Using Squirrel To Connect To A Derby Database

Last post I went over simple instruction for creating a Derby datasource under CF8.

So, I am just going to admit it... I am a GUI kind of guy. So, the first thing I wanted after I created a Derby database was a visual client to connect to and manage that database.

I had heard SQuirreL mentioned on Ben's blog. So, I'm using that.

The instructions found here will get you up and running with just a couple of notes.

So, if you want to use the SQuirreL SQL client to manage your Derby databases, then follow those instructions keeping the following notes in mind.

• When you are configuring SQuirreL for the Derby Embedded JDBC Driver, you can point it at the derby jar in your CF8 install. Mine, for example, was C:\JRun4\servers\cfusion\cfusion-ear\cfusion-war\WEB-INF\cfusion\lib\derby.jar.
• When you are creating the Alias to your Derby database, use the full path to the folder ColdFusion 8 creates. Again, for example, I used jdbc:derby:C:\JRun4\servers\cfusion\cfusion-ear\cfusion-war\WEB-INF\cfusion\db\blogdev.
• Important: You can only have one client connected to a Derby Embedded database (that includes ColdFusion). So, you will have to stop CF8 to get SQuirreL to connect. And you will have to disconnect SQuirreL and exit to allow CF8 to re-attach to the Derby datasource.

That'll get you connected. After that, you're on your own...