to deal with transactions
Obtaining a Connection

String url = "jdbc:odbc:Northwind";

try {
Class.forName ("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver");
Connection con = DriverManager.getConnection(url);
}
catch (ClassNotFoundException e)
{ e.printStackTrace(); }
catch (SQLException e)
{ e.printStackTrace(); }
Connection Methods
Statement createStatement()
– returns a new Statement object
PreparedStatement prepareStatement(String
sql)
– returns a new PreparedStatement object
CallableStatement prepareCall(String sql)
– returns a new CallableStatement object
• Why all these different kinds of statements?
Optimization.
Statement
• A Statement object is used for executing a
static SQL statement and obtaining the results
produced by it.
Statement Methods
ResultSet executeQuery(String)
– Execute a SQL statement that returns a single ResultSet.
int executeUpdate(String)
– Execute a SQL INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE statement.
Returns the number of rows changed.
boolean execute(String)
– Execute a SQL statement that may return multiple results.
• Why all these different kinds of queries?
Optimization.
ResultSet
• A ResultSet provides access to a table of data
generated by executing a Statement.
• Only one ResultSet per Statement can be open at
once.
• The table rows are retrieved in sequence.
• A ResultSet maintains a cursor pointing to its current
row of data.
• The 'next' method moves the cursor to the next row.
– you can’t rewind
ResultSet Methods
• boolean next()
– activates the next row
– the first call to next() activates the first row
– returns false if there are no more rows
• void close()
– disposes of the ResultSet
– allows you to re-use the Statement that created it
– automatically called by most Statement methods
ResultSet Methods
• Type getType(int columnIndex)
– returns the given field as the given type
– fields indexed starting at 1 (not 0)
• Type getType(String columnName)
– same, but uses name of field
– less efficient
• int findColumn(String columnName)
– looks up column index given column name
ResultSet Methods
• String getString(int columnIndex)
• boolean getBoolean(int columnIndex)
• byte getByte(int columnIndex)
• short getShort(int columnIndex)
• int getInt(int columnIndex)
• long getLong(int columnIndex)
• float getFloat(int columnIndex)
• double getDouble(int columnIndex)
• Date getDate(int columnIndex)
• Time getTime(int columnIndex)
• Timestamp getTimestamp(int columnIndex)
ResultSet Methods
• String getString(String columnName)
• boolean getBoolean(String columnName)
• byte getByte(String columnName)
• short getShort(String columnName)
• int getInt(String columnName)
• long getLong(String columnName)
• float getFloat(String columnName)
• double getDouble(String columnName)
• Date getDate(String columnName)
• Time getTime(String columnName)
• Timestamp getTimestamp(String columnName)
isNull
• In SQL, NULL means the field is empty
• Not the same as 0 or “”
• In JDBC, you must explicitly ask if a field is null
by calling ResultSet.isNull(column)
Sample Database
Employee ID Last Name First Name
1 Davolio Nancy
2 Fuller Andrew
3 Leverling Janet
4 Peacock Margaret
5 Buchanan Steven
SELECT Example
Connection con =
DriverManager.getConnection(url, "alex",
"8675309");
Statement st = con.createStatement();
ResultSet results = st.executeQuery("SELECT
EmployeeID, LastName, FirstName FROM
Employees");
SELECT Example (Cont.)
while (results.next()) {
int id = results.getInt(1);
String last = results.getString(2);
String first = results.getString(3);
System.out.println("" + id + ": " + first
+ " " + last);
}
st.close();
con.close();
Mapping Java Types to SQL Types
SQL type Java Type
CHAR, VARCHAR, LONGVARCHAR String
NUMERIC, DECIMAL java.math.BigDecimal
BIT boolean
TINYINT byte
SMALLINT short
INTEGER int
BIGINT long
REAL float
FLOAT, DOUBLE double
BINARY, VARBINARY, LONGVARBINARY byte[]
DATE java.sql.Date
TIME java.sql.Time
TIMESTAMP java.sql.Timestamp
Database Time
• Times in SQL are notoriously unstandard
• Java defines three classes to help
• java.sql.Date
– year, month, day
• java.sql.Time
– hours, minutes, seconds
• java.sql.Timestamp
– year, month, day, hours, minutes, seconds, nanoseconds
– usually use this one
Modifying the Database
• use executeUpdate if the SQL contains
“INSERT” or “UPDATE”
• Why isn’t it smart enough to parse the SQL?
Optimization.
• executeUpdate returns the number of rows
modified
• executeUpdate also used for “CREATE TABLE”
etc. (DDL)
Transaction Management
• Transactions are not explicitly opened and
closed
• Instead, the connection has a state called
AutoCommit mode
• if AutoCommit is true, then every statement is
automatically committed
• default case: true
setAutoCommit
Connection.setAutoCommit(boolean)
• if AutoCommit is false, then every statement is
added to an ongoing transaction
• you must explicitly commit or rollback the
transaction using Connection.commit() and
Connection.rollback()
Connection Managers
• Hint: for a large threaded database server, create a
Connection Manager object
• It is responsible for maintaining a certain number of open
connections to the database
• When your applications need a connection, they ask for one
from the CM’s pool
• Why? Because opening and closing connections takes a long
time
• Warning: the CM should always setAutoCommit(false) when a
connection is returned
Optimized Statements
• Prepared Statements
– SQL calls you make again and again
– allows driver to optimize (compile) queries
– created with Connection.prepareStatement()
• Stored Procedures
– written in DB-specific language
– stored inside database
– accesed with Connection.prepareCall()