Can we return Result sets in JDBC?

Yes, just like any other objects in Java we can pass a ResultSet object as a parameter to a method and, return it from a method.

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');

In the Following JDBC example the retrieveData() method establishes a connection with the database and retrieve the contents of the table MyPlayers in to a ResultSet object and returns it.

The main method invokes the retrieveData() method and prints the contents of the obtained ResultSet.

Example

import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.ResultSet;
import java.sql.SQLException;
import java.sql.Statement;
public class ReturningResultSet {
   public static ResultSet retrieveData() 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 a Statement object
      Statement stmt = con.createStatement();
      //Retrieving the data
      ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery("select * from MyPlayers");
      return rs;
   }
   public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception {
      //Getting the ResultSet object from the retrieveData() method
      ResultSet rs = retrieveData();
      System.out.println("Contents of the Table MyPlayers: ");
      while(rs.next()) {
         System.out.print(rs.getInt("ID")+", ");
         System.out.print(rs.getString("First_Name")+", ");
         System.out.print(rs.getString("Last_Name")+", ");
         System.out.print(rs.getDate("Date_Of_Birth")+", ");
         System.out.print(rs.getString("Place_Of_Birth")+", ");
         System.out.print(rs.getString("Country"));
         System.out.println();
      }
   }
}

Output

Connection established......
Contents of the Table MyPlayers:
1, Shikhar, Dhawan, 1981-12-05, Delhi, India
2, Jonathan, Trott, 1981-04-22, CapeTown, SouthAfrica
3, Kumara, Sangakkara, 1977-10-27, Matale, Srilanka
4, Virat, Kohli, 1988-11-05, Mumbai, India
5, Rohit, Sharma, 1987-04-30, Nagpur, India
6, Ravindra, Jadeja, 1988-12-06, Nagpur, India
7, James, Anderson, 1982-06-30, Burnely, England
8, Ryan, McLaren, 1983-02-09, Kumberly, null