Introduction to JDBC - Java Database Programming Bible - page 150

Connection con = DriverManager.getConnection ("jdbc:odbc:Customers");
DatabaseMetaData dbmd = con.getMetaData();
ResultSet rs = dbmd.getTables(null,null,"%",new String[]{"TABLE"});

General information about the underlying database is accessible from the
DatabaseMetaData interface by using methods such as these:

getURL()

getUserName()

getDatabaseProductName()

getSQLKeywords()

nullsAreSortedHigh() and nullsAreSortedLow()

Useful methods for retrieving information about supported functionality include the
following:

supportsBatchUpdates()

supportsStoredProcedures()

supportsFullOuterJoins()

supportsPositionedDelete()

These methods are provided to determine limits the database imposes:

getMaxRowSize()

getMaxStatementLength()

getMaxConnections()

getMaxColumnsInTable()

Useful methods for retrieving information about SQL objects and their attributes
include the following:

getSchemas()

getCatalogs()

getTables()

getPrimaryKeys()

getProcedures()

The transaction-support capabilities of the database management system can be
queried using these methods:

supportsMultipleTransactions()

getDefaultTransactionIsolation()

supportsSavePoints()

Many of the DatabaseMetaData methods have been added or modified in
JDBC 2.0 and JDBC 3.0, so if your driver is not JDBC 2.0 or JDBC 3.0

Note