ODBC and JDBC Guide
Table Of Contents
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Chapter 2 Accessing external SQL data sources
- Chapter 3 Installing FileMaker ODBC client drivers
- Hardware and software requirements
- ODBC client access to FileMaker Cloud for AWS
- ODBC client driver architecture overview (Windows)
- ODBC client driver installation (Windows)
- Configuring client drivers (Windows)
- ODBC client driver installation (macOS)
- Configuring client drivers (macOS)
- Where to go from here
- Chapter 4 Using ODBC to share FileMaker data
- Chapter 5 Installing FileMaker JDBC client drivers
- Chapter 6 Using JDBC to share FileMaker data
- Chapter 7 Reference information
- Index
Chapter 6
Using JDBC to share FileMaker data
If you’re a Java programmer, you can use the JDBC client driver with any Rapid Application
Development (RAD) tool to visually create a Java application or applet that connects to a
FileMaker data source. The Java application or applet that uses the JDBC client driver can directly
access the data in a FileMaker Pro database file.
About JDBC
JDBC is a Java API for executing SQL statements, the standard language for accessing relational
databases. JDBC is a low-level interface, which means that it is used to call SQL commands
directly. It is also designed to be used as a base for higher-level interfaces and tools.
Your Java applet or application can access data in a FileMaker Pro database file by using the
JDBC client driver. Your SQL statements are delivered to the FileMaker host of the database file,
and the results of those statements are sent back to your application. If you use FileMaker Server
to host, the FileMaker Pro database file you’re using as a data source can be located on another
machine (the server machine) connected to the network, while your Java applet or client
application is located on your machine (the client machine). This is referred to as a client/server
configuration.
Using the JDBC client driver
You can use the JDBC client driver with a Java compiler or RAD tool to connect with your
database while you build the code for your Java application or applet. After the Java application
or applet has been created, the JDBC client driver must be present with the files or included within
the code in order for the application or applet to communicate with the database.
To use the JDBC client driver, your Java application or applet must register the driver with the
JDBC driver manager and you must specify the correct JDBC URL from within the application or
applet. You need the JDBC URL to make the connection to the database.
About the JDBC client driver
The JDBC client driver provides partial support for the JDBC 3.0 specification. The following
features are not supported by the FileMaker Platform:
1 SAVEPOINT statements
1 retrieval of auto-generated keys
1 passing parameters to a callable statement object by name
1 holdable cursors
FileMaker
JDBC driver
Java application
Client machine Database server