The ability to query the datastore is an essential part of any system that persists data. Sometimes an
object-based query language (such as JDOQL) is considered not suitable, maybe due to the lack of familiarity
of the application developer with such a query language. In this case it is desirable to query using
SQL
. JDO 2 standardises this as a valid query mechanism, and DataNucleus supports this.
Please be aware that the SQL query that you invoke has to be valid for your RDBMS, and that the SQL
syntax differs across almost all RDBMS.
To utilise
SQL
syntax in queries, you create a Query as follows
Query q = pm.newQuery("javax.jdo.query.SQL",the_query);
You have several forms of SQL queries, depending on what form of output you require.
-
No candidate class and no result class
- the result will be a List of Objects (when there is a
single column in the query), or a List of Object[]s (when there are multiple columns in the query)
-
Candidate class specified, no result class
- the result will be a List of candidate class objects,
or will be a single candidate class object (when you have specified "unique"). The columns of the querys result
set are matched up to the fields of the candidate class by name. You need to select a minimum of the PK
columns in the SQL statement.
-
No candidate class, result class specified
- the result will be a List of result class objects, or
will be a single result class object (when you have specified "unique"). Your result class has to abide by
the rules of JDO2 result classes (see Result Class specification) - this
typically means either providing public fields matching the columns of the result, or providing
setters/getters for the columns of the result.
-
Candidate class and result class specified
- the result will be a List of result class objects,
or will be a single result class object (when you have specified "unique"). The result class has to abide by
the rules of JDO2 result classes (see Result Class specification).
In JDO2 all SQL queries must begin "SELECT ...", and consequently it is not possible to execute
stored procedures. In DataNucleus we have an extension that allows this to be overridden. To enable this you
should pass the property
datanucleus.query.sql.allowAll
as true when creating the
PersistenceManagerFactory. Thereafter you just invoke your stored procedures like this
Query q = pm.newQuery("javax.jdo.query.SQL", "EXECUTE sp_who");
Where "sp_who" is the stored procedure being invoked. Clearly the same rules will apply regarding the
results of the stored procedure and mapping them to any result class. The syntax of calling a stored
procedure differs across RDBMS. Some require "CALL ..." and some "EXECUTE ...". Go consult your manual.
In JDO2 all SQL queries must begin "SELECT ...", and consequently it is not possible to execute
queries that change data. In DataNucleus we have an extension that allows this to be overridden. To enable this
you should pass the property
datanucleus.query.sql.allowAll
as true when creating the
PersistenceManagerFactory. Thereafter you just invoke your statements like this
Query q = pm.newQuery("javax.jdo.query.SQL", "UPDATE MY_TABLE SET MY_COLUMN = ? WHERE MY_ID = ?");
you then pass any parameters in as normal for an SQL query.
In JDO2 SQL queries can have parameters but must be
positional
. This means that you do as follows
Query q = pm.newQuery("javax.jdo.query.SQL",
"SELECT col1, col2 FROM MYTABLE WHERE col3 = ? AND col4 = ? and col5 = ?");
List results = (List) q.execute(val1, val2, val3);
So we used traditional JDBC form of parametrisation, using "?".
DataNucleus also supports two further variations. The first is called
numbered
parameters
where we assign numbers to them, so the previous example could have been written like this
Query q = pm.newQuery("javax.jdo.query.SQL",
"SELECT col1, col2 FROM MYTABLE WHERE col3 = ?1 AND col4 = ?2 and col5 = ?1");
List results = (List) q.execute(val1, val2);
so we can reuse parameters in this variation.
The second variation is called
named
parameters where we assign names to them, and so the
example can be furtehr rewritten like this
Query q = pm.newQuery("javax.jdo.query.SQL",
"SELECT col1, col2 FROM MYTABLE WHERE col3 = :firstVal AND col4 = :secondVal and col5 = :firstVal");
Map params = new HashMap();
params.put("firstVal", val1);
params.put("secondVal", val1);
List results = (List) q.executeWithMap(params);
Here's an example for getting the size of a table without a candidate class.
Query query = pm.newQuery("javax.jdo.query.SQL", "SELECT count(*) FROM MYTABLE");
List results = (List) query.execute();
Integer tableSize = (Integer) result.iterator().next();
Here's an example for getting the maximum and miminum of a parameter without a candidate class.
Query query = pm.newQuery("javax.jdo.query.SQL", "SELECT max(PARAM1), min(PARAM1) FROM MYTABLE");
List results = (List) query.execute();
Object[] measures = (Object[])result.iterator().next();
Double maximum = (Double)measures[0];
Double minimum = (Double)measures[1];
Here's an example for getting the size of a table with a result class. So we have
a result class of
public class TableStatistics
{
private int total;
public setTotal(int total);
}
So we define our query to populate this class
Query query = pm.newQuery("javax.jdo.query.SQL", "SELECT count(*) AS total FROM MYTABLE");
query.setResultClass(TableStatistics.class);
List results = (List) query.execute();
TableStatistics tableStats = (TableStatistics) result.iterator().next();
Each row of the results is of the type of our result class. Since our query is for an aggregate, there is
actually only 1 row.
When we want to retrieve objects of a particular PersistenceCapable class we specify the candidate
class. Here we need to select, as a minimum, the identity columns for the class.
Query query = pm.newQuery("javax.jdo.query.SQL",
"SELECT MY_ID, MY_NAME FROM MYTABLE");
query.setClass(MyClass.class);
List results = (List) query.execute();
Iterator resultsIter = results.iterator();
while (resultsIter.hasNext())
{
MyClass obj = (MyClass)resultsIter.next();
}
class MyClass
{
String name;
...
}
<jdo>
<package name="org.datanucleus.samples.sql">
<class name="MyClass" identity-type="datastore" table="MYTABLE">
<datastore-identity strategy="identity">
<column name="MY_ID"/>
</datastore-identity>
<field name="name" persistence-modifier="persistent">
<column name="MY_NAME"/>
</field>
</class>
</package>
</jdo>
Here's an example for getting the number of people with a particular email address.
You simply add a "?" for all parameters that are passed in, and these are subsitituted
at execution time.
Query query = pm.newQuery("javax.jdo.query.SQL", "SELECT count(*) FROM PERSON WHERE EMAIL_ADDRESS = ?");
List results = (List) query.execute("nobody@datanucleus.org");
Integer tableSize = (Integer) result.iterator().next();
While "named" queries were introduced primarily for JDOQL queries, we can define "named" queries
for SQL also. So let's take a
Product
class, and we want to define a query for all products
that are "sold out". We firstly add this to our MetaData
<jdo>
<package name="org.datanucleus.samples.store">
<class name="Product" identity-type="datastore" table="PRODUCT">
<datastore-identity strategy="identity">
<column name="PRODUCT_ID"/>
</datastore-identity>
<field name="name" persistence-modifier="persistent">
<column name="NAME"/>
</field>
<field name="status" persistence-modifier="persistent">
<column name="STATUS"/>
</field>
<query name="SoldOut" language="javax.jdo.query.SQL"><![CDATA[
SELECT PRODUCT_ID FROM PRODUCT WHERE STATUS == "Sold Out"
]]></query>
</class>
</package>
</jdo>
And then in our application code we utilise the query
Query q = pm.newNamedQuery(Product.class, "SoldOut");
List results = (List)q.execute();