Embedded Derby JDBC Database Connection URL

The standard Derby JDBC connection URL, which you can use for tasks besides connecting to a database, is

jdbc:derby:[subsubprotocol:][databaseName][;attribute=value]*

derby is always the subprotocol for connecting to a Derby database.

Subsubprotocol, which is not typically specified, determines how Derby looks for a database: in a directory, in a class path, or in a jar file. Subsubprotocol is one of the following:

• directory The default. Specify this explicitly only to distinguish a database that might be ambiguous with one on the class path.
• classpath Databases are treated as read-only databases, and all databaseNames must begin with at least a slash, because you specify them "relative" to the class path directory.
• jar Databases are treated as read-only databases. DatabaseNames might require a leading slash, because you specify them "relative" to the jar file.

jar requires an additional element immediately before the database name:

(pathToArchive)

pathToArchive is the path to the jar or zip file that holds the database.

For examples of using this syntax, see Accessing a Read-Only Database in a Zip/Jar.

You typically pass the connection URL as an argument to the JDBC DriverManager.getConnection method call. For example:

DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:derby:sample");

You can specify attributes and attribute values to a connection URL. For more information about what you can specify with the Derby connection URL, see Examples. For detailed reference about attributes and values, see the Derby Reference Manual.