Java using filtering at different models before and after the projection

Question

Consider the following JAVA model for hibernate:

@Entity
@Table
public class Person {
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO)
    public Long id;

    @Column
    public String firstName;

    @Column
    public String lastName;

    @Column
    public Boolean active;
}

and the following model for API serialization (using spring boot rest controller):

public class PersonVO {
    public Long id;
    public String fullName;
}

What i want is to:

• Have some filtering applied at the Person (statically defined)
• Have some filtering applied at the PersonVO (get from @RequestParam)

In C# .NET i could make like:

IQueryable<Person> personsQuery = entityFrameworkDbContext.Persons;
// FIRST POINT - Here i could make some predefined filtering like 'only active', 'from the same city'... at the database model
personsQueryWithPreDefinedFilters = personsQuery.Where(person => person.active == true);


IQueryable<PersonVO> personsProjectedToVO = personsQueryWithPreDefinedFilters.Select(person => new PersonVO()
{
    id = person.id,
    fullName = person.firstName + " " + person.lastName
});
// SECOND POINT - At this point i could add more filtering based at PersonVO model
if (!String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(fullNameRequestParameter)) {
    personsProjectedToVO = personsProjectedToVO.Where(personVO => personVO.FullName == fullNameRequestParameter);
}

// The generated SQL at database is with both where (before and after projection)
List<PersonVO> personsToReturn = personsProjectedToVO.ToList();

What i got in Java is:

CriteriaBuilder cb = this.entityManager.getCriteriaBuilder();
CriteriaQuery<PersonVO> cq = cb.createQuery(PersonVO.class);
Root<Person> root = cq.from(Person.class);
// FIRST POINT - Here i could make some predefined filtering like 'only active', 'from the same city'... at the database model
cq.where(cb.equal(root.get(Person_.active), true));         

Expression<String> fullName = cb.concat(root.get(Person_.firstName), root.get(Person_.lastName));
cq.select(cb.construct(
        PersonVO.class,
        root.get(Person_.id),
        fullName
        ));
// SECOND POINT - At this point i could add more filtering based at PersonVO model??? HOW???
if (fullNameRequestParameter != null) {
    cq.where(cb.equal(fullName, fullNameRequestParameter));
// i only could use based at the fullName expression used, but could i make a Predicate based only on PersonVO model without knowing or having the expression?
}

I want to have separated the "projection to the VO model" from the "where expression" applied to it, but have it indirectly applied if used a projected column (like fullName).

Is this possible in Java? Using what? Criteria? Querydsl? Stream? (don't get necessarily stick to the java sample)

Answer 1

JPA Criteria API doesn't have such functionality. Also, it is not easy to read 😊

JPA Criteria API

In the Criteria API you need to reuse the Expression.

The working code looks like this:

public List<PersonVO> findActivePersonByFullName(String fullName) {
  CriteriaBuilder cb = entityManager.getCriteriaBuilder();
  CriteriaQuery<PersonVO> cq = cb.createQuery(PersonVO.class);
  Root<Person> root = cq.from(Person.class);

  List<Predicate> predicates = new ArrayList<>();
  predicates.add(cb.equal(root.get("active"), true));

  Expression<String> fullNameExp = 
      cb.concat(cb.concat(root.get("firstName"), " "), root.get("lastName"));

  cq.select(cb.construct(
      PersonVO.class,
      root.get("id"),
      fullNameExp
  ));

  if (fullName != null) {
    predicates.add(cb.equal(fullNameExp, fullName));
  }

  cq.where(predicates.toArray(new Predicate[0]));

  return entityManager.createQuery(cq).getResultList();
}

The generated SQL code:

select
    person0_.id as col_0_0_,
    ((person0_.first_name||' ')||person0_.last_name) as col_1_0_ 
from
    person person0_ 
where
    person0_.active=? 
    and (
        (
            person0_.first_name||?
        )||person0_.last_name
    )=?

JPA Criteria API and @org.hibernate.annotations.Formula

Hibernate has an annotation org.hibernate.annotations.Formula that can simplify the code a little.

Add to the entity a computed field annotated with @Formula("first_name || ' ' || last_name"):

@Entity
public class Person {

  @Id
  @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO)
  public Long id;

  @Column
  public String firstName;

  @Column
  public String lastName;

  @Column
  public boolean active;

  @Formula("first_name || ' ' || last_name")
  private String fullName;

  //...getters and setters
}

And in the JPA Criteria API query reference the field fullName:

public List<PersonVO> findActivePersonByFullName(String fullName) {
  CriteriaBuilder cb = entityManager.getCriteriaBuilder();
  CriteriaQuery<PersonVO> cq = cb.createQuery(PersonVO.class);
  Root<Person> root = cq.from(Person.class);

  List<Predicate> predicates = new ArrayList<>();
  predicates.add(cb.equal(root.get("active"), true));

  cq.select(cb.construct(
      PersonVO.class,
      root.get("id"),
      root.get("fullName")
  ));

  if (fullName != null) {
    predicates.add(cb.equal(root.get("fullName"), fullName));
  }

  cq.where(predicates.toArray(new Predicate[0]));

  return entityManager.createQuery(cq).getResultList();
}

And the generated SQL:

select
    person0_.id as col_0_0_,
    person0_.first_name || ' ' || person0_.last_name as col_1_0_ 
from
    person person0_ 
where
    person0_.active=? 
    and person0_.first_name || ' ' || person0_.last_name=?

Hibernate Criteria API

Hibernate Criteria API (deprecated since Hibernate 5.2 in favour of JPA Criteria API) allows to use aliases. But not all databases allows to use aliases (e.g. (full_name || ' ' || last_name) as full_name) in a where clause.

According to the PostgreSQL docs:

An output column's name can be used to refer to the column's value in ORDER BY and GROUP BY clauses, but not in the WHERE or HAVING clauses; there you must write out the expression instead.

It means the SQL query

select p.id, 
      (p.first_name || ' ' || p.last_name) as full_name 
  from person p
 where p.active = true
   and full_name = 'John Doe'

doesn't work in PostgreSQL.

So, using an alias in a where clause is not an option.