Need help with my first JDBC program

[Souvvik Basu]

Hi
I am trying to write a standalone java class (with main function) to understand the working of JDBC. I have downloaded the MySQL installer for Windows from the mysql site and installed it. Now I am trying to run the following code to see if a successful connection is being made.

import java.sql.*;

public class FirstExample {
   
   static final String JDBC_DRIVER = "com.mysql.jdbc.Driver";  
   static final String DB_URL = "jdbc:mysql://localhost/EMP";


   static final String USER = "root";
   static final String PASS = "Passw0rd";


	public static void main(String[] args) {
  	 Connection conn = null;
   	 Statement stmt = null;
   		try{
      
      			Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver");

      
     			System.out.println("Connecting to database...");
      			conn = DriverManager.getConnection(DB_URL,USER,PASS);

			conn.close();

		}catch(SQLException se){
      
      se.printStackTrace();
   }catch(Exception e){
      
      e.printStackTrace();
   }
  }
}

It compiles fine, but at runtime, throws an exception
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException : com.mysql.jdbc.Driver

Can anyone please point out what I need to do? My guess is, either my class name in incorrect, or I need to put the mysql jar in a particular folder. Which one is it? Also, this code above is not written by me. I got it from a tutorial site. Hence, is it possible that the values of

static final String JDBC_DRIVER = "com.mysql.jdbc.Driver";  
   static final String DB_URL = "jdbc:mysql://localhost/EMP";

are incorrect for my particular case?

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Yes. You need to put that jar in your classpath. Since your program is being run at the command line, you can type "java -cp /path/to/jar FirstExample"

[Souvvik Basu]

I have a variable named Path = C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.6.0_21\bin
I have another variable named JAVA_HOME = C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.6.0_21

I have kept the jar in both the above folders, and also inside folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.6.0_21\lib.

My java file is in the same place where I have all my other java files. And then I use the commands
javac FirstExample.java
java FirstExampe

The error is still there.

Can you please tell me where exactly you want me to put it, apart from these places? I must mention that I do not have any environment variable called CLASSPATH, and this hasn't prevented me from running my other java files successfully.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:Yes. You need to put that jar in your classpath. Since your program is being run at the command line, you can type "java -cp /path/to/jar FirstExample"

Repeating this answer. The JDBC jar you mentioned needs to be in your environment CLASSPATH variable or the -cp argument and the command line. Non-JDBC programs would work just fine.