Java DB

Apache Derby

Derby Developer's Guide

Derby Getting Started
Derby Reference Manual
Derby Developer's Guide
Derby Performance Tuning
Derby Server and Admin Guide
Derby Tools and Utilities
Derby Developer's Guide
-After installing
-Upgrades
-JDBC applications and Derby basics
-Application development overview
-Derby embedded basics
-Derby JDBC driver
-Derby JDBC database connection URL
-Derby system
-A Derby database
-Connecting to databases
-Working with the database connection URL attributes
-Using in-memory databases
-Working with Derby properties
-Deploying Derby applications
-Deployment issues
-Creating Derby databases for read-only use
-Loading classes from a database
-Derby server-side programming
-Programming database-side JDBC routines
-Programming trigger actions
-Programming Derby-style table functions
-Programming user-defined types
-Controlling Derby application behavior
-The JDBC connection and transaction model
-Result set and cursor mechanisms
-Locking, concurrency, and isolation
-Working with multiple connections to a single database
-Working with multiple threads sharing a single connection
-Working with database threads in an embedded environment
-Working with Derby SQLExceptions in an application
-Using Derby as a J2EE resource manager
-Derby and Security
-Configuring security for your environment
-Working with user authentication
-Users and authorization identifiers
-User authorizations
-Encrypting databases on disk
-Signed jar files
-Notes on the Derby security features
-User authentication and authorization examples
-Running Derby under a security manager
-Developing tools and using Derby with an IDE
-SQL tips
-Localizing Derby
-Derby and standards

 

Pitfalls of sharing a connection among threads

Here is a review of the potential pitfalls of sharing a single Connection among multiple threads.

  • Committing or rolling back a transaction closes all open ResultSet objects and currently executing Statements, unless you are using held cursors.

    If one thread commits, it closes the Statements and ResultSets of all other threads using the same connection.

  • Executing a Statement automatically closes any existing open ResultSet generated by an earlier execution of that Statement.

    If threads share Statements, one thread could close another's ResultSet.

In many cases, it is easier to assign each thread to a distinct Connection. If thread A does database work that is not transactionally related to thread B, assign them to different Connections. For example, if thread A is associated with a user input window that allows users to delete hotels and thread B is associated with a user window that allows users to view city information, assign those threads to different Connections. That way, when thread A commits, it does not affect any ResultSets or Statements of thread B.

Another strategy is to have one thread do queries and another thread do updates. Queries hold shared locks until the transaction commits in SERIALIZABLE isolation mode; use READ_COMMITTED instead.

Yet another strategy is to have only one thread do database access. Have other threads get information from the database access thread.

Multiple threads are permitted to share a Connection, Statement, or ResultSet. However, the application programmer must ensure that one thread does not affect the behavior of the others.

Recommended Practices

Here are some tips for avoiding unexpected behavior:

  • Avoid sharing Statements (and their ResultSets) among threads.
  • Each time a thread executes a Statement, it should process the results before relinquishing the Connection.
  • Each time a thread accesses the Connection, it should consistently commit or not, depending on application protocol.
  • Have one thread be the "managing" database Connection thread that should handle the higher-level tasks, such as establishing the Connection, committing, rolling back, changing Connection properties such as auto-commit, closing the Connection, shutting down the database (in an embedded environment), and so on.
  • Close ResultSets and Statements that are no longer needed in order to release resources.
 

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