Hi I am new to ktor and working on a sample project. What do you guys use for mysql connection ?

i think it is not really related with ktor. To use MySQL, you can either use JPA on top of MySQL JDBC connector library.

It is strongly recommended to use either JDBC ( https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/jdbc/basics/index.html ), or JOOQ ( https://www.jooq.org/ ). On Kotlin JVM projects using a Relational DB I use JOOQ. JPA is very difficult to work with especially when things go wrong.

What would make JPA difficult to work with Kotlin JVM? I don't see JDBC is really a recommendation nowadays. JPA is just an abstraction layer on top of JDBC and in fact it can be used along with JOOQ.

JPA isn't especially hard on Kotlin, but in my view too complex in general that I would choose it. I've seen some really weird usages over time. 🙂 I would usually reach for JDBI, or something similar at least. Simple API with simple row mapping.

thanks @Anders Sveen,fair enough... have never used JDBI previously, I might take a look on it as well, looks quite interesting... 👌

Exposed is very good for crud

Jdbi and hikari