If you wish to call DataNucleus SchemaTool manually, it can be called as follows

java [-cp classpath] [system_props] org.datanucleus.store.rdbms.SchemaTool [modes] [options] [props] 
                    [jdo-files] [class-files]
    where system_props (when specified) should include
        -Ddatanucleus.ConnectionDriverName=db_driver_name
        -Ddatanucleus.ConnectionURL=db_url
        -Ddatanucleus.ConnectionUserName=db_username
        -Ddatanucleus.ConnectionPassword=db_password
        -Ddatanucleus.Mapping=orm_mapping_name (optional)
        -Dlog4j.configuration=file:{log4j.properties} (optional)
    where modes can be
        -create : Create the tables specified by the jdo-files/class-files
        -delete : Delete the tables specified by the jdo-files/class-files
        -validate : Validate the tables specified by the jdo-files/class-files
        -dbinfo : Detailed information about the database
        -schemainfo : Detailed information about the database schema
    where options can be
        -ddlFile {filename} : only for use with "create" mode to dump the DDL to the specified file
        -completeDdl : when using "ddlFile" to get all DDL output and not just missing tables/constraints
        -api : The API that is being used (default is JDO, but can be set to JPA)
        -pu {persistence-unit-name} : Name of the persistence unit to manage the schema for
        -v : verbose output
    where props can be
        -props {propsfilename} : PMF properties to use in place of the "system_props"
                

All classes, MetaData files, "persistence.xml" files must be present in the CLASSPATH. In terms of the schema to use, you either specify the "props" file (recommended), or you specify the System properties defining the database connection. You should only specify one of the [modes] above. Let's make a specific example and see the output from SchemaTool. So we have the following files in our application

src/java/...   (source files and MetaData files)
target/classes/...    (enhanced classes, and MetaData files)
lib/log4j.jar
lib/datanucleus-core.jar
lib/datanucleus-rdbms.jar
lib/jdo-api.jar
lib/mysql-connector-java.jar    (JDBC driver for our database)
log4j.properties

So we want to create the schema for our persistent classes. So let's invoke DataNucleus SchemaTool to do this, from the top level of our project. In this example we're using Linux (change the CLASSPATH definition to suit for Windows)

java -cp target/classes:lib/log4j.jar:lib/jdo-api.jar:lib/datanucleus-core.jar:lib/datanucleus-rdbms.jar:
                lib/mysql-connector-java.jar
      -Dlog4j.configuration=file:log4j.properties
      org.datanucleus.store.rdbms.SchemaTool -create
      -props datanucleus.properties
      target/classes/org/datanucleus/examples/normal/package.jdo
      target/classes/org/datanucleus/examples/inverse/package.jdo


DataNucleus SchemaTool (version 1.0.0) : Creation of the schema

DataNucleus SchemaTool : Classpath
>>  /home/andy/work/DataNucleus/samples/packofcards/target/classes
>>  /home/andy/work/DataNucleus/samples/packofcards/lib/log4j.jar
>>  /home/andy/work/DataNucleus/samples/packofcards/lib/datanucleus-core.jar
>>  /home/andy/work/DataNucleus/samples/packofcards/lib/datanucleus-rdbms.jar
>>  /home/andy/work/DataNucleus/samples/packofcards/lib/jdo-api.jar
>>  /home/andy/work/DataNucleus/samples/packofcards/lib/mysql-connector-java.jar

DataNucleus SchemaTool : Input Files
>> /home/andy/work/DataNucleus/samples/packofcards/target/classes/org/datanucleus/examples/inverse/package.jdo
>> /home/andy/work/DataNucleus/samples/packofcards/target/classes/org/datanucleus/examples/normal/package.jdo

DataNucleus SchemaTool : Taking JDO properties from file "datanucleus.properties"

SchemaTool completed successfully

So as you see, DataNucleus SchemaTool prints out our input, the properties used, and finally a success message. If an error occurs, then something will be printed to the screen, and more information will be written to the log.

If you are using Maven2 to build your system, you will need the DataNucleus Maven2 plugin. This provides 5 goals representing the different modes of DataNucleus SchemaTool . You can use the goals datanucleus:schema-create , datanucleus:schema-delete , datanucleus:schema-validate depending on whether you want to create, delete or validate the database tables. To use the DataNucleus Maven2 plugin you will may need to set properties for the plugin (in your pom.xml ). For example

So to give an example, I add the following to my pom.xml

    <build>
        ...
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.datanucleus</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-datanucleus-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.0.0-release</version>
                <configuration>
                    <props>${basedir}/datanucleus.properties</props>
                    <log4jConfiguration>${basedir}/log4j.properties</log4jConfiguration>
                    <verbose>true</verbose>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
        ...
    </build>

So with these properties when I run SchemaTool it uses properties from the file datanucleus.properties at the root of the Maven project. I am also specifying a log4j configuration file defining the logging for the SchemaTool process. I then can invoke any of the Maven2 goals

mvn datanucleus:schema-create              Create the Schema
mvn datanucleus:schema-delete              Delete the schema
mvn datanucleus:schema-validate            Validate the Schema
mvn datanucleus:schema-info                Output info for the Schema
mvn datanucleus:schema-dbinfo              Output info for the datastore

An Ant task is provided for using DataNucleus SchemaTool . It has classname org.datanucleus.store.rdbms.SchemaToolTask , and accepts the following parameters

The SchemaTool task extends the Apache Ant Java task, thus all parameters available to the Java task are also available to the SchemaTool task.

In addition to the parameters that the Ant task accepts, you will need to set up your CLASSPATH to include the classes and JDO MetaData files, and to define the following system properties via the sysproperty parameter (not required when specifying the PMF props via the properties file)

So you could define something like the following, setting up the parameters schematool.classpath , datanucleus.ConnectionDriverName , datanucleus.ConnectionURL , datanucleus.ConnectionUserName , and datanucleus.ConnectionPassword to suit your situation.

You define the jdo files to create the tables using fileset .

<taskdef name="schematool" classname="org.datanucleus.store.rdbms.SchemaToolTask" />

<schematool failonerror="true" verbose="true" mode="create">
    <classpath>
        <path refid="schematool.classpath"/>
    </classpath>
    <fileset dir="${classes.dir}">
        <include name="**/*.jdo"/>
    </fileset>
    <sysproperty key="datanucleus.ConnectionDriverName" 
                 value="${datanucleus.ConnectionDriverName}"/>
    <sysproperty key="datanucleus.ConnectionURL" 
                 value="${datanucleus.ConnectionURL}"/>
    <sysproperty key="datanucleus.ConnectionUserName" 
                 value="${datanucleus.ConnectionUserName}"/>
    <sysproperty key="datanucleus.ConnectionPassword" 
                 value="${datanucleus.ConnectionPassword}"/>
    <sysproperty key="datanucleus.Mapping" 
                 value="${datanucleus.Mapping}"/>
</schematool>

Jython is a powerful scripting language that allows you to automate tasks and easy the development. If you are using Jython, and wants to use DataNucleus tools, all you need is to the place the DataNucleus jars, the persistent classes, metadata files, jdbc driver jars and dependencies into the classpath.

The Jython script may be written in several forms but achieving the same goals.

Here we have a template for invoking the main method of the Schema Tool. The main method acts like the command line, by parsing arguments and invoking the appropriate methods.

from org.datanucleus.store.rdbms import SchemaTool
tool = SchemaTool()
tool.main(<<<[options] [jdo-files]>>>)

from org.datanucleus.store.rdbms import SchemaTool
tool = SchemaTool()
tool.main(["-create",
           "-props=/home/JDOproperties.properties",
           "target/classes/org/datanucleus/examples/normal/package.jdo",
           "target/classes/org/datanucleus/examples/inverse/package.jdo"])

For other operations of the SchemaTool consult the DataNucleus javadocs. For questions about Jython, please refer to Jython WebSite.

DataNucleus SchemaTool can also be called programmatically from an application. The API is shown below.

package org.datanucleus.store.rdbms;

public class SchemaTool
{
     public int createSchema(PersistenceManagerFactory pmf, List classNames, boolean autostart)

     public int deleteSchema(PersistenceManagerFactory pmf, List classNames)

     public int validateSchema(PersistenceManagerFactory pmf, List classNames)

}

So for example to create the schema for classes mydomain.A and mydomain.B you would do

PersistenceManagerFactory pmf = JDOHelper.getPersistenceManagerFactory("datanucleus.properties");
...
List classNames = new ArrayList();
classNames.add("mydomain.A");
classNames.add("mydomain.B");
try
{
    org.datanucleus.store.rdbms.SchemaTool schematool = new org.datanucleus.store.rdbms.SchemaTool();
    schemaTool.createSchema(pmf, classNames, false);
}
catch(Exception e)
{
    ...
}