6.1. Configuring JDBC drivers
Before you can connect to a DBMS you have to configure the JDBC driver to be used.
The driver configuration is available in the connection
dialog or through →
The JDBC driver is a file with the extension .jar
(some drivers need more than one file).
See the end of this section for a list of download locations. Once you have downloaded the driver you
can store the driver's .jar file anywhere you like.
To register a driver with SQL Workbench/J you need to specify the following details:
- the driver's class name
- the library ("JAR file") where to find the driver (class)
After you have selected the .jar file(s) for a driver (by clicking on the
button), SQL Workbench/J will scan the jar file looking for a JDBC driver. If only a single driver is found,
the class name is automatically put into the entry field for the class name. If more than one JDBC driver implementation is found, you
will be prompted to select one. In that case, please refer to the manual of your driver or database to choose the correct one.
![[Note]](./images/note.png) | |
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SQL Workbench/J is not using the system's CLASSPATH definition
(i.e. the environment variable named CLASSPATH ) to load the driver classes.
Changing the CLASSPATH environment variable to include your driver's library will have no effect.
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If you enter the class name of the driver manually, remember that it's case-sensitive:
org.postgresql.driver
is something different than org.postgresql.Driver
Files that are not found are displayed in red and italics.
The name of the library has to contain the full path to the driver's jar file, so that
SQL Workbench/J can find it. Some drivers are distributed in several jar files. In that case,
select all necessary files in the file open dialog, or add them one after the other. If an entry
is selected in the list of defined jar files when adding a new jar file, the selected entry will
be overwritten.
For drivers that require a license file, you have to include the license jar to the list of files for that driver.
If the driver requires files that are not contained in the jar library,
you have to include the directory containing those files as part of the library definition
(e.g: "c:\etc\TheDriver\jdbcDriver.jar;c:\etc\TheDriver"
).
You can assign a sample URL to each driver, which will be put into
the URL property of the profile, when the driver class is selected.
SQL Workbench/J comes with some sample URLs pre-configured.
Some of these sample URLs use brackets to indicate a parameters that need
to be replaced with the actual value for your connection: (servername)
In this case the entire sequence including the brackets need to be replaced with the
actual value.
![[Important]](./images/important.png) | |
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The JDBC/ODBC bridge is no longer available in Java 8 and therefor it is not possible to connect
through an ODBC data source when using SQL Workbench/J.
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6.2. Specifying a library directory
When defining the location of the driver's .jar file, you can use the placeholder
%LibDir%
instead of the using the directory's name directly.
This way your WbDrivers.xml
is portable across installations.
To specify the library directory, either set it in the workbench.settings
file, or specify the directory using the -libdir
switch when starting the application.
6.3. Popular JDBC drivers
Here is an overview of common JDBC drivers, and the class name that need
to be used. SQL Workbench/J contains predefined JDBC drivers with sample URLs
for connecting to the database.
Most drivers accept additional configuration parameters either in the URL
or through the extended properties.
Please consult the manual of your driver for more detailed information on these
additional parameters.