Preface

This preface introduces you to the Oracle9i JDBC Developer's Guide and Reference, discussing the intended audience, structure, and conventions of this document. A list of related Oracle documents is also provided.

Intended Audience

This manual is intended for anyone with an interest in JDBC programming but assumes at least some prior knowledge of the following:

• Java

• SQL

• Oracle PL/SQL

• Oracle databases

Structure

The Oracle9i JDBC Developer's Guide and Reference contains the following chapters and appendices:

• Chapter 1, "Overview"--Provides an overview of the Oracle implementation of JDBC and the Oracle JDBC driver architecture.

• Chapter 2, "Getting Started"--Introduces the Oracle JDBC drivers and some scenarios of how you can use them. This chapter also guides you through the basics of testing your installation and configuration.

• Chapter 3, "Basic Features"--Covers the basic steps in creating any JDBC application. It also discusses additional basic features of Java and JDBC supported by the Oracle JDBC drivers.

• Chapter 4, "Overview of JDBC 2.0 Support"--Presents an overview of JDBC 2.0 features and describes the differences in how these features are supported in the JDK 1.2.x and JDK 1.1.x environments.

• Chapter 5, "Overview of Oracle Extensions"--Provides an overview of the JDBC extension classes supplied by Oracle.

• Chapter 6, "Accessing and Manipulating Oracle Data"--Describes data access using the Oracle datatype formats rather than Java formats.

• Chapter 7, "Working with LOBs and BFILEs"--Covers the Oracle extensions to the JDBC standard that let you access and manipulate LOBs and LOB data.

• Chapter 8, "Working with Oracle Object Types"--Explains how to map Oracle object types to Java classes by using either standard JDBC or Oracle extensions.

• Chapter 9, "Working with Oracle Object References"--Describes the Oracle extensions to standard JDBC that let you access and manipulate object references.

• Chapter 10, "Working with Oracle Collections"--Discusses the Oracle extensions to standard JDBC that let you access and manipulate arrays and their data.

• Chapter 11, "Result Set Enhancements"--This chapter discusses JDBC 2.0 result set enhancements such as scrollable result sets and updatable result sets, including support issues under JDK 1.1.x

• Chapter 12, "Performance Extensions"--Describes Oracle extensions to the JDBC standard that enhance the performance of your applications.

• Chapter 13, "Statement Caching"--Describes Oracle extension statements for caching.

• Chapter 14, "Connection Pooling and Caching"--Discusses JDBC 2.0 data sources (and their usage of JNDI), connection pooling functionality (a framework for connection caching implementations), and a sample connection caching implementation provided by Oracle.

• Chapter 15, "Distributed Transactions"--Covers distributed transactions, otherwise known as global transactions, and standard XA functionality. (Distributed transactions are sets of transactions, often to multiple databases, that have to be committed in a coordinated manner.)

• Chapter 16, "JDBC OCI Extensions"--Describes extensions specific to the OCI driver.

• Chapter 17, "Java Transaction API"--Describes how to use the JDBC connections within a JTA global transaction in order to include all changes to multiple databases within a transaction.

• Chapter 18, "Advanced Topics"--Describes advanced JDBC topics such as using NLS, working with applets, the server-side driver, and embedded SQL92 syntax.

• Chapter 19, "Coding Tips and Troubleshooting"--Includes coding tips and general guidelines for troubleshooting your JDBC applications.

• Chapter 20, "Sample Applications"--Presents sample applications that highlight advanced JDBC features and Oracle extensions.

• Chapter 21, "Reference Information"--Contains detailed JDBC reference information.

• Appendix A, "Row Set"--Describes JDBC and cached row sets.

• Appendix B, "JDBC Error Messages"--This appendix lists JDBC error messages and the corresponding ORA error numbers.

Conventions

This book uses Solaris syntax, but file names and directory names for Windows NT are the same, unless otherwise noted.

The term [ORACLE_HOME] is used to indicate the full path of the Oracle home directory.

In examples, an implied carriage return occurs at the end of each line, unless otherwise noted. You must press the Return key at the end of a line of input.

The following conventions are also used in this manual:

Convention	Meaning
. . .	Vertical ellipsis points in an example mean that information not directly related to the example has been omitted.
. . .	Horizontal ellipsis points in statements or commands mean that parts of the statement or command not directly related to the example have been omitted.
< >	Angle brackets enclose user-supplied names.
[ ]	Brackets enclose optional clauses from which you can choose one or none.

Related Documents

This section lists other documentation of interest.

See the following additional documents available from the Oracle Java Platform group:

• Oracle9i Java Developer's Guide

  This book introduces the basic concepts of Java in Oracle9i and provides general information about server-side configuration and functionality. Information that pertains to the Oracle Java platform as a whole, rather than to a particular product (such as JDBC, SQLJ, or EJBs) is in this book.

• Oracle9i JPublisher User's Guide

  This book describes how to use the JPublisher utility to translate object types and other user-defined types to Java classes. If you are developing SQLJ or JDBC applications that use object types, VARRAY types, nested table types, or object reference types, then JPublisher can generate custom Java classes to map to them.

• Oracle9i SQLJ Developer's Guide and Reference

  This book covers the use of SQLJ to embed static SQL operations directly into Java code, covering SQLJ language syntax and SQLJ translator options and features. Both standard SQLJ features and Oracle-specific SQLJ features are described.

• Oracle9i Java Stored Procedures Developer's Guide

  This book discusses Java stored procedures--programs that run directly in the Oracle9i server. With stored procedures (functions, procedures, database triggers, and SQL methods), Java developers can implement business logic at the server level, thereby improving application performance, scalability, and security.

• Oracle9i Enterprise JavaBeans Developer's Guide and Reference

  This book describes the Oracle extensions to the Enterprise JavaBeans and CORBA specifications.

• Oracle9i Java Tools Reference

  This book describes Oracle JVM tools and associated options.

You can also refer to the following documents from the Oracle Server Technologies group.

• Oracle Net Services Administrator's Guide

  This book contains information about the Oracle8 Connection Manager and Oracle Net network administration in general.

• Oracle9i Globalization and National Language Support Guide

  This book contains information about NLS environment variables, character sets, and territory and locale settings. In addition, it contains an overview of common NLS issues, typical scenarios, and NLS considerations for OCI and SQL programmers.

• Oracle Advanced Security Administrator's Guide

  This book describes features of the Oracle Advanced Security Option (formerly known as ANO or ASO).

• Oracle9i Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals

  This book introduces basic design concepts and programming features in using an Oracle9i database and creating database access applications.

• Oracle9i Application Developer's Guide - Large Objects (LOBs)

  This book describes general functionality and features of database large objects (LOBs) in Oracle9i.

• Oracle9i Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

  This book contains general information about structured objects and other object-relational database features in Oracle9i.

• Oracle9i Supplied PL/SQL Packages Reference

  This book documents PL/SQL packages available as part of the Oracle9i server, some of which may be useful to call from JDBC applications.

• PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference

  PL/This book explains the concepts and features of PL/SQL, Oracle's procedural language extension to SQL.

• Oracle9i SQL Reference

  This book contains a complete description of the content and syntax of the SQL commands and features used to manage information in an Oracle database.

• Oracle9i Database Reference

  This book contains general reference information about the Oracle9i server.

• Oracle9i Database Error Messages

  This book contains information about error messages that can be passed by the Oracle9i server.

Documentation from the following Oracle groups may also be of interest.

• Oracle9i Application Server Documentation Library

  This documentation contains information about how the Oracle9i Application Server supports JDBC.

• Oracle JDeveloper online help

  This documentation contains information about how the Oracle JDeveloper supports Oracle JDBC.

• Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide

  This book describes how to develop applications using the OCI.

For documentation of SQLJ standard features and syntax, refer to ANSI NCITS 331.2-2000:

• Information Technology - SQLJ - Part 2: SQL Types using the JavaTM Programming Language document

You can obtain this from ANSI at the following Web site:

http://www.ansi.org/

Documentation Accessibility

Oracle's goal is to make our products, services, and supporting documentation accessible to the disabled community with good usability. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For additional information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at:

http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/

JAWS, a Windows screen reader, may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, JAWS may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace.