10.4. Querying
If you do not know the identifiers of the objects you are looking for, you need a query. Hibernate supports an easy-to-use but powerful object oriented query language (HQL). For programmatic query creation, Hibernate supports a sophisticated Criteria and Example query feature (QBC and QBE). You can also express your query in the native SQL of your database, with optional support from Hibernate for result set conversion into objects.
10.4.1. Executing queries
HQL and native SQL queries are represented with an instance of
org.hibernate.Query
. This interface offers methods for parameter binding, result set handling, and for the execution of the actual query. You always obtain a Query
using the current Session
:
List cats = session.createQuery( "from Cat as cat where cat.birthdate < ?") .setDate(0, date) .list(); List mothers = session.createQuery( "select mother from Cat as cat join cat.mother as mother where cat.name = ?") .setString(0, name) .list(); List kittens = session.createQuery( "from Cat as cat where cat.mother = ?") .setEntity(0, pk) .list(); Cat mother = (Cat) session.createQuery( "select cat.mother from Cat as cat where cat = ?") .setEntity(0, izi) .uniqueResult(); Query mothersWithKittens = session.createQuery( "select mother from Cat as mother left join fetch mother.kittens"); Set uniqueMothers = new HashSet(mothersWithKittens.list());
A query is usually executed by invoking
list()
. The result of the query will be loaded completely into a collection in memory. Entity instances retrieved by a query are in a persistent state. The uniqueResult()
method offers a shortcut if you know your query will only return a single object. Queries that make use of eager fetching of collections usually return duplicates of the root objects, but with their collections initialized. You can filter these duplicates through a Set
.
10.4.1.1. Iterating results
Occasionally, you might be able to achieve better performance by executing the query using the
iterate()
method. This will usually be the case if you expect that the actual entity instances returned by the query will already be in the session or second-level cache. If they are not already cached, iterate()
will be slower than list()
and might require many database hits for a simple query, usually 1 for the initial select which only returns identifiers, and n additional selects to initialize the actual instances.
// fetch ids Iterator iter = sess.createQuery("from eg.Qux q order by q.likeliness").iterate(); while ( iter.hasNext() ) { Qux qux = (Qux) iter.next(); // fetch the object // something we could not express in the query if ( qux.calculateComplicatedAlgorithm() ) { // delete the current instance iter.remove(); // do not need to process the rest break; } }
10.4.1.2. Queries that return tuples
Hibernate queries sometimes return tuples of objects. Each tuple is returned as an array:
Iterator kittensAndMothers = sess.createQuery( "select kitten, mother from Cat kitten join kitten.mother mother") .list() .iterator(); while ( kittensAndMothers.hasNext() ) { Object[] tuple = (Object[]) kittensAndMothers.next(); Cat kitten = (Cat) tuple[0]; Cat mother = (Cat) tuple[1]; .... }
10.4.1.3. Scalar results
Queries can specify a property of a class in the
select
clause. They can even call SQL aggregate functions. Properties or aggregates are considered "scalar" results and not entities in persistent state.
Iterator results = sess.createQuery( "select cat.color, min(cat.birthdate), count(cat) from Cat cat " + "group by cat.color") .list() .iterator(); while ( results.hasNext() ) { Object[] row = (Object[]) results.next(); Color type = (Color) row[0]; Date oldest = (Date) row[1]; Integer count = (Integer) row[2]; ..... }
10.4.1.4. Bind parameters
Methods on
Query
are provided for binding values to named parameters or JDBC-style ?
parameters. Contrary to JDBC, Hibernate numbers parameters from zero. Named parameters are identifiers of the form :name
in the query string. The advantages of named parameters are as follows:
- named parameters are insensitive to the order they occur in the query string
- they can occur multiple times in the same query
- they are self-documenting
//named parameter (preferred) Query q = sess.createQuery("from DomesticCat cat where cat.name = :name"); q.setString("name", "Fritz"); Iterator cats = q.iterate();
//positional parameter Query q = sess.createQuery("from DomesticCat cat where cat.name = ?"); q.setString(0, "Izi"); Iterator cats = q.iterate();
//named parameter list List names = new ArrayList(); names.add("Izi"); names.add("Fritz"); Query q = sess.createQuery("from DomesticCat cat where cat.name in (:namesList)"); q.setParameterList("namesList", names); List cats = q.list();
10.4.1.5. Pagination
If you need to specify bounds upon your result set, that is, the maximum number of rows you want to retrieve and/or the first row you want to retrieve, you can use methods of the
Query
interface:
Query q = sess.createQuery("from DomesticCat cat"); q.setFirstResult(20); q.setMaxResults(10); List cats = q.list();
Hibernate knows how to translate this limit query into the native SQL of your DBMS.
10.4.1.6. Scrollable iteration
If your JDBC driver supports scrollable
ResultSet
s, the Query
interface can be used to obtain a ScrollableResults
object that allows flexible navigation of the query results.
Query q = sess.createQuery("select cat.name, cat from DomesticCat cat " + "order by cat.name"); ScrollableResults cats = q.scroll(); if ( cats.first() ) { // find the first name on each page of an alphabetical list of cats by name firstNamesOfPages = new ArrayList(); do { String name = cats.getString(0); firstNamesOfPages.add(name); } while ( cats.scroll(PAGE_SIZE) ); // Now get the first page of cats pageOfCats = new ArrayList(); cats.beforeFirst(); int i=0; while( ( PAGE_SIZE > i++ ) && cats.next() ) pageOfCats.add( cats.get(1) ); } cats.close();
Note that an open database connection and cursor is required for this functionality. Use
setMaxResult()
/setFirstResult()
if you need offline pagination functionality.
10.4.1.7. Externalizing named queries
You can also define named queries in the mapping document. Remember to use a
CDATA
section if your query contains characters that could be interpreted as markup.
<query name="ByNameAndMaximumWeight"><![CDATA[ from eg.DomesticCat as cat where cat.name = ? and cat.weight > ? ] ]></query>
Parameter binding and executing is done programmatically:
Query q = sess.getNamedQuery("ByNameAndMaximumWeight"); q.setString(0, name); q.setInteger(1, minWeight); List cats = q.list();
The actual program code is independent of the query language that is used. You can also define native SQL queries in metadata, or migrate existing queries to Hibernate by placing them in mapping files.
Also note that a query declaration inside a
<hibernate-mapping>
element requires a global unique name for the query, while a query declaration inside a <class>
element is made unique automatically by prepending the fully qualified name of the class. For example eg.Cat.ByNameAndMaximumWeight
.