Database Drivers



Database Connections

SQLEditor can import and export database structures to various database systems.

Each type of database is accessed in a unique way and SQLEditor uses a specific database driver to connect to each database.

Some drivers are bundled with SQLEditor, others must be installed separately

You may also need to configure or build the database system with the correct options to allow connections to be made.

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

Do I need to install anything?

SQLEditor v2.3 and later versions bundle drivers for MySQL, Drizzle, Postgres and SQLite.

If you are using one of these databases you won't need to install a driver.

(However you can choose to ignore the built in drivers and install a JDBC driver instead if you wish)

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

MySQL drivers are bundled in SQLEditor. However if you prefer you may install the JDBC Driver.

Download the latest MySQL JDBC driver from: MySQL: Connector/J Download Page

Install the JDBC driver in /Library/Java/Extensions

How to install driver

Follow these instructions to install the MySQL JDBC driver.
The file names may vary slightly if you use a different version of the driver.

  1. Go to MySQL Connector J Driver Page
  2. Download the file mysql-connector-java-5.1.13.tar.gz
  3. Decompress the file by double clicking
  4. Locate the JDBC driver jar file mysql-connector-java-5.1.13-bin.jar
    (inside the decompressed archive)
  5. Copy the jar file mysql-connector-java-5.1.13-bin.jar to
    /Library/Java/Extensions
  6. Restart SQLEditor - SQLEditor should then be able to use the driver correctly


SQLite

SQLite drivers are bundled in SQLEditor. However if you prefer you may install the JDBC Driver.

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 drivers are bundled in SQLEditor. However if you prefer you may install the JDBC Driver.

Which Driver?

Postgresql JDBC Drivers are available from the Postgres JDBC Download Page

There are several variants of this driver, we currently recommend the JDK 1.4/JDBC 3 driver because it is more compatible and it will work back to 10.4/Java 1.4.

If you are running Mac OS X 10.6 or later then SQLEditor can also use the the JDK 1.6/JDBC 4 driver.

SQLEditor doesn't actually use any of the JDBC 4 features though.

How to Install

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.
Newer versions of SQLEditor now have a specific export dialect for SQLServer.
Future versions should offer more reliable support.

The MS SQL Server driver is available at Microsoft MSDN

Install the JDBC driver sqljdbc.jar in /Library/Java/Extensions

SQLEditor should find this driver automatically

See the SQLEditor: MS SQL Server Support page for more details


jTDS for Sybase and Microsoft SQL Server

There is a page: SQLEditor: jTDS Support about this driver, but support is somewhat limited as yet.


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.

Support Updates


Contact Us

To contact us with a support issue please email:

support@malcolmhardie.com