Modeling JDBC Operations as Java Objects

The org.springframework.jdbc.object package contains classes that let you access the database in a more object-oriented manner. As an example, you can run queries and get the results back as a list that contains business objects with the relational column data mapped to the properties of the business object. You can also run stored procedures and run update, delete, and insert statements.

Many Spring developers believe that the various RDBMS operation classes described below (with the exception of the StoredProcedure class) can often be replaced with straight JdbcTemplate calls. Often, it is simpler to write a DAO method that calls a method on a JdbcTemplate directly (as opposed to encapsulating a query as a full-blown class).

However, if you are getting measurable value from using the RDBMS operation classes, you should continue to use these classes.

Understanding SqlQuery

SqlQuery is a reusable, thread-safe class that encapsulates an SQL query. Subclasses must implement the newRowMapper(..) method to provide a RowMapper instance that can create one object per row obtained from iterating over the ResultSet that is created during the execution of the query. The SqlQuery class is rarely used directly, because the MappingSqlQuery subclass provides a much more convenient implementation for mapping rows to Java classes. Other implementations that extend SqlQuery are MappingSqlQueryWithParameters and UpdatableSqlQuery.

Using MappingSqlQuery

MappingSqlQuery is a reusable query in which concrete subclasses must implement the abstract mapRow(..) method to convert each row of the supplied ResultSet into an object of the type specified. The following example shows a custom query that maps the data from the t_actor relation to an instance of the Actor class:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

public class ActorMappingQuery extends MappingSqlQuery<Actor> {

	public ActorMappingQuery(DataSource ds) {
		super(ds, "select id, first_name, last_name from t_actor where id = ?");
		declareParameter(new SqlParameter("id", Types.INTEGER));
		compile();
	}

	@Override
	protected Actor mapRow(ResultSet rs, int rowNumber) throws SQLException {
		Actor actor = new Actor();
		actor.setId(rs.getLong("id"));
		actor.setFirstName(rs.getString("first_name"));
		actor.setLastName(rs.getString("last_name"));
		return actor;
	}
}
class ActorMappingQuery(ds: DataSource) : MappingSqlQuery<Actor>(ds, "select id, first_name, last_name from t_actor where id = ?") {

	init {
		declareParameter(SqlParameter("id", Types.INTEGER))
		compile()
	}

	override fun mapRow(rs: ResultSet, rowNumber: Int) = Actor(
			rs.getLong("id"),
			rs.getString("first_name"),
			rs.getString("last_name")
	)
}

The class extends MappingSqlQuery parameterized with the Actor type. The constructor for this customer query takes a DataSource as the only parameter. In this constructor, you can call the constructor on the superclass with the DataSource and the SQL that should be run to retrieve the rows for this query. This SQL is used to create a PreparedStatement, so it may contain placeholders for any parameters to be passed in during execution. You must declare each parameter by using the declareParameter method passing in an SqlParameter. The SqlParameter takes a name, and the JDBC type as defined in java.sql.Types. After you define all parameters, you can call the compile() method so that the statement can be prepared and later run. This class is thread-safe after it is compiled, so, as long as these instances are created when the DAO is initialized, they can be kept as instance variables and be reused. The following example shows how to define such a class:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

private ActorMappingQuery actorMappingQuery;

@Autowired
public void setDataSource(DataSource dataSource) {
	this.actorMappingQuery = new ActorMappingQuery(dataSource);
}

public Customer getCustomer(Long id) {
	return actorMappingQuery.findObject(id);
}
private val actorMappingQuery = ActorMappingQuery(dataSource)

fun getCustomer(id: Long) = actorMappingQuery.findObject(id)

The method in the preceding example retrieves the customer with the id that is passed in as the only parameter. Since we want only one object to be returned, we call the findObject convenience method with the id as the parameter. If we had instead a query that returned a list of objects and took additional parameters, we would use one of the execute methods that takes an array of parameter values passed in as varargs. The following example shows such a method:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

public List<Actor> searchForActors(int age, String namePattern) {
	return actorSearchMappingQuery.execute(age, namePattern);
}
fun searchForActors(age: Int, namePattern: String) =
			actorSearchMappingQuery.execute(age, namePattern)

Using SqlUpdate

The SqlUpdate class encapsulates an SQL update. As with a query, an update object is reusable, and, as with all RdbmsOperation classes, an update can have parameters and is defined in SQL. This class provides a number of update(..) methods analogous to the execute(..) methods of query objects. The SqlUpdate class is concrete. It can be subclassed — for example, to add a custom update method. However, you do not have to subclass the SqlUpdate class, since it can easily be parameterized by setting SQL and declaring parameters. The following example creates a custom update method named execute:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

import java.sql.Types;
import javax.sql.DataSource;
import org.springframework.jdbc.core.SqlParameter;
import org.springframework.jdbc.object.SqlUpdate;

public class UpdateCreditRating extends SqlUpdate {

	public UpdateCreditRating(DataSource ds) {
		setDataSource(ds);
		setSql("update customer set credit_rating = ? where id = ?");
		declareParameter(new SqlParameter("creditRating", Types.NUMERIC));
		declareParameter(new SqlParameter("id", Types.NUMERIC));
		compile();
	}

	/**
	 * @param id for the Customer to be updated
	 * @param rating the new value for credit rating
	 * @return number of rows updated
	 */
	public int execute(int id, int rating) {
		return update(rating, id);
	}
}
import java.sql.Types
import javax.sql.DataSource
import org.springframework.jdbc.core.SqlParameter
import org.springframework.jdbc.object.SqlUpdate

class UpdateCreditRating(ds: DataSource) : SqlUpdate() {

	init {
		setDataSource(ds)
		sql = "update customer set credit_rating = ? where id = ?"
		declareParameter(SqlParameter("creditRating", Types.NUMERIC))
		declareParameter(SqlParameter("id", Types.NUMERIC))
		compile()
	}

	/**
	 * @param id for the Customer to be updated
	 * @param rating the new value for credit rating
	 * @return number of rows updated
	 */
	fun execute(id: Int, rating: Int): Int {
		return update(rating, id)
	}
}

Using StoredProcedure

The StoredProcedure class is an abstract superclass for object abstractions of RDBMS stored procedures.

The inherited sql property is the name of the stored procedure in the RDBMS.

To define a parameter for the StoredProcedure class, you can use an SqlParameter or one of its subclasses. You must specify the parameter name and SQL type in the constructor, as the following code snippet shows:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

new SqlParameter("in_id", Types.NUMERIC),
new SqlOutParameter("out_first_name", Types.VARCHAR),
SqlParameter("in_id", Types.NUMERIC),
SqlOutParameter("out_first_name", Types.VARCHAR),

The SQL type is specified using the java.sql.Types constants.

The first line (with the SqlParameter) declares an IN parameter. You can use IN parameters both for stored procedure calls and for queries using the SqlQuery and its subclasses (covered in Understanding SqlQuery).

The second line (with the SqlOutParameter) declares an out parameter to be used in the stored procedure call. There is also an SqlInOutParameter for InOut parameters (parameters that provide an in value to the procedure and that also return a value).

For in parameters, in addition to the name and the SQL type, you can specify a scale for numeric data or a type name for custom database types. For out parameters, you can provide a RowMapper to handle mapping of rows returned from a REF cursor. Another option is to specify an SqlReturnType that lets you define customized handling of the return values.

The next example of a simple DAO uses a StoredProcedure to call a function (sysdate()), which comes with any Oracle database. To use the stored procedure functionality, you have to create a class that extends StoredProcedure. In this example, the StoredProcedure class is an inner class. However, if you need to reuse the StoredProcedure, you can declare it as a top-level class. This example has no input parameters, but an output parameter is declared as a date type by using the SqlOutParameter class. The execute() method runs the procedure and extracts the returned date from the results Map. The results Map has an entry for each declared output parameter (in this case, only one) by using the parameter name as the key. The following listing shows our custom StoredProcedure class:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

import java.sql.Types;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;
import javax.sql.DataSource;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.jdbc.core.SqlOutParameter;
import org.springframework.jdbc.object.StoredProcedure;

public class StoredProcedureDao {

	private GetSysdateProcedure getSysdate;

	@Autowired
	public void init(DataSource dataSource) {
		this.getSysdate = new GetSysdateProcedure(dataSource);
	}

	public Date getSysdate() {
		return getSysdate.execute();
	}

	private class GetSysdateProcedure extends StoredProcedure {

		private static final String SQL = "sysdate";

		public GetSysdateProcedure(DataSource dataSource) {
			setDataSource(dataSource);
			setFunction(true);
			setSql(SQL);
			declareParameter(new SqlOutParameter("date", Types.DATE));
			compile();
		}

		public Date execute() {
			// the 'sysdate' sproc has no input parameters, so an empty Map is supplied...
			Map<String, Object> results = execute(new HashMap<String, Object>());
			Date sysdate = (Date) results.get("date");
			return sysdate;
		}
	}

}
import java.sql.Types
import java.util.Date
import java.util.Map
import javax.sql.DataSource
import org.springframework.jdbc.core.SqlOutParameter
import org.springframework.jdbc.object.StoredProcedure

class StoredProcedureDao(dataSource: DataSource) {

	private val SQL = "sysdate"

	private val getSysdate = GetSysdateProcedure(dataSource)

	val sysdate: Date
		get() = getSysdate.execute()

	private inner class GetSysdateProcedure(dataSource: DataSource) : StoredProcedure() {

		init {
			setDataSource(dataSource)
			isFunction = true
			sql = SQL
			declareParameter(SqlOutParameter("date", Types.DATE))
			compile()
		}

		fun execute(): Date {
			// the 'sysdate' sproc has no input parameters, so an empty Map is supplied...
			val results = execute(mutableMapOf<String, Any>())
			return results["date"] as Date
		}
	}
}

The following example of a StoredProcedure has two output parameters (in this case, Oracle REF cursors):

  • Java

  • Kotlin

import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;
import javax.sql.DataSource;
import oracle.jdbc.OracleTypes;
import org.springframework.jdbc.core.SqlOutParameter;
import org.springframework.jdbc.object.StoredProcedure;

public class TitlesAndGenresStoredProcedure extends StoredProcedure {

	private static final String SPROC_NAME = "AllTitlesAndGenres";

	public TitlesAndGenresStoredProcedure(DataSource dataSource) {
		super(dataSource, SPROC_NAME);
		declareParameter(new SqlOutParameter("titles", OracleTypes.CURSOR, new TitleMapper()));
		declareParameter(new SqlOutParameter("genres", OracleTypes.CURSOR, new GenreMapper()));
		compile();
	}

	public Map<String, Object> execute() {
		// again, this sproc has no input parameters, so an empty Map is supplied
		return super.execute(new HashMap<String, Object>());
	}
}
import java.util.HashMap
import javax.sql.DataSource
import oracle.jdbc.OracleTypes
import org.springframework.jdbc.core.SqlOutParameter
import org.springframework.jdbc.object.StoredProcedure

class TitlesAndGenresStoredProcedure(dataSource: DataSource) : StoredProcedure(dataSource, SPROC_NAME) {

	companion object {
		private const val SPROC_NAME = "AllTitlesAndGenres"
	}

	init {
		declareParameter(SqlOutParameter("titles", OracleTypes.CURSOR, TitleMapper()))
		declareParameter(SqlOutParameter("genres", OracleTypes.CURSOR, GenreMapper()))
		compile()
	}

	fun execute(): Map<String, Any> {
		// again, this sproc has no input parameters, so an empty Map is supplied
		return super.execute(HashMap<String, Any>())
	}
}

Notice how the overloaded variants of the declareParameter(..) method that have been used in the TitlesAndGenresStoredProcedure constructor are passed RowMapper implementation instances. This is a very convenient and powerful way to reuse existing functionality. The next two examples provide code for the two RowMapper implementations.

The TitleMapper class maps a ResultSet to a Title domain object for each row in the supplied ResultSet, as follows:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

import java.sql.ResultSet;
import java.sql.SQLException;
import com.foo.domain.Title;
import org.springframework.jdbc.core.RowMapper;

public final class TitleMapper implements RowMapper<Title> {

	public Title mapRow(ResultSet rs, int rowNum) throws SQLException {
		Title title = new Title();
		title.setId(rs.getLong("id"));
		title.setName(rs.getString("name"));
		return title;
	}
}
import java.sql.ResultSet
import com.foo.domain.Title
import org.springframework.jdbc.core.RowMapper

class TitleMapper : RowMapper<Title> {

	override fun mapRow(rs: ResultSet, rowNum: Int) =
			Title(rs.getLong("id"), rs.getString("name"))
}

The GenreMapper class maps a ResultSet to a Genre domain object for each row in the supplied ResultSet, as follows:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

import java.sql.ResultSet;
import java.sql.SQLException;
import com.foo.domain.Genre;
import org.springframework.jdbc.core.RowMapper;

public final class GenreMapper implements RowMapper<Genre> {

	public Genre mapRow(ResultSet rs, int rowNum) throws SQLException {
		return new Genre(rs.getString("name"));
	}
}
import java.sql.ResultSet
import com.foo.domain.Genre
import org.springframework.jdbc.core.RowMapper

class GenreMapper : RowMapper<Genre> {

	override fun mapRow(rs: ResultSet, rowNum: Int): Genre {
		return Genre(rs.getString("name"))
	}
}

To pass parameters to a stored procedure that has one or more input parameters in its definition in the RDBMS, you can code a strongly typed execute(..) method that would delegate to the untyped execute(Map) method in the superclass, as the following example shows:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

import java.sql.Types;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;
import javax.sql.DataSource;
import oracle.jdbc.OracleTypes;
import org.springframework.jdbc.core.SqlOutParameter;
import org.springframework.jdbc.core.SqlParameter;
import org.springframework.jdbc.object.StoredProcedure;

public class TitlesAfterDateStoredProcedure extends StoredProcedure {

	private static final String SPROC_NAME = "TitlesAfterDate";
	private static final String CUTOFF_DATE_PARAM = "cutoffDate";

	public TitlesAfterDateStoredProcedure(DataSource dataSource) {
		super(dataSource, SPROC_NAME);
		declareParameter(new SqlParameter(CUTOFF_DATE_PARAM, Types.DATE);
		declareParameter(new SqlOutParameter("titles", OracleTypes.CURSOR, new TitleMapper()));
		compile();
	}

	public Map<String, Object> execute(Date cutoffDate) {
		Map<String, Object> inputs = new HashMap<String, Object>();
		inputs.put(CUTOFF_DATE_PARAM, cutoffDate);
		return super.execute(inputs);
	}
}
import java.sql.Types
import java.util.Date
import javax.sql.DataSource
import oracle.jdbc.OracleTypes
import org.springframework.jdbc.core.SqlOutParameter
import org.springframework.jdbc.core.SqlParameter
import org.springframework.jdbc.object.StoredProcedure

class TitlesAfterDateStoredProcedure(dataSource: DataSource) : StoredProcedure(dataSource, SPROC_NAME) {

	companion object {
		private const val SPROC_NAME = "TitlesAfterDate"
		private const val CUTOFF_DATE_PARAM = "cutoffDate"
	}

	init {
		declareParameter(SqlParameter(CUTOFF_DATE_PARAM, Types.DATE))
		declareParameter(SqlOutParameter("titles", OracleTypes.CURSOR, TitleMapper()))
		compile()
	}

	fun execute(cutoffDate: Date) = super.execute(
			mapOf<String, Any>(CUTOFF_DATE_PARAM to cutoffDate))
}