Using Prepared Statements to set Table Name

Question

I'm trying to use prepared statements to set a table name to select data from, but I keep getting an error when I execute the query.

The error and sample code is displayed below.

[Microsoft][ODBC Microsoft Access Driver] Parameter 'Pa_RaM000' specified where a table name is required.    private String query1 = "SELECT plantID, edrman, plant, vaxnode FROM [?]"; //?=date public Execute(String reportDate){     try {          Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver");         Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection(Display.DB_MERC);         PreparedStatement st = conn.prepareStatement(query1);         st.setString(1, reportDate);         ResultSet rs = st.executeQuery(); 

Any thoughts on what might be causing this?

Answer 1

A table name can't be used as a parameter. It must be hard coded. So you can do something like:

private String query1 = "SELECT plantID, edrman, plant, vaxnode FROM [" + reportDate + "?]"; 

Answer 2

This is technically possible with a workaround, but very bad practice.

String sql = "IF ? = 99\n"; sql += "SELECT * FROM first_table\n"; sql += "ELSE\n"; sql += "SELECT * FROM second_table"; PreparedStatement ps = con.prepareStatement(sql); 

And then when you want to select from first_table you set the parameter with

ps.setInt(1, 99); 

Or if not, you set it to something else.