[java] java.sql.SQLException: No suitable driver found for jdbc:microsoft:sqlserver

I'm getting this exception when I try to run this program. It's one of the Microsoft examples. I've added the sqljdbc4.jar to the classpath in netbeans for both compile and Run, via the project properties. I also tested that the class could be found by using an import statement below - no error during compile, so it must be finding the jar.

Could it be related to a dll or some sql dll that the sqldbc4.jar references?

This is the exact exception, and below is the exact code, except for password.

Exception:

run:
java.sql.SQLException: No suitable driver found for jdbc:microsoft:sqlserver://localhost:1433;databaseName=HealthCareDatabase
Error Trace in getConnection() : No suitable driver found for jdbc:microsoft:sqlserver://localhost:1433;databaseName=HealthCareDatabase
Error: No active Connection
    at java.sql.DriverManager.getConnection(DriverManager.java:602)
    at java.sql.DriverManager.getConnection(DriverManager.java:185)
    at javaapplication1.Connect.getConnection(Connect.java:35)
    at javaapplication1.Connect.displayDbProperties(Connect.java:50)
    at javaapplication1.JavaApplication1.main(JavaApplication1.java:23)
BUILD SUCCESSFUL (total time: 1 second)

Code:

 package javaapplication1;
import com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver;

import java.*;

public class Connect {

    private java.sql.Connection con = null;
    private final String url = "jdbc:microsoft:sqlserver://";
    private final String serverName = "localhost";
    private final String portNumber = "1433";
    private final String databaseName = "HealthCareDatabase";
    private final String userName = "larry";
    private final String password = "xxxxxxx";

    // Constructor
    public Connect() {
    }

    private String getConnectionUrl() {
        return url + serverName + ":" + portNumber + ";databaseName=" + databaseName ;
    }

    private java.sql.Connection getConnection() {
        try {
            Class.forName("com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver");
            con = java.sql.DriverManager.getConnection(getConnectionUrl(), userName, password);
            if (con != null) {
                System.out.println("Connection Successful!");
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
            System.out.println("Error Trace in getConnection() : " + e.getMessage());
        }
        return con;
    }

    public void displayDbProperties() {
        java.sql.DatabaseMetaData dm = null;
        java.sql.ResultSet rs = null;
        try {
            con = this.getConnection();
            if (con != null) {
                dm = con.getMetaData();
                System.out.println("Driver Information");
                System.out.println("\tDriver Name: " + dm.getDriverName());
                System.out.println("\tDriver Version: " + dm.getDriverVersion());
                System.out.println("\nDatabase Information ");
                System.out.println("\tDatabase Name: " + dm.getDatabaseProductName());
                System.out.println("\tDatabase Version: " + dm.getDatabaseProductVersion());
                System.out.println("Avalilable Catalogs ");
                rs = dm.getCatalogs();
                while (rs.next()) {
                    System.out.println("\tcatalog: " + rs.getString(1));
                }
                rs.close();
                rs = null;
                closeConnection();
            } else {
                System.out.println("Error: No active Connection");
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        dm = null;
    }

    private void closeConnection() {
        try {
            if (con != null) {
                con.close();
            }
            con = null;
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        Connect myDbTest = new Connect();
        myDbTest.displayDbProperties();
    }

}

You can try like below with sqljdbc4-2.0.jar:

 public void getConnection() throws ClassNotFoundException, SQLException, IllegalAccessException, InstantiationException {
        Class.forName("com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver").newInstance();
        String url = "jdbc:sqlserver://<SERVER_IP>:<PORT_NO>;databaseName=" + DATABASE_NAME;
        Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection(url, USERNAME, PASSWORD);
        System.out.println("DB Connection started");
        Statement sta = conn.createStatement();
        String Sql = "select * from TABLE_NAME";
        ResultSet rs = sta.executeQuery(Sql);
        while (rs.next()) {
            System.out.println(rs.getString("COLUMN_NAME"));
        }
    }

Following is a simple code to read from SQL database. Database names is "database1". Table name is "table1". It contain two columns "uname" and "pass". Dont forget to add "sqljdbc4.jar" to your project. Download sqljdbc4.jar

public class NewClass {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        Connection conn = null;
        String dbName = "database1";
        String serverip="192.168.100.100";
        String serverport="1433";
        String url = "jdbc:sqlserver://"+serverip+"\\SQLEXPRESS:"+serverport+";databaseName="+dbName+"";
        Statement stmt = null;
        ResultSet result = null;
        String driver = "com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver";
        String databaseUserName = "admin";
        String databasePassword = "root";
        try {
            Class.forName(driver).newInstance();
            conn = DriverManager.getConnection(url, databaseUserName, databasePassword);
            stmt = conn.createStatement();
            result = null;
            String pa,us;
            result = stmt.executeQuery("select * from table1 ");

            while (result.next()) {
                us=result.getString("uname");
                pa = result.getString("pass");              
                System.out.println(us+"  "+pa);
            }

            conn.close();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

I was having the same error, but had a proper connection string. My problem was that the driver was not being used, therefore was optimized out of the compiled war.

Be sure to import the driver:

import com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver;

And then to force it to be included in the final war, you can do something like this:

Class.forName("com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver");

That line is in the original question. This will also work:

SQLServerDriver driver = new SQLServerDriver();

For someone looking to solve same by using maven. Add below dependency in POM:

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.microsoft.sqlserver</groupId>
    <artifactId>mssql-jdbc</artifactId>
    <version>7.0.0.jre8</version>
</dependency>

And use below code for connection:

String connectionUrl = "jdbc:sqlserver://localhost:1433;databaseName=master;user=sa;password=your_password";

try {
    System.out.print("Connecting to SQL Server ... ");
    try (Connection connection = DriverManager.getConnection(connectionUrl))        {
        System.out.println("Done.");
    }
} catch (Exception e) {
    System.out.println();
    e.printStackTrace();
}

Look for this link for other CRUD type of queries.