The infamous java.sql.SQLException: No suitable driver found

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The infamous java.sql.SQLException: No suitable driver found

This exception can have basically two causes:

#1. JDBC driver is not loaded

You need to ensure that the JDBC driver is placed in server’s own /lib folder.

Or, when you’re actually not using a server-managed connection pool data source, but are manually fiddling around with DriverManager#getConnection() in WAR, then you need to place the JDBC driver in WAR’s /WEB-INF/lib and perform ..

Class.forName("com.example.jdbc.Driver");

.. in your code before the first DriverManager#getConnection() call whereby you make sure that you do not swallow/ignore any ClassNotFoundException which can be thrown by it and continue the code flow as if nothing exceptional happened. See also Where do I have to place the JDBC driver for Tomcat’s connection pool?

#2. Or, JDBC URL is in wrong syntax

You need to ensure that the JDBC URL is conform the JDBC driver documentation and keep in mind that it’s usually case sensitive. When the JDBC URL does not return true for Driver#acceptsURL() for any of the loaded drivers, then you will also get exactly this exception.

In case of PostgreSQL it is documented here.

With JDBC, a database is represented by a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). With PostgreSQL™, this takes one of the following forms:

  • jdbc:postgresql:database
  • jdbc:postgresql://host/database
  • jdbc:postgresql://host:port/database

In case of MySQL it is documented here.

The general format for a JDBC URL for connecting to a MySQL server is as follows, with items in square brackets ([ ]) being optional:

jdbc:mysql://[host1][:port1][,[host2][:port2]]...[/[database]] » [?propertyName1=propertyValue1[&propertyName2=propertyValue2]...]

In case of Oracle it is documented here.

There are 2 URL syntax, old syntax which will only work with SID and the new one with Oracle service name.

Old syntax jdbc:oracle:thin:@[HOST][:PORT]:SID

New syntax jdbc:oracle:thin:@//[HOST][:PORT]/SERVICE

###See also:

  • Where do I have to place the JDBC driver for Tomcat’s connection pool?
  • How to install JDBC driver in Eclipse web project without facing java.lang.ClassNotFoundexception
  • How should I connect to JDBC database / datasource in a servlet based application?
  • What is the difference between “Class.forName()” and “Class.forName().newInstance()”?
  • Connect Java to a MySQL database

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