Class.forName().newInstance() related query

Hi I have a query ,

What is the difference between Class.forName("").newInstance() and Class.forName("") ?

regards,
S

Have you looked at the JavaDoc? What aspect of the documentation has you confused?

Are you confused about the difference between classes and instances?

I am not able to understand the difference , I mean to say where should I use only Class.forName("") & where should I go for
Class.forName("").getNewInstance().
Suppose I am loading the driver in JDBC , so which procedure is better ?

Please give some idea ,

regards,
S

What does Class.forName() return?
What does Class.forName().newInstance() return?

Which one you need depends on what you need in the end; the thing returned by Class.forName() or the thing returned by Class.forName().newInstance().

As for which one you need for JDBC - unless the JDBC driver is badly written the first one should be enough.

Rob Prime wrote:What does Class.forName() return?
What does Class.forName().newInstance() return?

Which one you need depends on what you need in the end; the thing returned by Class.forName() or the thing returned by Class.forName().newInstance().

As for which one you need for JDBC - unless the JDBC driver is badly written the first one should be enough.

Thanks for your reply.

Can you explain , what actually Class.forName().newInstance() return and what Class.forName() return ?

regards,
S

That was what I was asking you, so you'd find the answer yourself. Check java.lang.Class if you don't know.

I believe the question is related to an old pre-Java 1.2 problem when loading Database Drivers.
When the JDBC Driver Class is loaded, it should register itself with the DriverManager, no surprise there.
While calling Class.forName() should load the Class, pre-Java 1.2 it did not load the Class until an instance of the Class was created, hence all of the JDBC examples from that era, and copied from there without comprehension, includes the Class.forName().newInstance() rather than just Class.forName()

Ah, so it was not badly written JDBC drivers that caused those problems back then.

As far as I know, in the latest version of the JDBC API it's not necessary at all anymore to call Class.forName("...") for JDBC drivers - a new mechanism was added to JDBC so that it's able to find JDBC drivers that are on the classpath by itself, without the need for the JDBC driver class to be loaded explicitly.

What Jesper says, too.

But that will only work if the JDBC driver uses the ServiceLoader mechanism; if it doesn't (and there are plenty of old drivers around that don't) Class.forName is still the way to go.