As you know, Java 6.0 comes bundled with Apache Derby.  The “db” folder inside the JDK 6.0 directory is our bundled Database. Here is the list of things i did on the db.

1) Connect 

    But before connecting we need to set the classpath for Apache Derby. Just add the following lines to your classpath.

     $JAVA_HOME\db\lib\derby.jar;$JAVA_HOME\db\lib\derbytools.jar;

    Basically, the derby.jar is the core apache derby db purely written in Java. (comes around 2 MB).  More on Apache Derby >>

    And the derbytools.jar gives one interesting tool called the “ij” for that command line db access.

      java org.apache.derby.tools.ij  will give you a “ij” prompt.  Type help and you will get a list of commands you can play with.

      ij> help;

      Finally, to connect to a database, use the following command.

      connect ‘jdbc:derby:myfirstdb;create=true’;

     The String following the “connect” keyword just tells us that you are using org.apache.derby.jdbc.EmbeddedDriver (jdbc:derby) to connect to myfirstdb (your database), which has not been created yet. So you create it (create=true).  So, the next time you want to connect to the same database, connect ‘jdbc:derby:myfirstdb’ ; will do.

2) Create table

ij> show tables;

TABLE_SCHEM |TABLE_NAME |REMARKS

---

0 rows selected

ij> create table emp (empname varchar(20), empno int);

0 rows inserted/updated/deleted

3) Insert a row to table and query it

ij> insert into emp values (‘arun’,101);

1 row inserted/updated/deleted

ij> select * from emp;

EMPNAME |EMPNO

---

arun |101

1 row selected

>>more on how to use Java to connect to Derby in embedded and network mode 

list of commands)