public MysqlDatabase() throws Exception {
        // load the driver for mysql
            try {
                Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver").newInstance();
            } catch(Exception e) {
            // no need to distinct exception type
            // if that doesn't work the driver cannot be found
            // and there is no point in going any further
            String msg = String.format( "The MySQL driver could not be loaded.\n" +
            "Details: %s", e.getMessage());
            throw new Exception(msg);
            }
        }