HSQLDB Database

• Very OLD now

Very useful database that can be used for dev/testing to get up and running v quickly. Its a java based DB that runs in memory. Basically all you need is the hsqldb.jar file which can then be run like a standard java app on the command line. There are various startup options to make the DB run completely in memory or as a standalone server with the data being saved off to files for future use.

From within your App

in Hibernate configuration File:

For completely in memory DB:

  <session-factory>
    <property name="hibernate.connection.driver_class">org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver</property>
    <property name="hibernate.connection.url">jdbc:hsqldb:mem:foobar</property>
    <property name="hibernate.connection.username">sa</property>
    <property name="hibernate.dialect">org.hibernate.dialect.HSQLDialect</property>
        .
        .
        .
  </session-factory>

Or to connect to a standalone instance running elsewhere:

  <session-factory>
    <property name="hibernate.connection.driver_class">org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver</property>
    <property name="hibernate.connection.url">jdbc:hsqldb:hsql://localhost</property>
    <property name="hibernate.connection.username">sa</property>
    <property name="hibernate.dialect">org.hibernate.dialect.HSQLDialect</property>
        .
        .
        .
  </session-factory>

Standalone

Running a stand alone HSQLDB in another command window:

• With Maven
  • HibernateMavenTutorial$ mvn exec:java -Dexec.mainClass="org.hsqldb.Server" -Dexec.args="-database.0 file:target/data/tutorial"
• From a command line
  • $java -classpath lib/hsqldb.jar org.hsqldb.Server

This allows you to persist the DB between runnings of the database. Otherwise you can just use an in-memory HSQLDB

Utilities

HSQLDB comes with some utilities for operations on the database

• HSQL DB Manager (Swing based) :
  • mvn exec:java -Dexec.mainClass="org.hsqldb.util.DatabaseManagerSwing"