The JayDeBeApi module allows you to connect from Python code to databases using Java JDBC. It provides a Python DB-API v2.0 to that database.

It works on ordinary Python (cPython) using the JPype Java integration or on Jython to make use of the Java JDBC driver.

In contrast to zxJDBC from the Jython project JayDeBeApi let's you access a database with Jython AND Python with only minor code modifications. JayDeBeApi's future goal is to provide a unique and fast interface to different types of JDBC-Drivers through a flexible plug-in mechanism.

You can get and install JayDeBeApi with easy_install

$ easy_install JayDeBeApi

If you want to install JayDeBeApi in Jython make sure to have EasyInstall available for it.

Or you can get a copy of the source branch using bzr by running

$ bzr branch lp:jaydebeapi

and install it with

$ python setup.py install

or if you are using Jython use

$ jython setup.py install

It has been tested with Jython 2.5.3.

If you are using cPython ensure that you have installed JPype properly. It has been tested with JPype 0.5.4.

Basically you just import the jaydebeapi Python module and execute the connect method. This gives you a DB-API conform connection to the database.

The first argument to connect is the name of the Java driver class. Then you can supply a single argument or a sequence of arguments that are internally passed to the Java DriverManager.getConnection method. Usually this is the JDBC connection URL. See the Javadoc of DriverManager class for details.

The next parameter to connect is optional and specifies the jar-Files of the driver if your classpath isn't set up sufficiently yet. The classpath set in CLASSPATH environment variable will be honored. See the documentation of your Java runtime environment.

Here is an example:

>>> import jaydebeapi
>>> conn = jaydebeapi.connect('org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver',
...                           ['jdbc:hsqldb:mem:.', 'SA', ''],
...                           '/path/to/hsqldb.jar',)
>>> curs = conn.cursor()
>>> curs.execute('create table CUSTOMER'
...                '("CUST_ID" INTEGER not null,'
...                ' "NAME" VARCHAR not null,'
...                ' primary key ("CUST_ID"))'
...             )
>>> curs.execute("insert into CUSTOMER values (1, 'John')")
>>> curs.execute("select * from CUSTOMER")
>>> curs.fetchall()
[(1, u'John')]

If you're having trouble getting this work check if your JAVA_HOME environmentvariable is set correctly. For example I have to set it on my Ubuntu machine like this

$ JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk python

In theory every database with a suitable JDBC driver should work. It is known to work with the following databases:

Please submit bugs and patches. All contributors will be acknowledged. Thanks!

JayDeBeApi is released under the GNU Lesser General Public license (LGPL). See the file COPYING and COPYING.LESSER in the distribution for details.

• 0.1.4
  • More convenient way to setup Java classpath. Important note check the changes to the connect method and adapt your code.
  • Honor CLASSPATH if used in JPype mode.
  • Set .rowcount properly.
  • Changed signature of .setoutputsize() to be DB-API compliant.
• 0.1.3
  • Fixed DB-API violation: Use curs.execute('foo ?', (bar, baz)) instead of curs.execute('foo ?', bar, baz).
  • Free resources after executemany call.
  • Improved type handling. Initial support for BLOB columns.
• 0.1.2
  • easy_install JayDeBeApi should really work.
• 0.1.1
  • Fixed bug #688290 "NULL values with converters error on fetch".
  • Fixed bug #684909 "Selecting ROWIDs errors out on fetch".
• 0.1
  • Initial release.

• Extract Java calls to separate Java methods to increase performance.
• Check if https://code.launchpad.net/dbapi-compliance can help making JayDeBeApi more DB-API compliant.
• Test it on different databases and provide a flexible db specific pluign mechanism.
• SQLAlchemy modules (separate project)