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Database Field Types

Database Field Types

Question:
How do I get a string representation of a database field using JDBCregardless of its type? In other words, I have to use the getInt(),getDate(), getString(), etc., to get a field value depending on thefield type in the database. I just want the string representations soI can print them in HTML output to a Web browser.

Answer:
The JDBC API was designed realizing that many applications built withit would involve dynamically creating Web pages and text reports.Therefore, its designers made it easy to both retrieve database fieldsas Java data types and also as simple strings. You can use theResultSet class’ getString() method to retrieve any database fieldtype as a String. The JDBC driver will take care of converting thevalue to a String representation.

Strictly relying on getString() may not be appropriate for every situation. For example, floating point numbers and date/time values often require special formatting beforeprinting them. The default formatting performed by the JDBC drivermay be inadequate. Therefore, you will want to fetch some values asJava data types and format them yourself with the java.text package.

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