Part One includes three chapters, an introduction and two tutorial chapters. Part Two, the reference manual, has a chapter for each class or interface, a chapter on how SQL and Java types are mapped to each other, two appendices, a glossary, and an index.
PART ONE
Chapter 1, ``Introduction,'' outlines the contents of the book and gives an overview of what the JDBC API is and how it fits into the world of Java and SQL. The overview includes a brief description of the Java programming language and also a basic discussion of relational databases and SQL. The overview of Java summarizes many concepts and is not intended to be complete. We suggest that anyone who is unfamiliar with Java refer to one of the many excellent books available. The overview of relational databases and SQL likewise covers just the highlights and presents only basic terminology and concepts.
Chapter 2, ``Basic Tutorial'', walks the reader through how to use the basic JDBC API, giving many examples along the way. The emphasis is on showing how to execute the more common tasks rather than on giving exhaustive examples of every possible feature.
Chapter 3, ``Metadata Tutorial'', shows how to use the JDBC metadata API, which is used to get information about result sets and databases. It will be of most interest to those who need to write applications that adapt themselves to the specific capabilities of several database systems or to the content of any database. Those who just need to execute standard SQL statements can safely skip this chapter.
PART TWO
Part Two is the definitive reference manual for the JDBC API.
Chapters 4 through 20, which cover the classes and interfaces, are arranged alphabetically for easy reference. Each chapter contains an overview, a class or interface definition, and an explanation of the methods and fields.
Chapter overviews generally show how to create an instance of the class or interface and how that instance is commonly used. Overviews also present a summary of what the class or interface contains and explanatory material as needed.
The class and interface definitions list the methods and variables, grouping them in logical order.
An explanation of each method follows the class or interface definition. These method explanations are in alphabetical order to facilitate looking them up quickly. If there are any fields, their explanations follow those of the methods, and they, too, are arranged alphabetically.
Chapter 21, which explains mapping Java and SQL types, includes tables showing the various mappings.
Appendix A, ``For Driver Writers'', contains information for driver writers, including requirements, allowed variations, and notes on security.
Appendix B, ``JDBC Design'', gives a short history of JDBC, a list of the latest changes, and plans for the future. This section should answer some questions about how JDBC got to its present form and where it is going from here.
Completing the book are a glossary and an index, which we hope readers find helpful and easy to use.
A Quick Reference Card can be found inside the back cover. It includes the most commonly-used methods and SQL/Java type mappings.