This example is an excerpt from a sample JDBC application that generates a result set with a simple SELECT statement and then processes the rows. Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection( "jdbc:derby:sample"); Statement s = conn.createStatement(); s.execute("set schema 'SAMP'"); //note that autocommit is on--it is on by default in JDBC ResultSet rs = s.executeQuery( "SELECT empno, firstnme, lastname, salary, bonus, comm " + "FROM samp.employee"); /** a standard JDBC ResultSet. It maintains a * cursor that points to the current row of data. The cursor * moves down one row each time the method next() is called. * You can scroll one way only--forward--with the next() * method. When auto-commit is on, after you reach the * last row the statement is considered completed * and the transaction is committed. */ System.out.println( "last name" + "," + "first name" + ": earnings"); /* here we are scrolling through the result set with the next() method.*/ while (rs.next()) { // processing the rows String firstnme = rs.getString("FIRSTNME"); String lastName = rs.getString("LASTNAME"); BigDecimal salary = rs.getBigDecimal("SALARY"); BigDecimal bonus = rs.getBigDecimal("BONUS"); BigDecimal comm = rs.getBigDecimal("COMM"); System.out.println( lastName + ", " + firstnme + ": " + (salary.add(bonus.add(comm)))); } rs.close(); // once we've iterated through the last row, // the transaction commits automatically and releases //shared locks s.close();