Working with Apache Derby
As you know, Java 6.0 comes bundled with Apache Derby. The “db” folder inside the JDK 6.0 directory is our bundled Database. Here is the list of things i did on the db.
1) Connect
But before connecting we need to set the classpath for Apache Derby. Just add the following lines to your classpath.
$JAVA_HOME\db\lib\derby.jar;$JAVA_HOME\db\lib\derbytools.jar;
Basically, the derby.jar is the core apache derby db purely written in Java. (comes around 2 MB). More on Apache Derby >>
And the derbytools.jar gives one interesting tool called the “ij” for that command line db access.
java org.apache.derby.tools.ij will give you a “ij” prompt. Type help and you will get a list of commands you can play with.
ij> help;
Finally, to connect to a database, use the following command.
connect ‘jdbc:derby:myfirstdb;create=true’;
The String following the “connect” keyword just tells us that you are using org.apache.derby.jdbc.EmbeddedDriver (jdbc:derby) to connect to myfirstdb (your database), which has not been created yet. So you create it (create=true). So, the next time you want to connect to the same database, connect ‘jdbc:derby:myfirstdb’ ; will do.
2) Create table
ij> show tables;
TABLE_SCHEM |TABLE_NAME |REMARKS
————————————————————————
0 rows selected
ij> create table emp (empname varchar(20), empno int);
0 rows inserted/updated/deleted
3) Insert a row to table and query it
ij> insert into emp values (‘arun’,101);
1 row inserted/updated/deleted
ij> select * from emp;
EMPNAME |EMPNO
——————————–
arun |101
1 row selected
>>more on how to use Java to connect to Derby in embedded and network mode




