Visual Case - JDBC^TM Centre
connecting to your database with JDBC

Introduction

Visual Case can reverse and forward engineer database schemas.  To do this, the application needs to connect to your database in order to retrieve the information about existing tables, columns, foreign keys, etc.  On Windows platforms, you can create an ODBC connection in the Windows Control Panel and connect from Visual Case to your database via ODBC.

On other platforms, or if you prefer to not use ODBC, you can create a Visual Case JDBC connection profile to connect to your database.

Instructions on connecting to your database via JDBC can be found below.

What is JDBC?

Java's philosophy of write once, run anywhere is upheld with the creation of JDBC.  Standing for Java Database Connectivity, JDBC allows for the access to any data source from any piece of Java code using driver implementing a standard Driver interface.  JDBC is the standard for connecting from Java to a data source.

The connection is made by loading a JDBC Driver that exposes a standard interface to the underlying data source.  These drivers are available from many vendors and other sources and can connect to an ever-increasing number of data sources.  Information on suggested drivers for use with Visual Case can be found below.

Sun Microsystems^TM maintains a searchable database of JDBC drivers available here.

What Makes up a JDBC Connection?

User's of Visual Case can create JDBC connections to access their databases.  These allow for the engineering of databases on virtually any platform.  These connection profiles can be used and modified while running the database engineer.

A Visual Case JDBC Connection is made up of the following:

Suggested JDBC Drivers, and Sample Connection Settings

Below are suggested drivers for Visual Case.  Each driver has been tested with Visual Case and is available for free.  You can use any driver you wish, however support may be limited for other drivers if you have problems connecting or engineering your database.

Each driver requires the specification of locations to one or more jar (java archive) files.  We suggest creating a directory under your Visual Case install called JDBCDrivers in which you can store your drivers.  If the drivers are moved or deleted, you will not be able to connect to your database.

Select your database type for the detailed settings of a JDBC connection profile.

• Microsoft SQL Server 2000

• Microsoft SQL Server 6.5, 7, & 2000

• Oracle 8 & 9

• Sybase Enterprise & Anywhere

• MySQL

Microsoft SQL Server 2000

We suggest using the Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Driver for JDBC.

On the Microsoft site, there is a FAQ about the driver, and it can be downloaded for free.  You will find the download under Tools & Utilities.

Sample connection information follows:

URL: jdbc:Microsoft:sqlserver://MyServer:1433;DatabaseName=MyDB

The default port is 1433, and MyServer should be replaced with your server's computer name.  Check with your database administrator if you have trouble connecting.

Data Source: MyDB

The data source name is the same as the DatabaseName in the connection URL and represents the name of your database.

Jar Files: msbase.jar;mssqlserver.jar;msutil.jar

The above three files are required for the connection to work.  You will need to specify the full path to each file.

Driver: com.microsoft.jdbc.sqlserver.SQLServerDriver

Microsoft SQL Server 6.5, 7 & 2000

For SQL Server 6.5, 7, and 2000 you can use the JTDS open source driver.  This driver is available for free and has been tested for use with Visual Case.

The FAQ and download are available on the JTDS site.  To use the driver, you should download the latest stable jar (archive) file.

URL:jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://192.168.1.1:1433;DatabaseName=MyDB;User=MyName;Password=MyPassword

The default port is 1433, however check with your database administrator if you have trouble connecting.  You'll also need to replace 192.168.1.1 with the IP address of the computer on which the SQL Server resides.  The database name, user, and password similarly need to be changed to reflect your information.

Data Source: MyDB

The data source name is the same as the DatabaseName in the connection URL and represents the name of your database.

Jar File: jtds-0.5.1.jar

The above file is required for the connection to work.  You will need to specify the full path to the file.  Also note, the file name may vary depending on the driver version that you have downloaded.  You should try to use the latest stable driver from the JTDS project.

Driver: net.sourceforge.jtds.jdbc.Driver

Oracle 8 and 9

We recommend using the JDBC Driver available from Oracle for use with Oracle databases.  The driver can be downloaded here.  Ensure that you download the correct driver for your Oracle version.

The Oracle driver is distributed as a zip file called classesXX.zip (where XX is the driver version).

URL: jdbc:oracle:thin:@192.168.1.1:1521:MyDatabase

The default port is 1521, however check with your database administrator if you have trouble connecting.  You'll also need to replace 192.168.1.1 with the IP address of the computer on which the Oracle Server resides.  MyDatabase represents the name of the database on the Oracle server.

Data Source: MyDatabase

The data source name is the same as the database name in the connection URL and represents the name of your database.

Jar File: classes12.zip

The above file is required for the connection to work.  You will need to specify the full path to the file.

Driver: oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver

Sybase Enterprise & Anywhere

Sybase's JDBC driver is called jConnect for JDBC and is available for download here.  You may already have the JConnect driver distributed with your Sybase installation.

If the above download link is no longer valid, visit the downloads section of the Sybase site at www.sybase.com.

URL: jdbc:sybase:Tds:192.168.1.1:2048

The port (2048 above) may vary depending on the version of Sybase you are using.  Check with your database administrator if you have trouble connecting.  You'll also need to replace 192.168.1.1 with the IP address of the computer on which the database resides.  If the database is running on the same machine as Visual Case, you can use 127.0.0.1 as the IP address.

Data Source: MyDatabase

The data source name is the name of the Sybase database with which you want to connect.

Jar File: jconn2.jar

The above file is required for the connection to work.  You will need to specify the full path to the file.

Driver: com.sybase.jdbc2.jdbc.SybDriver

The above driver class is the correct driver for use with Sybase databases.  Visual Case may not default to the correct Sybase driver when the jar file is selected.

MySQL

The MySQL JDBC driver is available at the MySQL site here.

URL: jdbc:mysql://192.168.1.1:3306/MyDatabase

The port and IP will vary.  Check with your database administrator for the correct settings.  The URL format is jdbc:mysql:ip/port/DatabaseName

Data Source: MyDatabase

The data source name is the name of the database with which you want to connect.  It is also specified in the connection URL.

Jar File: mysql-connector-java-3.0.6-stable-bin,jar

The above file is required for the connection to work.  You will need to specify the full path to the file, and the exact name will vary depending on the version that you are using.

Driver: org.gjt.mm.mysql.Driver

The above driver class is the correct driver for use with MySQL databases.  Visual Case should default to the correct driver when the jar file is selected.