1.2.4  MySQL application programming interfaces (API)

The MySQL API is an interface by which an application program communicates 

with the MySQL database. 

This section gives an overview of which APIs are available for MySQL.

Generally speaking there are three main approaches to connect to MySQL 

database as shown in Figure 1 14:

JDBC with Java Connector

ODBC with MyODBC

Other APIs with C Library

Application

VB/VBA, Delphi, ASP, 

ADO, .NET

I

I

I

 AP

P AP

rl AP

H

e

ODBC Driver 

P

P

ythonP

JDBC

Manager

Java Connector

MyODBC

C Library

MySQL Server

Figure 1 14   MySQL Application Programming Interfaces

The first approach is to connect the Java application using JDBC and the 

Connector/J, which is provided by MySQL AB.

The second approach is to either use ODBC directly from the application or 

utilize an application language like VB, Delphi, .NET, or ADO to access ODBC.

 Chapter 1. Introduction 

41