getTables(String catalog, String schemaPattern, String tableNamePattern, String[] types)

Syntax:

ResultSet getTables(String catalog,
                    String schemaPattern,
                    String tableNamePattern,
                    String[] types)
                    throws SQLException

Description:

Retrieves a description of the tables available in the given catalog. Only table descriptions matching the catalog, schema, table name and type criteria are returned. They are ordered by TABLE_TYPE, TABLE_CAT, TABLE_SCHEM and TABLE_NAME.

Each table description has the following columns:

TABLE_CAT String table catalog (may be null)
TABLE_SCHEM String table schema (may be null)
TABLE_NAME String table name
TABLE_TYPE String table type. Typical types are "TABLE", "VIEW", "SYSTEM TABLE", "GLOBAL TEMPORARY", "LOCAL TEMPORARY", "ALIAS", "SYNONYM".
REMARKS String explanatory comment on the table
TYPE_CAT String the types catalog (may be null)
TYPE_SCHEM String the types schema (may be null)
TYPE_NAME String type name (may be null)
SELF_REFERENCING_COL_NAME String name of the designated "identifier" column of a typed table (may be null)
REF_GENERATION String specifies how values in SELF_REFERENCING_COL_NAME are created. Values are "SYSTEM", "USER", "DERIVED". (may be null)

Parameters:

catalog - a catalog name; must match the catalog name as it is stored in the database; "" retrieves those without a catalog; null means that the catalog name should not be used to narrow the search

schemaPattern - a schema name pattern; must match the schema name as it is stored in the database; "" retrieves those without a schema; null means that the schema name should not be used to narrow the search

tableNamePattern - a table name pattern; must match the table name as it is stored in the database

types - a list of table types, which must be from the list of table types returned from getTableTypes(),to include; null returns all types

Returns:

ResultSet - each row is a table description

Throws:

SQLException - if a database access error occurs