How To Access Objects Returned From A Helper/Utility Class?

[JiaPei Jen]

I have a helper/utility class that specializes in
creating a connection pool and providing connections.

import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.SQLException;
import javax.naming.InitialContext;
import javax.naming.NamingException;
import javax.sql.DataSource;
public class DBConnection 
{
   public static Connection getDBConnection() throws SQLException
   {
      Connection conn = null;
      try
      {
  
         InitialContext ctx = new InitialContext();
         DataSource ds = ( DataSource ) ctx.lookup( "java:comp/env/jdbc/MySQLDB" );
         try 
         {
            conn = ds.getConnection();
         }
         finally 
         {
            if ( conn != null )
            {
               try 
               {
                  conn.close();
               }
               catch ( SQLException sqlEx ) 
               {
                  System.out.println( "SQL Connection Problem: " + sqlEx.getMessage() );
               }
               conn = null;
            }
         }
      }
      catch ( NamingException nEx )
      {
         nEx.printStackTrace();
      }
      return conn;
   }
}

How do I access this Connection (conn) returned from the helper/utility class in another class? (i.e. I want to use conn.createStatement(); and query a database in TestServlet class.)
[ July 09, 2003: Message edited by: JiaPei Jen ]

[Michael Morris]

Wouldn't you just do this:

    try {
        Connection conn = DBConnection.getDBConnection();
        // use the connection to query the DB
    } catch (SQLException e) {
      // Deal with exception
    }

[Stan James]

If your helper is a connection pool you need logic something like this:

  
initialize:
   put "n" open connections in the pool
getConnection:
   while there are no connections available
      block the thread until one is available
   get a conn out of the pool
   remove it from the pool or mark it busy
   return it to caller
releaseConnection( aConn )
   put aConn back in the pool

This has been done zillions of times. Try google for "java connection pool" to find some ready to use. Is that the kind of thing you were asking?