How to Create Database Table in Java

In this post, we will learn how to use JDBC API to create database tables in Java.

JDBC stands for Java Database Connectivity, which is a standard Java API for database-independent connectivity between the Java programming language and a wide range of databases.

From JDBC 4.0, we don't need to include 'Class.forName()' in our code, to load JDBC driver. When the method 'getConnection' is called, the 'DriverManager' will automatically load the suitable driver among the JDBC drivers that were loaded at initialization and those loaded explicitly using the same class loader as the current application.

Create a Database Table in Java Example

In this example, we will create a users table using SQL script:

create table users(
     id  int(3) primary key,
     name varchar(20),
     email varchar(20),
     country varchar(20),
     password varchar(20)
  );

Here is a complete Java JDBC program to create a users table in a database:

package com.javaguides.jdbc.statement.examples;

import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.SQLException;
import java.sql.Statement;

/**
 * Create Statement JDBC Example
 * @author Ramesh Fadatare
 *
 */
public class CreateStatementExample {

    private static final String createTableSQL = "create table Users1(\r\n" + "  id  int(3) primary key,\r\n" +
        "  name varchar(20),\r\n" + "  email varchar(20),\r\n" + "  country varchar(20),\r\n" +
        "  password varchar(20)\r\n" + "  );";

    public static void main(String[] argv) throws SQLException {
        CreateStatementExample createTableExample = new CreateStatementExample();
        createTableExample.createTable();
    }

    public void createTable() throws SQLException {

        System.out.println(createTableSQL);
        // Step 1: Establishing a Connection
        try (Connection connection = DriverManager
            .getConnection("jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/mysql_database?useSSL=false", "root", "root");

            // Step 2:Create a statement using connection object
            Statement statement = connection.createStatement();) {

            // Step 3: Execute the query or update query
            statement.execute(createTableSQL);
        } catch (SQLException e) {

            // print SQL exception information
            printSQLException(e);
        }

        // Step 4: try-with-resource statement will auto close the connection.
    }

    public static void printSQLException(SQLException ex) {
        for (Throwable e: ex) {
            if (e instanceof SQLException) {
                e.printStackTrace(System.err);
                System.err.println("SQLState: " + ((SQLException) e).getSQLState());
                System.err.println("Error Code: " + ((SQLException) e).getErrorCode());
                System.err.println("Message: " + e.getMessage());
                Throwable t = ex.getCause();
                while (t != null) {
                    System.out.println("Cause: " + t);
                    t = t.getCause();
                }
            }
        }
    }
}