How to actually create a Datasource

[Fergus Red]

Hi,
I've installed a MS SQL Server JDBC driver and got it working using a connection driver manager as in the following example.
Class.forName("com.microsoft.jdbc.sqlserver.SQLServerDriver");
Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection
("jdbc:microsoft:sqlserver://server1:1433;User=test;Password=secret");

Now I want to use a Datasource.
To access a Datasource from my Java class I can do so by using the code:
Context ctx = new InitialContext();
DataSource ds = (DataSource)ctx.lookup("jdbc/EmployeeDB");
Connection con = ds.getConnection("matt", "wwf");

However what I want to know is how do you actually create the datasource that I will be referencing in my code as above.

[Jamie Robertson]

have a look at Frank Carver's general implementation of the Connection Pool here
Jamie

[Ken Robinson]

Usually, code that requires a DataSource is running from within a web/app server. These servers have tools (usually a GUI tool or a config file) that allow you to configure the properties of the DataSource, including JDBC driver class, URL, username, password and so on.
Each vendor most likely has a subclass of the DataSource class that implements the DataSource as they see fit. Basically, you just need to know that it is there and how to look it up. In most instances, you will not need to explicitly create it yourself.