JSP - Using a class and passing the SQL connection to it

[chopsticks]

Hello,

I am new to JSP so I am having trouble coding my project site. Please excuse my bad coding practices.

Basically, I wanted to enclose all my methods related to an auction in one class which could then be accessed by all the other pages in the site by accessing the created object.

I was wondering though, is it possible to pass a connection like:

Connection c = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:mysql://localhost/test","root","");

to the class to give access to the database? The way I was previously doing created too much redundant code. I keep getting an SQLException whenever I try and use the createStatement() inside the class which otherwise works fine anywhere not in a class.

The code I am trying to use (it's inside my index.jsp file for now):

<%!
 
public class AuctionManager
{
    private Connection c;
    int auctionID;
 
    public AuctionManager(Connection c, int auctionID)
    {
        this.c = c;
        this.auctionID = auctionID;
    }
    
    public void placeBid(int memberID, int bidValue)
    {
    
    }
    
    public AuctionBid[] getBidList()
    {
        AuctionBid[] bidList = new AuctionBid[25];
 
        Statement s = this.c.createStatement();
 
        ResultSet result;
 
        String sql;
 
        sql =   "SELECT " +
                "   ab.auctionID, ab.memberID, ab.bidID, ab.bidValue, ab.bidTime, m.memberName " +
                "FROM " +
                "   auction_bid AS ab, member AS m " +
                "WHERE " +
                "   ab.auctionID = '" + auctionID + "' AND m.memberID = ab.memberID " +
                "ORDER BY " +
                "   ab.bidTime DESC " +
                "LIMIT " +
                "   25";
 
        result = s.executeQuery(sql);
 
        // iterate over each result and store in an "AuctionBid"
`
        //  - just for return's sake in testing
        bidList[0] = new AuctionBid(1,1,1,100000000,"Joe Blow");
        
        return bidList;
    }
}
 
%>

Having trouble finding anything useful anywhere...

Thanks in advanced for any help!