P-R-O-B-L-E-M with JDBC thin driver

Question

Thank you gmagana!
I did not manage to make this code connect to Oracle at all:
import java.sql.*;
public class jdbcThin {
public static void connect() {
          String     url = "jdbc:oracle:thin:uName/passW@myDatabase:1521:orcl";
          try {
                    Class.forName ("oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver");
               Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection( url );
               System.out.println ("The Oracle thin driver loaded!");
          catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
               System.out.println ("Did not load driver.");
               e.printStackTrace ();
          catch (SQLException e) {
               System.out.println ("Did not load driver.");
               e.printStackTrace ();
public static void main( String args[] ) {
          connect();
// Do "statement" stuff after I successfully connect to Oracle.
My setup:
1. jdbcThin.class in located in: ~/runMe/jdbcThin.class
2. Unextracted classes12.zip in: ~/runMe/classes12.zip
3. Java Runtime: ~/runMe/bin or
~/runMe/jre/bin
Command line:
%~/runMe> java jdbcThin
Message:
Did not load driver.
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver
at jdbcThin.connect(Compiled Code)
at jdbcThin.main(Compiled Code)
%~/runMe>
Tried running it with classpath re-direction:
%~/runMe> java -classpath /runMe classes12.zip.jdbcThin
Message:
zip.jdbcThin
Can't find class classes12.zip.jdbcThin
%~/runMe>
I am not permitted to change anything in .cshrc or .profile where
I could use/> setenv classpath path1:path2: ~etc.
Oh, JAVA gods(!) I am stuck. <quite pissed> :(
...and what am I doing wrongly with JDBC thin?!
H E L P !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

Thanks Shirish! (Symmetrical WRT sound!)
Here is my adaptation of that snippet which compiles, except for one error:
Class OracleDriver not found. How did you handled your classes12.zip and
your class path? Exactly what should happen at the command line?!
That is really my BIGGEST issue with these vendor drivers outside JDK.
I am aware that many styles work, but given the EXACTLY correct environment
setting. This is my main issue and why I specified my exact directories.
1. If Oracle is in: ~ root/Oracle
2. Thin driver in: ~ root/drivers/classes12.zip
3. My connection code in: ~root/sources/connDB.class
What EXACTLY should happen to compile and run:
import java.sql.*;
public class connDB {
public static void connect() {
          Connection     conn;
          Statement     stmt;
          ResultSet          rtset;
          String          SQL;
          try {
DriverManager.registerDriver(new OracleDriver());
conn = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:" + instance, username, password);
stmt = conn.createStatement(ResultSet.TYPE_SCROLL_INSENSITIVE, ResultSet.CONCUR_UPDATABLE);
rtset = stmt.executeQuery(SQL);
catch( SQLException sqle ) {
               System.out.println ("Did not load driver.");
               sqle.printStackTrace ();
public static void main( String args[] ) {
          connect();
I am sitting @~root/sources>
So far I have no problem running any non-driver associated classes from there.
But how do I make my code find this OracleDriver?! And should classes12.zip
be extracted? I was told it should remain intact. Point is where should it be
or what command line "command" gets this connDB.class + OracleDriver to run?