Class not found loading JDBC org.postgresql.Driver

Question

I'm working on a web project and I recently installed postgres 9.1.1

The postgresql server is up and running. I can connect via psql as usual and everything is loaded and properly saved from a dump of the db I made from 8.5.

So I also downloaded the JDBC4 driver for 9.1 postgres version here: http://jdbc.postgresql.org/download/postgresql-jdbc-9.1-901.src.tar.gz

I added it to the java build path using the project properties via eclipse.

This is the code I use to provide db connection to other classes (i.e. it's a singleton, I get a new connection only if the existing is either closed or null, from one object at a time only)

public abstract class DBConnection {
private static Connection connection = null;

public static void connect() {
    try {
        if (connection == null) {
            String host = "127.0.0.1";
            String database = "xxxxx";
            String username = "xxxxx";
            String password = "xxxxx";
            String url = "jdbc:postgresql://" + host + "/" + database;
            String driverJDBC = "org.postgresql.Driver";
            Class.forName(driverJDBC);
            connection = DriverManager.getConnection(url, username,
                    password); //line firing the class not found exception

        } else if (connection.isClosed()) {
            connection = null;
            connect();
        }
    } catch (SQLException e) {
        e.printStackTrace(System.err);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace(System.err);
    }
}

public static void disconnect() {
    if (connection != null) {
        try {
            connection.close();
        } catch (SQLException e) {
            Logger.getLogger(DBConnection.class.getName()).log(
                    Level.SEVERE, null, e);
        }
        }
    }

    public static Connection getConnection() {

        try {
            if (connection != null && !connection.isClosed()) {
                return connection;
            } else {
                connect();
                return connection;
            }
        } catch (SQLException e) {
            Logger.getLogger(DBConnection.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE,
                    null, e);
            return null;
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void finalize() {
        if (connection != null) {
            try {
                connection.close();
            } catch (SQLException e) {
                Logger.getLogger(DBConnection.class.getName()).log(
                        Level.SEVERE, null, e);
            }
        }
    }

}

As I wrote in the title when I run the project and a class asks for a connection to this class I always get a Class Not Found Exception, Since it apparently can't load the org.postgresql.Driver.class The driver is located in a subfolder of the project ~/lib/org.postgresql-9.1-901.jdbc4.jar and as I said added to the build path via eclipse project properties.

I'm also providing a sample query to let see the usual behavior of my classes to access the DBConnection:

public static final User validateUserCredentials(String id, String pswd) {
    Connection connection = DBConnection.getConnection();
    Logger.getLogger(Credentials.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, (connection!=null)?"connection not null":"connection null");
    Statement stmt = null;
    Logger.getLogger(Home.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, "validating credentials for user: username : " + id + " password : " + pswd);
    String sql = "Select * from fuser where id = '" + id + "'";
    ResultSet resultset = null;
    try {
        stmt = connection.createStatement();
        resultset = stmt.executeQuery(sql);
        Logger.getLogger(Credentials.class.getName())
                .log(Level.SEVERE, sql);
        resultset.next();
        String password = resultset.getString("pswd");
        if (pswd.equals(password))
            return new User(id, pswd);
    } catch (SQLException ex) {

        Logger.getLogger(Credentials.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE,
                null, ex);
    } finally {
        if (stmt != null)
            stmt = null;

        if (resultset != null)
            resultset = null;
        if (connection != null) {
            try {
                connection.close();
            } catch (SQLException e) {

            }
            connection = null;
        }
    }
    return null;
}

Answer 1

I'm working on a web project and I recently installed postgres 9.1.1

...

I added it to the java build path using the project properties via eclipse.

That's the wrong way. That JAR has to be dropped straight in /WEB-INF/lib folder of the web project without fiddling with the Build Path in the project's properties. That folder is standard part of webapp's runtime classpath.

---

Unrelated to the concrete problem: you've a major design flaw in your DBConnection class. You've declared Connection as static which essentially makes your connection not threadsafe. Use a connection pool and never assign the Connection (nor Statement nor ResultSet) as a class/instance variable. They should be created and closed in the very same try-finally block as where you're executing the query. Further you've there also a SQL injection hole. Use PreparedStatement instead of concatenating user-controlled variables in the SQL string.

See also:

• JDBC MySql connection pooling practices to avoid exhausted connection pool
• Get database connection from a connection pool
• Am I Using JDBC Connection Pooling?

Answer 2

Add this dependency in your pom:

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.postgresql</groupId>
        <artifactId>postgresql</artifactId>
        <version>9.4-1203-jdbc4</version>
    </dependency>