[[jdbc-choose-style]]
= Choosing an Approach for JDBC Database Access

You can choose among several approaches to form the basis for your JDBC database access.
In addition to three flavors of `JdbcTemplate`, a `SimpleJdbcInsert` and `SimpleJdbcCall`
approach optimizes database metadata, and the RDBMS Object style results in a more
object-oriented approach. Once you start using one of these approaches, you can still mix
and match to include a feature from a different approach.

* `JdbcTemplate` is the classic and most popular Spring JDBC approach. This
  "`lowest-level`" approach and all others use a `JdbcTemplate` under the covers.
* `NamedParameterJdbcTemplate` wraps a `JdbcTemplate` to provide named parameters
  instead of the traditional JDBC `?` placeholders. This approach provides better
  documentation and ease of use when you have multiple parameters for an SQL statement.
* `SimpleJdbcInsert` and `SimpleJdbcCall` optimize database metadata to limit the amount
  of necessary configuration. This approach simplifies coding so that you only need to
  provide the name of the table or procedure and a map of parameters matching the column
  names. This works only if the database provides adequate metadata. If the database does
  not provide this metadata, you have to provide explicit configuration of the parameters.
* RDBMS objects — including `MappingSqlQuery`, `SqlUpdate`, and `StoredProcedure` —
  require you to create reusable and thread-safe objects during initialization of your
  data-access layer. This approach allows you to define your query string, declare
  parameters, and compile the query. Once you do that, `execute(...)`, `update(...)`, and
  `findObject(...)` methods can be called multiple times with various parameter values.