Loading JDBC Driver Class - com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver

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∟Loading JDBC Driver Class - com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver

Describes how to load the MySQL JDBC driver class, com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver, from mysql-connector-java-8.0.17.jar.

By reading the MySQL Connector/J 8.0.17 reference guide, I see that the standard JDBC driver interface is implemented with a class called com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver. So I wrote the following Java program to load com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver class using the Class.forName() method:

/* MySqlLoadDriver2.java
 * Copyright (c) 2005 HerongYang.com. All Rights Reserved.
 */
import java.sql.*;
public class MySqlLoadDriver2 {
  public static void main(String [] args) {
    Connection con = null;
    try {

      // Load the MySQL JDBC driver
      Class.forName("com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver");
      System.out.println("MySQL JDBC driver loaded ok.");

    } catch (Exception e) {
      System.err.println("Exception: "+e.getMessage());
    }
  }
}

The compilation and execution tests were recorded below. Notice the exception error I got without mysql-connector-java-8.0.17.jar in the classpath:

herong> java -version
java version "12.0.1" 2019-04-16
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 12.0.1+12)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 12.0.1+12, mixed mode, sharing)

herong> javac MySqlLoadDriver2.java

herong> java MySqlLoadDriver2
Exception: com.mysql.jdbc.Driver

herong> java -cp .;\local\lib\mysql-connector-java-8.0.17.jar
   MySqlLoadDriver2

MySQL JDBC driver loaded ok.

By the way, in previous MySQL Connector/J releases, like mysql-connector-java-5.1.38-bin.jar, the standard JDBC driver interface was implemented with a class called com.mysql.jdbc.Driver.

Here is my old test program to load the com.mysql.jdbc.Driver:

/* MySqlLoadDriver.java
 * Copyright (c) 2005 HerongYang.com. All Rights Reserved.
 */
import java.sql.*;
public class MySqlLoadDriver {
  public static void main(String [] args) {
    Connection con = null;
    try {

      // Load the MySQL JDBC driver
      Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver");
      System.out.println("MySQL JDBC driver loaded ok.");

    } catch (Exception e) {
      System.err.println("Exception: "+e.getMessage());
    }
  }
}

Test result of MySqlLoadDriver.java with JDK 8 and MySQL Server 5.7.10.0 is listed below as a reference:

herong> java -version
java version "1.8.0_45"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_45-b15)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 25.45-b02, mixed mode, sharing)

herong> javac MySqlLoadDriver.java

herong> java MySqlLoadDriver
Exception: com.mysql.jdbc.Driver

herong> java -cp .;\local\lib\mysql-connector-java-5.1.38-bin.jar
   MySqlLoadDriver

MySQL JDBC driver loaded ok.