java.sql
Interface Driver

public interface Driver

An Interface to a JDBC Driver.

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 termed the subprotocol and is normally the same for all uses of a particular driver. "SpecificData" is a string which identifies the particular data source that the driver should use.

Method Summary

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 datasource 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

connect

Connection connect(String url,
                   Properties info)
                   throws SQLException

Attempts to make a database connection to a datasource 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:

a Connection object representing 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 user of the driver may need to supply in order to correct connect 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. A using program 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 -

Returns:

an array of DriverPropertyInfo records which provide detail on each property that the driver will accept.

Throws:

SQLException

jdbcCompliant

boolean jdbcCompliant()

Reports whether this driver is a genuine JDBC CompliantTM driver. The driver may only return true from this method 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.