/******************************************************
* CONNECT TO MYSQL DATABASE USING TOMCAT AND JSP
* Date: 08/11/2006 Location:CCRC
*******************************************************/

1. Download the latest release (get the beta if it is the latest) of MYSQL (5.0 @time) from http://mysql.com
2. Perform basic configufation
	- if you have not used MySQL for some time and you forget your password.
		a. uninstall MYSQL from the Control Panel, restart your computer and delete it physically
		b. re-install the latest version of MySQL
		c. Remove the existing instance if error 1045 occurs
		d. reconfigure and create a new account
		e. For this error 'cannot create windows service for MySQL error:0' at the command line type
			- sc delete mysql (or all variants of it)
	- your default user name is always (root) and (root@localhost) where necessary
	- the default port is 3306. you do not need to include this in the url
	  connection string when attempting to establish a connection
3. Download MySQL Connector/J (this is EXTREMELY important)
	- ALWAYS download the latest release of Connector/J (3.2 @time). Earlier releases are known to have bugs
	  that can make connection a nightmare.....trust me I know all about it.
	- First, add the path directory for the mysql-connector-java....jar file to your CLASSPATH, not your PATH
	- Copy this mysql-connector-java....jar file in the $CATALINA_HOME/common/lib directory and the
	  the WEB-INF/lib directory of the Web Application you intent to use for your database connection 
	  e.g. ROOT or any directory you have created in $CATALINA_HOME/webapps for this purpose
	- Finally also copy this mysql-connector-java....jar file in 
	  the C:/Program Files/Java/jdk1.5.0_07/jre/lib/ext directory, just in case you might need to make MySQL 
        connections from a Java IDE, such as Eclipse or NetBeans
4. Create your JSP file
	- now you can create your .jsp file and place it the root of the special directory 
	  you created to hold your database connection Web Application
	- This directory should at this point contain a WEB-INF/lib/mysql-connector-java......jar file
	- in your .jsp file your url connection string should look like
		String connectionURL = "jdbc:mysql://localhost/dbName";
	- do not write "jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/dbName", Tomcat does this automatically
	- load the driver using 
		Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver").newInstance();
	- and establish the connection using
		connection = DriverManager.getConnection(
			connectionURL, "rootisalwaysdefaultuser", "whateveryourpasswordis");
5. Pat yourself on the back if it doesnt take 6 hours to figure this out