Cannot create JDBC driver of class ' ' for connect URL 'null' : I do not understand this exception

I can't see anything obviously wrong, but perhaps a different approach might help you debug it?

You could try specify your datasource in the per-application-context instead of the global tomcat one.

You can do this by creating a src/main/webapp/META-INF/context.xml (I'm assuming you're using the standard maven directory structure - if not, then the META-INF folder should be a sibling of your WEB-INF directory). The contents of the META-INF/context.xml file would look something like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<Context [optional other attributes as required]>

<Resource name="jdbc/PollDatasource" auth="Container"
          type="javax.sql.DataSource" driverClassName="org.apache.derby.jdbc.ClientDriver"
          url="jdbc:derby://localhost:1527/poll_database;create=true"
          username="suhail" password="suhail" maxActive="20" maxIdle="10" maxWait="-1"/>
</Context>

Obviously the path and docBase would need to match your application's specific details.

Using this approach, you don't have to specify the datasource details in Tomcat's context.xml file. Although, if you have multiple applications talking to the same database, then your approach makes more sense.

At any rate, give this a whirl and see if it makes any difference. It might give us a clue as to what is going wrong with your approach.

Several fixes:

1. Use the right driver class name for your environment: if you are using an out-of-process Derby server, then you want ClientDriver (and need to use derbyclient.jar), the hostname and port, etc. If you want an in-process Derby server, then you want derby.jar, EmbeddedDriver, and a URL that is appropriate for an embedded database.

2. Put your driver JAR file only in Tomcat's lib/ directory.

3. Don't put anything in Tomcat's conf/context.xml: there's really no reason for it. Instead, use your webapp's META-INF/context.xml to define your <Resource>.

The error "Cannot create JDBC driver of class '' for connect URL 'null' usually occurs because the JDBC driver is not in the right place (or in too many places, like Tomcat's lib/ directory but also in the webapp's WEB-INF/lib/ directory). Please verify that you have the right driver JAR file in the right place.

These two things don't match:

driverClassName="org.apache.derby.jdbc.EmbeddedDriver"
url="jdbc:derby://localhost:1527/poll database;create=true"

If you are using the EmbeddedDriver, your URL should not contain network syntax.

Conversely, if you are using network syntax, you need to use the ClientDriver.

http://db.apache.org/derby/docs/10.8/getstart/rgsquck35368.html