The new attractive features of JDBC 4.0

Mustang : Java SE 1.6

Java SE 6.0 is expected to be released in October 06. An important part of the new version of Java is the new JDBC 4.0 API. JDBC 4.0 brings several changes to JDBC, but its top priority is making things easier for developers.

Interesting developments in JDBC 4.0 are:

1. No need to explicitly load JDBC drivers using Class.forName() to register a JDBC driver. The DriverManager class takes care of this automatically.
2. Java SE Service Provider mechanism as another means to specify database drivers
3. Specify SQL queries using Annotations
4. Bundled database based on Apache Derby
5. SQL 2003 support, including support for XML as a native database data type
6. Improved exception handling with new exception classes
7. A new DataSet interface. When used in a connected mode, the DataSet functions in a manner similar to ResultSet. A disconnected DataSet functions in a manner similar to a CachedRowSet. You can navigate, modify and delete records in a DataSet.