developerWorks: Embedding a Relational Database Server into Eclipse

“The hypersonic SQL database, whose official name was later
changed to HSQLDB, is a pure-Java embedded relational database
server that you can use in stand-alone mode (using direct file
access) or in client/server mode, accepting many concurrent users.
Although not as powerful as DB2 and not as popular as MySQL, HSQLDB
can satisfy the needs of a wide range of Java applications, because
of its extensibility and low memory/processor requirements.

“HSQLDB is a convenient Java development database because it
features a rich subset of Structured Query Language (SQL), and
because Java programmers won’t need to install a processor, memory,
and disk-hungry database server into their development workstation.
It’s an ideal tool for integration into the Eclipse IDE, providing
useful tools for both novice and experienced developers.

“This article and the ones to follow in this series will show
you how to build a set of Eclipse plug-ins that bring HSQLDB into
the Eclipse Workbench. You’ll see a real-world example of how to
develop such a plug-in, considering API and user interface (UI)
issues, and also how to evaluate alternative ways to bring desired
functionality to a user. This article assumes you are using the
Eclipse SDK distribution, not the Platform Runtime-Binary plus JDT.
The latter would be well suited if the goal were just to develop a
regular Java application…”

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