Class.forName()
is not directly related to JDBC at all. It simply loads a class.
Most JDBC Driver classes register themselves in their static initializers by calling registerDriver()
.
registerDriver()
is the real call that you hardly ever need to call yourself (unless you write your own JDBC driver).
Note that in JDBC 4 you should not need either of those if your JDBC driver is up-to-date, as drivers can be found using the service location mechanisms instead (i.e. simply leave out that call and open your connection as usual). See the documentaton of DriverManager
for details:
The DriverManager methods
getConnection
andgetDrivers
have been enhanced to support the Java Standard Edition Service Provider mechanism. JDBC 4.0 Drivers must include the fileMETA-INF/services/java.sql.Driver
. This file contains the name of the JDBC drivers implementation ofjava.sql.Driver
. For example, to load themy.sql.Driver
class, theMETA-INF/services/java.sql.Driver
file would contain the entry:my.sql.Driver
Applications no longer need to explictly load JDBC drivers using
Class.forName()
. Existing programs which currently load JDBC drivers usingClass.forName()
will continue to work without modification.