JDBC - Like Clause Example

This chapter provides an example on how to select records from a table using JDBC application. This would add additional conditions using LIKE clause while selecting records from the table. Before executing the following example, make sure you have the following in place −

• To execute the following example you can replace the username and password with your actual user name and password.
• Your MySQL or whatever database you are using, is up and running.

Required Steps

The following steps are required to create a new Database using JDBC application −

• Import the packages: Requires that you include the packages containing the JDBC classes needed for database programming. Most often, using import java.sql.* will suffice.
• Register the JDBC driver: Requires that you initialize a driver so you can open a communications channel with the database.
• Open a connection: Requires using the DriverManager.getConnection() method to create a Connection object, which represents a physical connection with a database server.
• Execute a query: Requires using an object of type Statement for building and submitting an SQL statement to fetch records from a table which meet given condition. This Query makes use of LIKE clause to select records to select all the students whose first name starts with "za".
• Clean up the environment: Requires explicitly closing all database resources versus relying on the JVM's garbage collection.
  

Sample Code

Copy and paste the following example in JDBCExample.java, compile and run as follows −

//STEP 1. Import required packages
import java.sql.*;

public class JDBCExample {
   // JDBC driver name and database URL
   static final String JDBC_DRIVER = "com.mysql.jdbc.Driver";  
   static final String DB_URL = "jdbc:mysql://localhost/STUDENTS";

   //  Database credentials
   static final String USER = "username";
   static final String PASS = "password";
   
   public static void main(String[] args) {
   Connection conn = null;
   Statement stmt = null;
   try{
      //STEP 2: Register JDBC driver
      Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver");

      //STEP 3: Open a connection
      System.out.println("Connecting to a selected database...");
      conn = DriverManager.getConnection(DB_URL, USER, PASS);
      System.out.println("Connected database successfully...");
      
      //STEP 4: Execute a query
      System.out.println("Creating statement...");
      stmt = conn.createStatement();

      // Extract records without any condition.
      System.out.println("Fetching records without condition...");
      String sql = "SELECT id, first, last, age FROM Registration";
      ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery(sql);

      while(rs.next()){
         //Retrieve by column name
         int id  = rs.getInt("id");
         int age = rs.getInt("age");
         String first = rs.getString("first");
         String last = rs.getString("last");

         //Display values
         System.out.print("ID: " + id);
         System.out.print(", Age: " + age);
         System.out.print(", First: " + first);
         System.out.println(", Last: " + last);
      }

      // Select all records having ID equal or greater than 101
      System.out.println("Fetching records with condition...");
      sql = "SELECT id, first, last, age FROM Registration" +
                   " WHERE first LIKE '%za%' ";
      rs = stmt.executeQuery(sql);

      while(rs.next()){
         //Retrieve by column name
         int id  = rs.getInt("id");
         int age = rs.getInt("age");
         String first = rs.getString("first");
         String last = rs.getString("last");

         //Display values
         System.out.print("ID: " + id);
         System.out.print(", Age: " + age);
         System.out.print(", First: " + first);
         System.out.println(", Last: " + last);
      }
      rs.close();
   }catch(SQLException se){
      //Handle errors for JDBC
      se.printStackTrace();
   }catch(Exception e){
      //Handle errors for Class.forName
      e.printStackTrace();
   }finally{
      //finally block used to close resources
      try{
         if(stmt!=null)
            conn.close();
      }catch(SQLException se){
      }// do nothing
      try{
         if(conn!=null)
            conn.close();
      }catch(SQLException se){
         se.printStackTrace();
      }//end finally try
   }//end try
   System.out.println("Goodbye!");
}//end main
}//end JDBCExample

Now, let us compile the above example as follows −

C:\>javac JDBCExample.java
C:\>

When you run JDBCExample, it produces the following result −

C:\>java JDBCExample
Connecting to a selected database...
Connected database successfully...
Creating statement...
Fetching records without condition...
ID: 100, Age: 30, First: Zara, Last: Ali
ID: 102, Age: 30, First: Zaid, Last: Khan
ID: 103, Age: 28, First: Sumit, Last: Mittal
Fetching records with condition...
ID: 100, Age: 30, First: Zara, Last: Ali
ID: 102, Age: 30, First: Zaid, Last: Khan
Goodbye!
C:\>