Mapping a row from a SQL data to a Java object

Question

I have a Java class with instance fields (and matching setter methods) that match the column names of a SQL database table. I would like to elegantly fetch a row from the table (into a ResultSet) and map it to an instance of this class.

For example:

I have a "Student" class with instance fields "FNAME", "LNAME", "GRADE" and appropriate getter and setter methods for each.

I also have a SQL table with three columns of the same name.

Right now I am doing something like this:

rs = statement.executeQuery(query);

Student student = new Student();

student.setFNAME(rs.getString("FNAME"));
student.setLNAME(rs.getString("LNAME"));
student.setGRADE(rs.getString("GRADE"));

There has to be a less verbose way of doing this, right? As I add columns this might get really annoying and messy.

Answer 1

I recommend using Spring JDBC. You don't need to use the rest of Spring to use their JDBC library. It will manage connections for you (no more closing Connection, Statement, or ResultSet) and has many conveniences, including row mapping.

We've retrofitted legacy code with Spring JDBC with little trouble.

Here is a presentation (PDF) of an overview of Spring JDBC. It's a few years old but it still works essentially the same, even without letting Spring inject the dependencies.

Spring JDBC Presentation PDF