Driver

JDBC drivers must implement the Driver interface, and the implementation must contain a static initializer that will be called when the driver is loaded. This initializer registers a new instance of itself with the DriverManager (no more in 4.1)

Example static initializer for a driver implementing java.sql.Driver

public class AcmeJdbcDriver implements java.sql.Driver {
static {
java.sql.DriverManager.registerDriver(new
AcmeJdbcDriver());
}
...
}

When a Driver implementation is loaded, the static initializer will automatically register an instance of the driver.

Articles Related

Load

The client using this driver may assume that the JDBC driver classes are:

• in the current Java - What is the Classpath?
• or in the JRE extensions directory

Vendor Implementations

You can use JDBC drivers to connect to the following data sources:

• Relational Databases Servers such as Teradata, Oracle, IBM DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase, Informix, MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc
• Desktop Databases including Microsoft Access, Hypersonic SQL, Dbase, FoxPro, Microsoft Excel, etc.
• LDAP directories,
• Non-relational Databases such as IMS, ADABASE, DATACOM, VSAM, etc, by using third-party adapters (iWay, Attunity, Hit Software are examples of solution providers)