thanks for all ur help then.. anyone else able to explain my problem ?

doesn't help me bro!! maybe in the long run but not now
i have a deadline for the 2nd september! :\

and i have a lot of documentation to do.. so if i could just get the programming done

this is the DBConnect class - its where the database is connected too and where resultset is created

import java.sql.*;

public class DBConnect {
	private Connection con;
	private Statement stm;

	public void addPatient(String sqlStatement) {
		try {
			stm.executeUpdate(sqlStatement);
			System.out.println("Patient added");
		} catch (SQLException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
	}

	/**
	 * ***** provided ******* constructor which sets up the connection to the
	 * database
	 */
	public DBConnect() {
		if (setup()) {
			System.out.println("dbbase connection complete");
		} else {
			System.out.println("dbbase connection could not be made");
		}
	}

	/**
	 * ***** provided *******load driver and then make the connection to the
	 * data source
	 */
	public boolean setup() {
		if (!loadODBC()) { // load driver
			System.out.println("cannot load the drivers");
			return false;
		} else {
			try {
				// con = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:odbc:data", "" , ""
				// );
				con = DriverManager.getConnection(
						"jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/pat", "root", "");
				stm = con.createStatement();
				return true;
			} catch (SQLException e) {
				e.printStackTrace();
				return false;
			}
		}
	}

	/**
	 * ***** provided ******* try load the drivers
	 */
	public static boolean loadODBC() {
		try {
			Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver").newInstance();
			System.out.println("Connected");
			return true;
		} catch (Exception e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
			return false;
		}
	}

	public int NoOfRecords() {
		String sql = "SELECT COUNT(name) AS num FROM patient";

		try {
			ResultSet rs = stm.executeQuery(sql);
			rs.next();
			int count = rs.getInt("num");

			return count;

		} catch (SQLException e) {
			System.out.println("Cannot execute statement " + sql);
			return -1;

		}
	}

	public ResultSet retrieveAll() {
		String sql = "SELECT * FROM patient";
		try {
			ResultSet rs = stm.executeQuery(sql);
			return rs;

		} catch (SQLException e) {
			System.out.println("Cannot execute statement " + sql);
			return null;
		}
	}

}

yes i'm connecting to openoffice base (which conencts to mysql) to use the DB as a sort of way to "store" the accounts as a save file

I'm having trouble figuring out which resultset is not closed or open ?

i've posted the exact error many times..

java.sql.SQLException: Operation not allowed after ResultSet closed
	at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:1074)
	at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:988)
	at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:974)
	at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:919)
	at com.mysql.jdbc.ResultSetImpl.checkClosed(ResultSetImpl.java:803)
	at com.mysql.jdbc.ResultSetImpl.next(ResultSetImpl.java:6985)
	at PatientList.<init>(PatientList.java:21)
	at Main.<init>(Main.java:35)
	at Main$1.run(Main.java:66)
	at java.awt.event.InvocationEvent.dispatch(Unknown Source)
	at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
	at java.awt.EventQueue.access$000(Unknown Source)
	at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(Unknown Source)
	at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(Unknown Source)
	at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
	at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(Unknown Source)
	at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(Unknown Source)
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(Unknown Source)
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(Unknown Source)
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(Unknown Source)