Why we use Class.forName(“oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver”) while connecting to a database?

Question

What is the actual use of Class.forName(\"oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver\") while connecting to a database? Why cant we just import the same class, instead why

Answer 1

Sometimes it is required to load a class during the run time. i.e, any class can be loaded into the memory location dynamically while executing the java application. The Class.forName is used to load any given class (within double quotes as String) at run time. For example, when we use IDE, we see there will be a GUI builder which allows us to drag and drop the buttons, text fields, etc. This drag and drop mechanism internally requires certain classes to be loaded at run time.

In the Class.forName (sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver), the Class belongs to the package java.lang.Class and the forName() is a static method of the java.lang.Class. The JDBC Drivers (String) will be loaded into the class dynamically at run time and forName method contains static block which creates the Driver class object and register with the DriverManager Service automatically. Since the forName() is static, we call it using the class name (Class).