How To / FAQ


How to Install Hypersonic SQL
How to Run and Compile Hypersonic SQL
How to Create a new database
How to start programming JDBC / Hypersonic SQL
Where to get more Documentation
How to use Hypersonic SQL inside JBuilder
How to Upgrade from an old version


Frequently Asked Questions




How to Install Hypersonic SQL




How to Run and Compile Hypersonic SQL

A compiled version of Hypersonic SQL is included in the download, but if you want to re-compile it or if you want to compile Java source code, you will need a Java compiler.

Command line tools are included in the free JDK (Java Development Kit) from Sun. The JDK is required to run the 'application' examples.

A free and very fast Java Compiler is jikes, originally from IBM, now Open Source. The batch files included in the Hypersonic SQL download uses jikes (but this may be changed easily).




How to Create a new database

A new database is created automatically if it does not yet exist. Just connect to the not-yet-existing database using the user 'sa' and an empty password.




How to start programming JDBC / Hypersonic SQL

Hypersonic SQL comes with documentation, example applets and source code that can help programers that are new to JDBC programming.

An example application is 'FindFile', a tool to search files. The source code of this demo application is well documented, and the functionality is kept low, so it should be easy to understand what is going on just reading the source code.

Because the source code of all other tools and applets is also included in the download, more advanced programers will find one or the other hint also there. The applications and applets that come with Hypersonic SQL should be a good start.




Where to get more Documentation

Hypersonic SQL has a standard JDBC interface that is provided by most databases. The JDBC interface is well documented in the JDK. Additionally, Hypersonic SQL specific JDBC documentation is included in the download.

There are also many books available about JDBC programming.

For people that are interested in the database engine design of Hypersonic SQL: There is currently not much documentation about the Hypersonic SQL kernel architecture, but the source code is quite easy to read.




How to use Hypersonic SQL inside JBuilder

To use Hypersonic SQL at design-time in JBuilder, for example to connect to a database, you need to add the Hypersonic SQL JDBC driver to the JBuilder environment.

Copy the file hsql.jar to the path ...\JBuilder<whatever_version_you_have>\lib (where also the file jbcl2.0.jar is). Close JBuilder (this is important), then change the file ...\JBuilder<whatever_version_you_have>\JBuilder.INI using a text editor. Add to the group [Java_Global], item IDEClassPath=, the path to hsqldb.jar. The IDEClassPath will then look about like this: IDEClassPath=..\lib\jbuilder.zip; (other files) ;..\lib\pvcs.zip;..\lib\hsqldb.jar;

Start the WebServer from command line. From a another command line, you may start the DatabaseManager and connect to this database.

Then start JBuilder, open your project. You will need to add the hsqldb.jar file also to the libraries of your project (project properties, Java libraries). Add a 'Database' control to your project, set the Connection. In the dialog 'connection' you will not be able to browse the driver or the URL, but you can set it manually. Set the URL to jdbc:hsqldb:http://localhost and then you can set the driver class to org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver. Set the user name to 'sa' and test the connection.

You can add now your QueryDataSets and other controls as you like.




How to Upgrade from an old version to the current version

An upgrade is required when updating from version an older version to a newer version Upgrade works like this (the old database is called 'olddb' and the new 'newdb'):




Frequently Asked Questions

If you have or need more information about something, please send a mail to hsqldb@users.sourceforge.net.