Database Drivers

• Introduction
• How do I install database drivers?
• Supported Database Drivers
• General Instructions
• Specific Databases
  • MySQL
  • SQLite
  • Postgresql
  • Oracle
  • OpenBase
  • Microsoft SQL Server
• Unsupported Databases
• Non Database Exports
  • Ruby On Rails Export

Introduction

To import a structure from an existing database you need a jdbc driver for the database.
You may also need to build the database with special options for jdbc compatibility

Please see also the SQLEditor Manual for more information on jdbc drivers.

How do I install database drivers?

JDBC drivers are normally supplied as a .jar file.

You can place these JDBC database driver files in either

• /Library/Java/Extensions/

for use by all programs on your machine

• /Library/Application Support/SQLEditor/JDBC Drivers/

for use only by SQLEditor

The instructions on this page assume that you will use the /Library/Java/Extensions/ directory.
If you use the second directory option (SQLEditor specific) you will need to subsititute the correct directory path.

Supported Database Drivers

Many database drivers are now automatically detected by SQLEditor and so you only need to install the jar file.
SQLEditor will then find and use the driver on the next restart.

Currently only JDBC Drivers compatible with java 1.4 will work with SQLEditor.
(However this seems to cover almost all commonly available JDBC drivers)

The following drivers are automatically detected by SQLEditor.

• MySQL
• PostgreSQL
• Oracle
• SQLite
• OpenBase

Drivers that are not on this list must be added manually using the Database pane of the Preferences window

General Instructions

• First download the correct driver
• Then find the .jar driver file
• Place the driver file in /Library/Java/Extensions
• Restart SQLEditor

Specific Databases

MySQL

Download page:
MySQL Connector J Driver

Install the JDBC driver in /Library/Java/Extensions

SQLEditor should find this driver automatically

SQLite

SQLite Driver Page - For details of the recommended sqlite driver

Install the JDBC driver in /Library/Java/Extensions

SQLEditor should find this driver automatically

Postgresql

Postgresql JDBC Drivers are available from the Postgres JDBC Download Page

Install the JDBC driver in /Library/Java/Extensions

SQLEditor should find this driver automatically

TCP/IP Socket Support

You may need to edit the postgresql.conf configuration file,
usually located at /usr/local/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf,
so that tcpip_socket=true is set.

This option enables TCP/IP support for Postgres and is required for the Postgres JDBC driver.

(It may be set to false or not be present at all in the default settings)

Listening for Connections

You may need to configure the listen_addresses value in the /usr/local/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf file as well. This value controls which machines on the network can connect to the Postgres database server.

You can use '*' to allow any machine to connect or you can specify specific machines or groups of machines that are permitted to connect.

For SQLEditor to work you need to make sure that your Mac is one of the machines that can connect.

For more details see
Postgres Documentation:Connections and Authentication

Learn more about Configuring Postgres

For more details see
Postgres JDBC Documentation:Preparing the Database Server for JDBC

Oracle

The Oracle driver is available at Oracle JDBC Download Page

You need to download two files from this page

ojdbc14.jar
orai18n.jar

Both of which then go into /Library/Java/Extensions/

See the SQLEditor and Oracle page for more details

OpenBase

OpenBase uses the URL com.openbase.jdbc.ObDriver.

Install the JDBC driver in /Library/Java/Extensions

SQLEditor should find this driver automatically

Microsoft SQL Server

There is some limited support for SQL Server. This is still somewhat experimental. Future versions should offer more reliable support.
Some newer versions of SQLEditor now have a specific export dialect or you can use the Sybase dialect which is fairly similar.

Unsupported Databases

If a database system has a JDBC driver it should work, although databases that use a java swing or AWT user interface in their JDBC driver will probably not.

Non Database Exports

Ruby On Rails Export

The Ruby On Rails exporter is not a database export. Instead it is considered a dialect of SQL, so use the File->Export menu option. (This is because the Rails exporter exports a text file rather than interacting with the Rails setup directly.