// Connecting to a MySQL database via JDBC import java.sql.Connection; import java.sql.DriverManager; import java.sql.SQLException; private Connection conn; public void init() { // get JDBC connection to MySQL database. // Jar containing the Connector/J JDBC driver: mysql-connector-java-5.1.10-bin.jar must be downloaded and placed on the classpath. // You must configure MySQL to allow external TCP/IP connections or else localhost won't work either. // Instantiate the MySQL JDBC driver. Using ClassForName/newInstance // rather than new means the driver need not be present at compile time. // Oddly, we need not retain a reference to the Driver object, // or even do a newInstance(), just load the class. try { Class.forName( "com.mysql.jdbc.Driver" ); } catch ( Exception e ) { System.out.println( "can't load MySQL driver: " + e.getMessage() ); } try { // log on to the allaboutsquirrels database conn = DriverManager.getConnection( "jdbc:mysql://localhost/allaboutsquirrels?user=myuserid&password=mypassword" ); } catch ( SQLException e ) { System.out.println( "can't connect to MySQL: " + e.getMessage() ); } } ... // create the shell into which you can pour an SQL command. Statement stmt = conn.createStatement();