Java ResultSet getMetaData Method with Example

When we execute certain SQL queries (SELECT query in general) they return tabular data.

The java.sql.ResultSet interface represents such tabular data returned by the SQL statements.

i.e. the ResultSet object holds the tabular data returned by the methods that execute the statements which quires the database (executeQuery() method of the Statement interface in general).

The ResultSet object has a cursor/pointer which points to the current row. Initially this cursor is positioned before first row.

The ResultSetMetaData provides information about the obtained ResultSet object like, the number of columns, names of the columns, datatypes of the columns, name of the table etc…

The getMetaData() method of ResultSet interface retrieves the ResultSetMetaData object of the current ResultSet.

This method returns a ResultSetMetaData object which holds the description of this ResultSet object's columns.

Example

Let us create a table with name MyPlayers in MySQL database using CREATE statement as shown below −

CREATE TABLE MyPlayers(
   ID INT,
   First_Name VARCHAR(255),
   Last_Name VARCHAR(255),
   Date_Of_Birth date,
   Place_Of_Birth VARCHAR(255),
   Country VARCHAR(255),
   PRIMARY KEY (ID)
   );

Now, we will insert 7 records in MyPlayers table using INSERT statements −

insert into MyPlayers values(1, 'Shikhar', 'Dhawan', DATE('1981-12-05'), 'Delhi', 'India');
insert into MyPlayers values(2, 'Jonathan', 'Trott', DATE('1981-04-22'), 'CapeTown', 'SouthAfrica');
insert into MyPlayers values(3, 'Kumara', 'Sangakkara', DATE('1977-10-27'), 'Matale', 'Srilanka');
insert into MyPlayers values(4, 'Virat', 'Kohli', DATE('1988-11-05'), 'Delhi', 'India');
insert into MyPlayers values(5, 'Rohit', 'Sharma', DATE('1987-04-30'), 'Nagpur', 'India');
insert into MyPlayers values(6, 'Ravindra', 'Jadeja', DATE('1988-12-06'), 'Nagpur', 'India');
insert into MyPlayers values(7, 'James', 'Anderson', DATE('1982-06-30'), 'Burnley', 'England');

Following JDBC program establishes connection with the database, retrieves the contents of the table MyPlayers into a ResultSet object, Retrieves the ResultSetMetaData object of the current ResultSet using the getMetaData() method.

import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.ResultSet;
import java.sql.ResultSetMetaData;
import java.sql.SQLException;
import java.sql.Statement;
public class ResultSet_getMetaData {
   public static void main(String args[]) throws SQLException {
      //Registering the Driver
      DriverManager.registerDriver(new com.mysql.jdbc.Driver());
      //Getting the connection
      String mysqlUrl = "jdbc:mysql://localhost/mydatabase";
      Connection con = DriverManager.getConnection(mysqlUrl, "root", "password");
      System.out.println("Connection established......");
      //Creating the Statement
      Statement stmt = con.createStatement();
      //Query to retrieve records
      String query = "Select * from MyPlayers";
      //Executing the query
      ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery(query);
      //Retrieving ResultSetMetaData object
      ResultSetMetaData resultSetMetaData = rs.getMetaData();
      //Current record details.
      System.out.println("Table name: "+resultSetMetaData.getTableName(1));
      System.out.println("Column name: "+resultSetMetaData.getColumnName(1));
      System.out.println("Column type: "+resultSetMetaData.getColumnTypeName(1));
      System.out.println();
   }
}

Output

Connection established......
Table name: myplayers
Column name: ID
Column type: INT