Database Application Developer's Guide

Database application development is a feature of JBuilder Professional and Enterprise. Distributed application development is a feature of JBuilder Enterprise.

The Database Application Developer's Guide provides information on using JBuilder's DataExpress database functionality to develop database applications. It also explains using dbSwing components to create a user interface (UI) for your application.

Basic features that are commonly included in a database application are explained by example so you can learn by doing. Conceptual information is provided, followed with examples as applicable, with cross-references to more detailed information wherever possible.

Be sure to check for documentation additions and updates at http://www.borland.com/techpubs/jbuilder. Also, check the JBuilder online help. The information in the online help is more up-to-date than the printed material.

If you have questions about creating database applications using JBuilder, visit the database newsgroup at news://forums.borland.com/borland.public.jbuilder.database. This newsgroup is dedicated to issues about writing database applications in JBuilder and is actively monitored by our support engineers as well as the JBuilder Development team. For discussions about dbSwing components, borland.public.jbuilder.dbSwing newsgroup is a good source for getting help creating database application UIs. A helpful DataExpress FAQ is currently located on the Borland Community Web site from http://community.borland.com/.

Note: All versions of JBuilder provide direct access to SQL data through the java.sun JDBC API. Some versions of JBuilder provide additional DataExpress components (on the DataExpress tab of the component palette) that greatly simplify development of database applications, as described in this book.

Most of the sample applications and tutorials described in this book use sample data that is stored in a JDataStore and is accessed through a JDBC driver. The JDataStore component provides a replacement for MemoryStore that provides a permanent storage of data. JDataStore can be treated like any SQL database - you can connect to it as you would to any server, run SQL queries against it, etc. For more information on JDataStore, see the JDataStore Developer's Guide.

For an explanation of documentation conventions, see "JBuilder documentation conventions."

For definitions of any unfamiliar Java terms, see "Java glossaries" in the Quick Start.

To create a database application in JBuilder, you need to:

To aid in your understanding of database applications, you may also wish to:

For deploying database applications, you may wish to consider using:

A document on the Borland web site contains questions and answers culled from the JBuilder database newsgroup. See the chapter "Database FAQ" for information on accessing both this document and the newsgroup.


Documentation conventions

The Borland documentation for JBuilder uses the typefaces and symbols described in the table below to indicate special text.

Typeface and symbol conventions

Typeface Meaning
Monospace type Monospaced type represents the following:
  • text as it appears onscreen
  • anything you must type, such as "Enter Hello World in the Title field of the Application wizard."
  • a key on your keyboard, such as "Press Esc to exit a menu."
  • file names
  • path names
  • directory and folder names
  • commands, such as SET PATH, CLASSPATH
  • Java code
  • Java identifiers, such as names of variables, classes, interfaces, components, properties, methods, and events
  • package names
  • argument names
  • field names
  • Java keywords, such as void and static
Bold Bold is used for java tools, bmj (Borland Make for Java), bcj (Borland Compiler for Java), and compiler options. For example: javac, bmj, -classpath.
Italics Italicized words are used for new terms being defined and for book titles.
[ ] Square brackets in text or syntax listings enclose optional items. Do not type the brackets.
< > Angle brackets in text or syntax listings indicate a variable string; type in a string appropriate for your code. Do not type the angle brackets. Angle brackets are also used for HTML tags.
... An ellipsis in syntax listing indicates code that is missing from the example.

JBuilder is available on multiple platforms. See the table below for a description of platform and directory conventions used in the documentation.

Platform conventions and directories

Item Meaning
Paths All paths in the documentation are indicated with a forward slash (/).
For the Windows platform, use a backslash (\).
Home directory The location of the home directory varies by platform.
  • For UNIX and Linux, the home directory can vary. For example, it could be /user/[username] or /home/[username]
  • For Windows 95/98, the home directory is C:\Windows
  • For Windows NT, the home directory is C:\Winnt\Profiles\[username]
.jbuilder directory The .jbuilder directory, where JBuilder settings are stored, is located in the home directory.
jbproject directory The jbproject directory, which contains project, class, and source files, is located in the home directory. JBuilder saves files to this default path.
Screen shots Screen shots reflect JBuilder's Metal Look & Feel on various platforms.