Programming with the IMS Universal JDBC driver
IMS™ provides a Java™ Database Connectivity (JDBC) driver for SQL-based database connectivity to access IMS databases over TCP/IP with the IMS Universal JDBC driver that is included in the IMS Universal drivers. The IMS Universal JDBC driver is based on the JDBC 3.0 standard.
JDBC is an application programming interface (API) that Java applications use to access relational databases or tabular data sources. The JDBC API is the industry standard for database-independent connectivity between the Java programming language and any database that has implemented the JDBC interface. The client uses the interface to query and update data in a database. It is the responsibility of the JDBC driver itself to implement the underlying (specific) access protocol for the specific database the driver is implemented for. Drivers are client-side adapters (they are installed in the client machine, not in the server) that convert requests from Java programs to a protocol that the database management system (DBMS) can understand.
IMS support for JDBC lets you write Java applications that can issue dynamic SQL calls to access IMS data and process the result set that is returned in tabular format. The IMS Universal JDBC driver is designed to support a subset of the SQL syntax with functionality that is limited to what the IMS database management system can process natively. Its DBMS-centric design allows the IMS Universal JDBC driver to fully leverage the high performance capabilities of IMS. The IMS Universal JDBC driver also provides aggregate function support, and ORDER BY and GROUP BY support.
Preparing to write a Java application with the IMS Universal drivers
Java application programs that use the IMS Universal drivers require the Java Development Kit (JDK) 6.0. Java programs that run in JMP and JBP regions require JDK 6.0 or later. Java application programs that use the IMS Universal drivers must have access to database metadata in order to interact with IMS databases. This metadata can either be accessed directly in the IMS catalog database or it can be generated as a Java metadata class with the IMS Enterprise Suite Explorer for Development.
- Supported drivers for JDBC
The IMS Universal JDBC driver supports the type-2 and type-4 JDBC architectures. - Connecting to IMS using the IMS Universal JDBC driver
You must first establish a connection to an IMS database before you can start sending queries and receiving results in your JDBC program. - Sample application for the IMS Universal JDBC driver
The following sample Java application demonstrates the basic programming flow for a JDBC application using the IMS Universal JDBC driver. - Writing SQL queries to access an IMS database with the IMS Universal JDBC driver
Use the IMS Universal JDBC driver to connect to an IMS database for writing SQL queries. 
Writing DL/I calls to access an IMS database with the IMS Universal JDBC driver
In addition to support for SQL queries, the IMS Universal JDBC driver also supports casts to DL/I objects.- IMS Universal JDBC driver support for XML
You can write applications to store XML data in IMS databases or retrieve XML data from IMS databases by using the IMS Universal JDBC driver. Both the type-4 and type-2 drivers offer this support. - Data transformation support for JDBC
The IMS JDBC drivers provide data transformation on behalf of client applications. When provided with the information from the IMS catalog database or Java database metadata class, the libraries are able to internally convert data from one datatype to another. The IMS Universal DL/I driver also includes an extensible user data type converter for translating custom data types.
