java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source) com.mysql.jdbc.Driver

[Andrew K]

I am trying to connect to my database using the following in my Servlet's doGet method:

try {
Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver").newInstance();
}
catch (Exception e){
StackTraceElement[] stes = e.getStackTrace();
for (StackTraceElement ste : stes) {
out.println("<br />" + ste);
}
out.println(e.getMessage());
out.close();
return;
}

But when I call on the Servlet from my browser, I get the following exception stack:

org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1363)
org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1209)
java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClassInternal(Unknown Source)
java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
java.lang.Class.forName(Unknown Source)
MembersActive.doGet(MembersActive.java:82)
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:690)
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:803)
org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:269)
org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:188)
org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:213)
org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:174)
org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:127)
org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:117)
org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:108)
org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:174)
org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:874)
org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11BaseProtocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.processConnection(Http11BaseProtocol.java:665)
org.apache.tomcat.util.net.PoolTcpEndpoint.processSocket(PoolTcpEndpoint.java:528)
org.apache.tomcat.util.net.LeaderFollowerWorkerThread.runIt(LeaderFollowerWorkerThread.java:81)
org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.ThreadPool$ControlRunnable.run(ThreadPool.java:689)
java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source) com.mysql.jdbc.Driver

I am using eclipse with compiler compliance level set to 1.5 for this project. I added the External jar named mysql-connector-java-5.1.7-bin.jar to the build path for this project. Also, I believe my JRE version is 1.5 (I checked it by using the command java -version in cmd.exe). I am using windows XP 32 bit. I have mySQL server 5.1 and mySQL administrator installed on my computer.

So, what does this error mean? What else should I check? Thanks.