I am currently studying a computer science course at university and one of the modules is teaching about Web Development using JSPs. This post is NOT concerning a coursework assignment although I would expect the issue I have will no doubt be the same when the coursework is eventually released. The problem I am having crops up ONLY when accessing the database which is unfortunately MS Access. We are using Tomcat for all our tasks.

When I try to load a page from examples given be the lecturer I get the error:-

HTTP Status 500 - An exception occurred processing JSP page /connection.jsp at line 3 

<%   
Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver");   
Connection con = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:odbc:DRIVER=Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb);DBQ=f:/tomcat/webapps/mywebsite/db_examples/orders.mdb;PWD=mypass", "", "");    
%>

For this page to load it is assumed the path specified is correct. I have checked, rechecked, and more. The path is absolutely correct for running on the laptop I am using. I have however tried many options. I have even put Tomcat on my C drive and renamed it to mywebserver to make it fit the path that is there in the original example: c:/mywebserver/webapps/db_examples/orders.mdb

All the JSPs that DON'T involve accessing the database work. I am guessing there must be something else on line 3 of this JSP causing the issue. I am hoping someone can help me understand what needs changing. I am pretty good with understanding most programming but am not yet familiar with the classes used for these tasks. I am pretty sure I need a JDBC driver and that the code in this JSP sets this up, but I am not understanding why all the pages that access the database will not work.

This problem has been a major source of stress for me as I just want to get on with the actual programming part, working on my own pcs and/or laptop which means fixing this issue. I have asked on one other forum so far and also tried on on of my pcs (exactly the same problem).

I am hoping someone can help me get on with this as at the moment when the coursework is released I will not be able to test my work.