By placing that try block into ASTParser.execute(), you're arranging it so that this line always gets run at the end of execute():
DriverManager.getConnection(SHUTDOWN_URL); This line is shutting the Derby system down, and it means that the next time you try to run the parser, you get the exception about Derby being already shut down. I'm not sure why ASTParser.execute() is shutting the Derby system down; that seems like an odd location for that code. Did you write ASTParser.java? Or is that part of the Derby code? I suggest seeing if you can place the shutdown code into a separate method on ASTParser, and arrange to call it only once, at the end of your work with the parser. thanks, bryan
