ColdFusion MX uses JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) as its native data source type. ColdFusion MX adds connection pooling and other enhancements to standard JDBC connections. At times it is useful to bypass these ColdFusion additions to test basic connectivity to a database.
The cfobject tag or the createobject function can be used to create a basic JDBC data source connection. This connection can verify if you are able to connect to a database outside of using standard ColdFusion data sources. It also provides a mechanism for creating result sets outside the standard ColdFusion query mechanism. These methods provide an alternative if standard methods fail or can be used as a troubleshooting step to gather information on a problematic database connection.
A JDBC connection usually requires two attributes, the JDBC URL and JDBC Classname. The format for these attributes is driver specific and supplied by the driver vendor. Check your driver documentation for this information if you are not using a Macromedia supplied driver. The following table gives URL and Classnames for the drivers shipped with ColdFusion MX.
