Using the driver in an application

To use Informix® JDBC Driver in an application, you must set your CLASSPATH environment variable to point to the driver files. The CLASSPATH environment variable tells the Java™ virtual machine (JVM) and other applications where to find the Java™ class libraries used in a Java™ program.

UNIX™

There are two ways to set your CLASSPATH environment variable:
  • Add the full path name of ifxjdbc.jar to CLASSPATH:
    setenv CLASSPATH /jdbcdriv/lib/ifxjdbc.jar:$CLASSPATH
    To add localized message support, specify ifxlang.jar:
    setenv CLASSPATH 
/jdbcdriv/lib/ifxjdbc.jar:/jdbcdriv/lib/ifxlang.jar:
   $CLASSPATH
  • Unpack ifxjdbc.jar and add its directory to CLASSPATH: 
    cd /jdbcdriv/lib
jar xvf ifxjdbc.jar
setenv CLASSPATH /jdbcdriv/lib:$CLASSPATH
    To add localized message support, specify ifxlang.jar: 
    cd /jdbcdriv/lib
jar xvf ifxjdbc.jar
jar xvf ifxlang.jar
setenv CLASSPATH /jdbcdriv/lib:$CLASSPATH

Windows™

There are two ways to set your CLASSPATH environment variable:
  • Add the full path name of ifxjdbc.jar to CLASSPATH:
    set CLASSPATH=c:\jdbcdriv\lib\ifxjdbc.jar;%CLASSPATH%
    To add localized message support, specify ifxlang.jar:
    set CLASSPATH=c:\jdbcdriv\lib\ifxjdbc.jar;c:\
   jdbcdriv\lib\ifxlang.jar;%CLASSPATH%
  • Unpack ifxjdbc.jar and add its directory to CLASSPATH: 
    cd c:\jdbcdriv\lib
jar xvf ifxjdbc.jar
set CLASSPATH=c:\jdbcdriv\lib;%CLASSPATH%
    To add localized message support, specify ifxlang.jar:
    cd c:\jdbcdriv\lib
jar xvf ifxjdbc.jar
jar xvf ifxlang.jar
set CLASSPATH=c:\jdbcdriv\lib;%CLASSPATH%

If you are using javax.sql classes (for example, Datasource), specify ifxjdbcx.jar in addition to ifxjdbc.jar.