|-
| '''Summary'''
|This function establishes a connection to a relational database. As a result a connection handle is returned. The parameter {{Code|$url}} is the URL of the database and shall be of the form: {{Code|jdbc:<driver name>:[//<server>[/<database>]]}}. If the parameters {{Code|$user}} and {{Code|$password}} are specified, they are used as credentials for connecting to the database. The {{Code|$options}} parameter can be used to set connection options, which can either be specified<br/>
* as children of an {{Code|<sql:options/>}} element, e.g.:
<pre class="brush:xml">