Not able to retrieve values from MySQL(using simple UI)

Hey guys,
Howdy!
Well I was trying out a simple UI with Java which retrives values from MySQL database. I'm using Netbeans Version 6.1 & Linux Platform. The whole idea is pretty simple! I use a list, button and 4 text boxes. The list contains names of friends table and on clicking the button I display values in those textboxes. The database connection works perfect as I could see the names in the list(names from 'name' column in friends table). But when I click the button I get these following errors:
SQLException: Unknown column 'x' in 'where clause'
SQLState: 42S22
ErrorCode: 1054

This is the piece of code where the above mentioned action takes place:

getNameButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
try
{
//connectToDB();
Statement statement = connec.createStatement();
ResultSet rs = statement.executeQuery("select * from friends where name = " + detailsList.getSelectedValue());

if(rs.next())
{
nameText.setText(rs.getString("name"));
degreeText.setText(rs.getString("degree"));
//remarksText.setText(rs.getString("Remarks"));
initialsText.setText(rs.getString("initials"));
marksText.setText(rs.getString("marks"));
}

//rs.close();
}
catch(SQLException ee)
{
displaySQLErrors(ee);
}
}
}

What do I do to overcome this issue?

Welcome to JavaRanch.

If you compare string attributes you need to enclose the string values in single quotes, like "select * from xyz where abc = 'x' ". Otherwise the DB will think that "x" is the name of an attribute.

A good way to debug this kind of problem is to print the offending query to the console or a log file, and then to run it directly against the DB, using the DB's command-line interface. That makes it easier to pinpoint the problem.

Bingo!! It works . . . Thanks a ton

prepared statement is another best way to handle this..

Well ! I tried that too & got the result! Cool .. Thanks Saif
[ January 02, 2009: Message edited by: Sandeep Swaminathan ]