How to use HSQLDB in Oracle query syntax mode?

Question

I am trying to use HSQLDB as an embedded database in a spring application (for testing). As the target production database is Oracle, I would like to use HSQLDBs Oracle synt

Answer 1

The sql.syntax_ora=true URL property enables syntax compatibility, including the NUMBER type and the DUAL table. Additional properties can be used for more behavior compatibility. These are documented in the HSQLDB Guide:

http://hsqldb.org/doc/2.0/guide/compatibility-chapt.html#coc_compatibility_oracle

Answer 2

Even if it only change some basic syntax here is an example of how you can do it:

<bean class="org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource" destroy-method="close" id="dataSource">
    <property name="driverClassName" value="org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver" />
    <property name="url" value="jdbc:hsqldb:mem:PUBLIC;sql.syntax_ora=true" />
    <property name="username" value="sa" />
    <property name="password" value="" />
</bean>

Answer 3

This option was introduced with HSQLDB 2.0.

Are you sure you are using the correct version?
Maybe you have 1.8 still in the classpath somewhere.

But that won't get you far in terms of testing anyway, because this only turns on some basic syntax "replacing", there is no real behaviour change involved here (and I'm not even talking about more advanced Oracle features like analytical functions, CONNECT BY or something similar).

It is very seldom a good idea to test your application with a DBMS that will not be used in production. It is simply not a valid test.