Can't connect to database, help me understand this error list?

Question

Sorry if the answer to this problem is fairly obvious. I just don't understand what the following errors mean when I use a try/catch to connect to my database (all I know is that the catch part is what executes because of the print statement - "Error: Couldn't make a database connection. See method 'dbConnect'."

java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
Error: Couldn't make a database connection. See method 'dbConnect'.
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:202)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:190)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:306)
    at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:301)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:247)
    at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
    at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:169)
    at runone.DBconnector.openConnection(DBconnector.java:26)
    at runone.loginScreen.dbConnect(loginScreen.java:1592)
    at runone.loginScreen.viewScreenState(loginScreen.java:1371)
    at runone.loginScreen.jButton1ActionPerformed(loginScreen.java:1230)
    at runone.loginScreen.access$19(loginScreen.java:1219)
    at runone.loginScreen$20.actionPerformed(loginScreen.java:1177)
    at javax.swing.AbstractButton.fireActionPerformed(AbstractButton.java:2028)
    at javax.swing.AbstractButton$Handler.actionPerformed(AbstractButton.java:2351)
    at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.fireActionPerformed(DefaultButtonModel.java:387)
    at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.setPressed(DefaultButtonModel.java:242)
    at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicButtonListener.mouseReleased(BasicButtonListener.java:236)
    at java.awt.Component.processMouseEvent(Component.java:6373)
    at javax.swing.JComponent.processMouseEvent(JComponent.java:3267)
    at java.awt.Component.processEvent(Component.java:6138)
    at java.awt.Container.processEvent(Container.java:2085)
    at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Component.java:4735)
    at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2143)
    at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4565)
    at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.retargetMouseEvent(Container.java:4621)
    at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.processMouseEvent(Container.java:4282)
    at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Container.java:4212)
    at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2129)
    at java.awt.Window.dispatchEventImpl(Window.java:2478)
    at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4565)
    at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(EventQueue.java:679)
    at java.awt.EventQueue.access$000(EventQueue.java:85)
    at java.awt.EventQueue$1.run(EventQueue.java:638)
    at java.awt.EventQueue$1.run(EventQueue.java:636)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.security.AccessControlContext$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(AccessControlContext.java:87)
    at java.security.AccessControlContext$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(AccessControlContext.java:98)
    at java.awt.EventQueue$2.run(EventQueue.java:652)
    at java.awt.EventQueue$2.run(EventQueue.java:650)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.security.AccessControlContext$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(AccessControlContext.java:87)
    at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:649)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:296)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:211)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:201)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:196)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:188)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:122)

EDIT: Here is the code that makes the connection:

public void dbConnect() {
        DBconnector db = new DBconnector();
        try {
            db.openConnection();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
            System.out.println("Error: Couldn't make a database connection. See method 'dbConnect'.");
        }
    }

Answer 1

The first line of the stack trace is the most important one here:

java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.mysql.jdbc.Driver

That suggests you haven't got the MySQL driver on your classpath.

The rest of the exception is just the stack trace for the operation leading up to the ClassNotFoundException - so your dbConnect method has called openConnection which has called Class.forName etc.