Package java.sql

Interface Driver

All Known Implementing Classes:

JDBCDriver

public interface Driver

An interface to a JDBC driver. Instances are returned by DriverManager.

The JDBC driver uses URLs to specify the location of specific data. URL format typically takes the form " xxxx:yyyy:SpecificData", where " xxxx:yyyy" is referred to as the subprotocol and is normally the same for all of a particular driver. " SpecificData" is a string which identifies the particular data source that the driver should use.

See Also:

DriverManager

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method	Description
boolean	acceptsURL(String url)	Returns whether the driver thinks that it can open a connection to the given URL.
Connection	connect(String url, Properties info)	Attempts to make a database connection to a data source specified by a supplied URL.
int	getMajorVersion()	Gets the driver's major version number.
int	getMinorVersion()	Gets the driver's minor version number.
DriverPropertyInfo[]	getPropertyInfo(String url, Properties info)	Gets information about possible properties for this driver.
boolean	jdbcCompliant()	Reports whether this driver is a genuine JDBC CompliantTM driver.

Method Detail

acceptsURL

boolean acceptsURL(String url)
            throws SQLException

Returns whether the driver thinks that it can open a connection to the given URL.

Parameters:

url - the URL to connect to.

Returns:

true if the driver thinks that is can open a connection to the supplied URL, false otherwise. Typically, the driver will respond true if it thinks that it can handle the subprotocol specified by the driver.

Throws:

SQLException - if a database error occurs.

connect

Connection connect(String url,
                   Properties info)
            throws SQLException

Attempts to make a database connection to a data source specified by a supplied URL.

Parameters:

url - the URL to connect.

info - some properties that should be used in establishing the connection. The properties consist of name/value pairs of strings. Normally, a connection to a database requires at least two properties - for "user" and "password" in order to pass authentication to the database.

Returns:

the connection to the database.

Throws:

SQLException - if a database error occurs.

getMajorVersion

int getMajorVersion()

Gets the driver's major version number.

Returns:

the major version number of the driver - typically starts at 1.

getMinorVersion

int getMinorVersion()

Gets the driver's minor version number.

Returns:

the minor version number of the driver - typically starts at 0.

getPropertyInfo

DriverPropertyInfo[] getPropertyInfo(String url,
                                     Properties info)
                              throws SQLException

Gets information about possible properties for this driver.

This method is intended to provide a listing of possible properties that the client of the driver must supply in order to establish a connection to a database. Note that the returned array of properties may change depending on the supplied list of property values.

Parameters:

url - the URL of the database. An application may call this method iteratively as the property list is built up - for example, when displaying a dialog to an end-user as part of the database login process.

info - a set of tag/value pairs giving data that a user may be prompted to provide in order to connect to the database.

Returns:

an array of DriverPropertyInfo records which provide details on which additional properties are required (in addition to those supplied in the info parameter) in order to connect to the database.

Throws:

SQLException - if a database error occurs.

jdbcCompliant

boolean jdbcCompliant()

Reports whether this driver is a genuine JDBC CompliantTM driver. The driver may only return true if it passes all the JDBC compliance tests.

A driver may not be fully compliant if the underlying database has limited functionality.

Returns:

true if the driver is fully JDBC compliant, false otherwise.