Connecting to a MySQL database

Question

How do I connect from Java to a MySQL database? The Java is running on a local machine while the Database is on a remote server.

Answer 1

This example connects to a MySQL database using the MM JDBC driver for MySQL:

Connection connection = null;

try {
    // Load the JDBC driver
    String driverName = "com.mysql.jdbc.Driver"; // MySQL MM JDBC driver
    Class.forName(driverName);

    // Create a connection to the database
    String serverName = "localhost";
    String mydatabase = "mydatabase";
    String url = "jdbc:mysql://" + serverName +  "/" + mydatabase; // a JDBC url
    String username = "username";
    String password = "password";
    connection = DriverManager.getConnection(url, username, password);
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
    // Could not find the database driver
} catch (SQLException e) {
    // Could not connect to the database
}

You need to have an account in MySQL database to run this example. To create an account, you can connect to MySQL database on your platform as root, and run the following command:

mysql> GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE PRIVILEGES ON *.* 
       TO username@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'password' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Answer 2

JDBC, of course. Get the mysql connector-j jar, put it in your classpath, and read the docs.