SQL Syntax error within Eclipse

[Taylor Manley]

Hey guys, so I'm trying to connect mysql to java eclipse for the first time, but I'm running into an error I can't figure out. I already have the table created in mysql and I am trying to insert a value into it. I'm getting an error for my mysql syntax, but I'm unsure of what the error is.

import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.PreparedStatement;
import java.sql.SQLException;

public class ConnectDB {
	//DB Connection variables
	
	static Connection connection = null;
	static String databaseName = "";
	static String url = "jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/" +databaseName;
	
	static String username = "root";
	static String password = "pass1234";
	
	public static void main(String[] args) throws InstantiationException, IllegalAccessException, ClassNotFoundException, SQLException {
		connection = DriverManager.getConnection(url, username, password);
		PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement("INSERT INTO `userdatabase` `user` (`FirstName`) VALUES ('Eugene');");
		
		int status = ps.executeUpdate();
		
		if (status != 0) {
			System.out.println("Datebase was Connected");
			System.out.println("Record was Inserted");
			
			
		}
	}

}

The error I receive is

Exception in thread "main" java.sql.SQLSyntaxErrorException: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '`user` (`FirstName`) VALUES ('Eugene')' at line 1
	at com.mysql.cj.jdbc.exceptions.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:120)
	at com.mysql.cj.jdbc.exceptions.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:97)
	at com.mysql.cj.jdbc.exceptions.SQLExceptionsMapping.translateException(SQLExceptionsMapping.java:122)
	at com.mysql.cj.jdbc.ClientPreparedStatement.executeInternal(ClientPreparedStatement.java:953)
	at com.mysql.cj.jdbc.ClientPreparedStatement.executeUpdateInternal(ClientPreparedStatement.java:1092)
	at com.mysql.cj.jdbc.ClientPreparedStatement.executeUpdateInternal(ClientPreparedStatement.java:1040)
	at com.mysql.cj.jdbc.ClientPreparedStatement.executeLargeUpdate(ClientPreparedStatement.java:1340)
	at com.mysql.cj.jdbc.ClientPreparedStatement.executeUpdate(ClientPreparedStatement.java:1025)
	at ConnectDB.main(ConnectDB.java:20)

[Martin Vashko]

My experience with MySQL is rather limited, but I'd quess that you're missing a dot between `userdatabase` and `user`.

(Assuming that userdatabase is a schema and user is a table.)

[Taylor Manley]

You're right the dot was missing, but its still throwing an error. userdatabase is a schema and user is the table.

[Martin Vashko]

Taylor Manley wrote:You're right the dot was missing, but its still throwing an error.

The same error or a different one?

[Claude Moore]

Whenever possible, it's better avoid using column names that are likely to be reserved words for a given DBMS. I'm afraid that your problem may be related with column 'user'.

[Dave Tolls]

My top tip is, run your SQL directly against the database using whatever tool makes that easier (some form of SQL GUI).
There's no point trying to cobble together SQL inside your code without actually testing whether that SQL works.
You will make mistakes (typos at a minimum) that will be a pain to figure out if you do that.

So construct and test the SQL away from Java, and then copy/paste it into your code.

[Martin Vashko]

What Dave says is a really good idea.

However, keep in mind that there can be differences between what can be run in an SQL client and what can be run from JDBC. I'm not sure about MySQL, but some databases/JDBC drivers don't expect the SQL statement to be ended by a semicolon, unlike an SQL client. It is possible that your current problem is the semicolon at the end of the statement.

[Junilu Lacar]

+1 to Dave's advice. Make sure you copy exactly what you tried in Java though. Looks like you're using backticks instead of single quotes there. There is a difference.

[Martin Vashko]

Junilu Lacar wrote:Looks like you're using backticks instead of single quotes there. There is a difference.

Backtick is the correct escape character to use with MySQL, see https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/identifiers.html

[Junilu Lacar]

I see. Thanks for pointing that out. Shows how much I work with MySQL...

[Knute Snortum]

Dave Tolls wrote:My top tip is, run your SQL directly against the database using whatever tool makes that easier (some form of SQL GUI)...

MySQL Workbench is a good GUI client that works in Windows, Mac, and Linux.

https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/workbench/