Connections

The Connection object represents a connection to a data source in Java Database Connectivity (JDBC). It is through Connection objects that Statement objects are created for processing SQL statements against the database. An application program can have multiple connections at one time. These Connection objects can all connect to the same database or connect to different databases.

Obtaining a connection in JDBC can be accomplished in two ways:

• Through the DriverManager class.
• By using DataSources.

Using DataSources to obtain a connection is preferred because it enhances application portability and maintainability. It also allows an application to transparently use connection and statement pooling, and distributed transactions.