What is JDBC?
The JDBC API
Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) is a standard application
programming interface (API) that allows a Java application to access any
database that supports Structured Query Language (SQL) as its standard
data access language.
The JDBC API includes classes for common SQL database activities
that allow you to open connections to databases, execute SQL commands,
and process results. Consequently, Java programs have the capability to
use the familiar SQL programming model of issuing SQL statements and
processing the resulting data. The JDBC classes are included in Java
1.1+ and Java 2 as the java.sql package.
The JDBC API defines the following:
-
A library of JDBC function calls that connect to a database,
execute SQL statements, and retrieve results -
A standard way to connect and log in to a DBMS
-
SQL syntax based on the X/Open SQL Call Level Interface or
X/Open and SQL Access Group (SAG) CAE specification (1992) -
A standard representation for datatypes
-
A standard set of error codes
How JDBC APIs are
implemented
JDBC API implementations fall into two broad categories: those
that communicate with an existing ODBC driver (a JDBC-ODBC bridge) and
those that communicate with a native database API (a JDBC driver that
converts JDBC calls into the communications protocol used by the
specific database vendor). The PowerBuilder implementation of the JDBC
interface can be used to connect to any database for which a
JDBC-compliant driver exists.
The PowerBuilder JDB
interface
A Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is required to interpret and execute
the bytecode of a Java program. The PowerBuilder JDB interface supports
the Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE) versions 1.6 and later.