Defining the JDBC interface

Defining the profile

To define a connection through the JDBC interface, you must create a database profile by supplying values for at least the basic connection parameters in the Database Profile Setup - JDBC dialog box. You can then select this profile at any time to connect to your database in the development environment.

For information on how to define a database profile, see Using database profiles.

Specifying connection parameters

To provide maximum flexibility (as provided in the JDBC API), the JDBC interface supports database connections made with different combinations of connection parameters:

  • Driver name, URL, and Properties

    You should specify values for this combination of connection parameters if you need to define driver-specific properties. When properties are defined, you must also define the user ID and password in the properties field.

    For example, when connecting to the jConnect driver, enter the following values in the Driver-Specific Properties field:

    SQLINITSTRING=set TextSize 32000; user=system; password=manager;
  • Driver name, URL, User ID, and Password

    You should specify values for this combination of connection parameters if you do not need to define any driver-specific properties.

    Driver Name: com.sybase.jdbc3.jdbc.SybDriver
    URL: jdbc:sybase:Tds:localhost:2638
    Login ID:    dba
    Password:    sql
  • Driver name and URL

    You should specify values for this combination of connection parameters when the user ID and password are included as part of the URL.

    For example, when connecting to the Oracle JDBC driver, the URL can include the user ID and password:

    jdbc:oracle:thin:userid/password@host:port:dbname

Specifying properties when connecting to jConnect

If you plan to use the blob datatype in PowerBuilder, you should be aware that jConnect imposes a restriction on blob size. Consequently, before you make your database connection from PowerBuilder, you might want to reset the blob size to a value greater than the maximum size you plan to use.

To set blob size, define the jConnect property SQLINITSTRING in the Driver-Specific Properties box on the Connection page. The SQLINITSTRING property is used to define commands to be passed to the back-end database server: SQLINITSTRING=set TextSize 32000;

Remember that if you define a property in the Driver-Specific Properties box, you must also define the user ID and password in this box.