ODBC and JDBC Guide

Chapter 6 | Using JDBC to share FileMaker data 25
1 updating of columns containing CLOB, ARRAY, and REF data types
1 Boolean data type
1 DATALINK data type
1 transform groups and type mapping
1 relationships between the JDBC SPI and the Connector architecture
The JDBC client driver has been tested against the Java Development Kit (JDK) 1.6, 1.7, and 1.8.
It is a Type 4 driver—a native protocol, pure Java driver that converts JDBC calls directly into the
network protocol used by FileMaker. This type of driver offers all the advantages of Java, including
automatic installation (for example, downloading the JDBC driver with an applet that uses it).
The driver class and main entry point for the driver is
com.filemaker.jdbc.Driver
Important The JDBC client driver replaces the FileMaker JDBC driver released with a previous
version of FileMaker. If you have previously set up access to a FileMaker data source using the
older driver, you’ll need to redefine access by using and configuring the new driver.
Note To confirm that the FileMaker XDBC Listener is currently running, you can use the Activity
Monitor on macOS or the Task Manager in Windows to check the status of the FileMaker XDBC
Listener process. When the process is started, it is named fmxdbc_listener, and events are logged
by that name. The FileMaker XDBC Listener process is separate from the FileMaker Server
process. You can use the FileMaker Server Admin Console to stop and start the XDBC Listener
process. On the FileMaker Server Status pane, set ODBC/JDBC to OFF to stop the XDBC Listener
and set ODBC/JDBC to ON to start the XDBC Listener.
Using a JDBC URL to connect to your database
In Java, most resources are accessed through URLs. A JDBC URL is used to identify the
database so the JDBC client driver can recognize and establish a connection with the database.
The JDBC URL consists of three main parts separated by colons:
jdbc:<subprotocol>:<subname>
The first part in the JDBC URL is always the JDBC protocol (
jdbc). The subprotocol is the
driver name or the mechanism that supports multiple drivers. For the JDBC client driver, the
subprotocol is
filemaker. The subname is the IP address of the machine that is hosting the
FileMaker data source.
Registering the JDBC client driver and connecting to a FileMaker data source (an example)
Here is a portion of a JDBC client application that:
1. registers the JDBC client driver with the JDBC driver manager
2. establishes a connection with the FileMaker data source; the JDBC URL is
jdbc:filemaker://192.168.1.1/database
3. returns error codes