Getting Started with Java

PetraDB provides a standard JDBC 4 driver, so you use the familiar java.sql API — Connection, Statement, ResultSet, PreparedStatement.

Install

Maven:

<dependency>
    <groupId>io.github.edadma</groupId>
    <artifactId>petradb-jdbc</artifactId>
    <version>1.5.0</version>
</dependency>

Gradle:

implementation 'io.github.edadma:petradb-jdbc:1.5.0'

The driver registers itself automatically — no Class.forName() needed.

Run your first query

import java.sql.*;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws SQLException {
        Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:petradb:memory");
        Statement stmt = conn.createStatement();

        stmt.executeUpdate("""
            CREATE TABLE users (
                id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
                name TEXT NOT NULL,
                email TEXT
            )
        """);

        stmt.executeUpdate("INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES ('Alice', 'alice@example.com')");
        stmt.executeUpdate("INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES ('Bob', 'bob@example.com')");

        ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery("SELECT id, name, email FROM users ORDER BY id");
        while (rs.next()) {
            System.out.printf("%d: %s <%s>%n",
                rs.getInt("id"),
                rs.getString("name"),
                rs.getString("email"));
        }

        rs.close();
        stmt.close();
        conn.close();
    }
}

Output:

1: Alice <alice@example.com>
2: Bob <bob@example.com>

Persistent storage

For data that survives restarts, use a file connection URL:

Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:petradb:file:mydata.petra");

The file is created on first use. Supported extensions:

Extension	Storage type
.petra	Crash-safe persistent storage
.ptxt	Human-readable text format

Prepared statements

PreparedStatement ps = conn.prepareStatement(
    "SELECT * FROM users WHERE name = ? AND id > ?");
ps.setString(1, "Alice");
ps.setInt(2, 0);
ResultSet rs = ps.executeQuery();

Transactions

conn.setAutoCommit(false);
try {
    stmt.executeUpdate("UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance - 100 WHERE id = 1");
    stmt.executeUpdate("UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance + 100 WHERE id = 2");
    conn.commit();
} catch (SQLException e) {
    conn.rollback();
}

Next steps

See the JDBC reference for the complete API, including batch operations, metadata, type mapping, and server connections.