MySQL and Java Developers Guide

The primary goal of MySQL and Java Developer’s Guide is to provide a comprehensive
approach to writing code from a Java application to a MySQL database
using the industry standard: JDBC. As you will see later in this
Introduction, the chapter titles indicate what area of database connectivity and
manipulation they cover. The chapters are ordered to reflect the JDBC specification,
but we aren’t here to simply describe the specification.
We wrote all of the material in the book to highlight how MySQL’s Connector/J
JDBC driver achieves the interfacing of MySQL with Java while maintaining the
spirit of the specification. With this in mind, we provide example code using all
major forms of Java development, including
■■ Applications
■■ Applets
■■ Servlets
■■ JSPs
■■ EJBs
As you work in Java and JDBC, you will see the true power of the specification.
You can write database access code in a Java application and move the code to
a servlet with little if any changes. In the case of EJBs and container-managed
persistence, we devoted a full chapter to dealing with database access without
the cumbersome details of SQL.
We designed the layout of the book to move you through the entire process of
writing Java code needed to access a back-end database. Developing the database
is one of the first things that you must accomplish in this process. While
we don’t delve deeply into the theory of database development, you learn how
to create databases in MySQL, administer those databases, and handle such
details as granting access permissions. From there, we take you into an examination
of the MySQL Connector/J driver and how it accomplishes its goal of
portable database access. The remainder of the book steps you through Java
code that highlights how to accomplish database tasks such as the following:
■■ Querying and updating
■■ Handling ResultSets
■■ Using transactions
■■ Handling typing issues between JDBC and MySQL
■■ Working with metadata
■■ Addressing efficiency issues