Introduction

In this article, we are going to see how we can write the best DTO projection JPQL query by omitting the package name when using JPA, Hibernate, and Spring.

As I already explained, DTO projections are the most efficient way of fetching data when using JPA and Hibernate.

How to write a compact DTO projection query with JPA @vlad_mihalceahttps://t.co/EDgXuEbsFX pic.twitter.com/rAf1VZgtAA

— Java (@java) September 13, 2019

Domain Model

Let’s consider the following Post entity and its associated PostDTO Value Object.

We can see that the Post entity has seven attributes, while PostDTO has only two of those. If our business use case requires just the two attributes contained in PostDTO, then it’s going to be more efficient to fetch a PostDTO projection rather than a list of Post entities.

DTO projection query with JPA

The JPA specification defines the constructor expression for passing a fully-qualified DTO class name to be used as a placeholder for the selected entity attributes:

List<PostDTO> postDTOs = entityManager.createQuery(
    "select new com.vladmihalcea.book.hpjp.hibernate.forum.dto.PostDTO(" +
    "    p.id, " +
    "    p.title " +
    ") " +
    "from Post p " +
    "where p.createdOn > :fromTimestamp", PostDTO.class)
.setParameter(
    "fromTimestamp",
    Timestamp.from(
        LocalDate.of(2020, 1, 1)
            .atStartOfDay()
            .toInstant(ZoneOffset.UTC)
    )
)
.getResultList();

According to the JPA standard, the DTO constructor expression must take the fully-qualified name of the Java class representing the DTO object we want to hold the selected entity attributes.

But this is not nice at all!

I’d rather want to use the simple class name or, at least, a short folder name if there are two DTOs with the same name, but with different structures.

A simpler DTO projection query with JPA and Hibernate

So, basically, this is how I want to write DTO projections:

List<PostDTO> postDTOs = entityManager.createQuery(
    "select new PostDTO(" +
    "    p.id, " +
    "    p.title " +
    ") " +
    "from Post p " +
    "where p.createdOn > :fromTimestamp", PostDTO.class)
.setParameter(
    "fromTimestamp",
    Timestamp.from(
        LocalDate.of(2020, 1, 1)
            .atStartOfDay()
            .toInstant(ZoneOffset.UTC)
    )
)
.getResultList();

Basically, I want to be able to use the simple Java class name by default, instead of having to supply the fully-qualified class name for every JPA constructor expression.

Hibernate Integrator

In order to be able to use the simple Java class name, we need to supply a custom org.hibernate.integrator.spi.Integrator which provides us access to the bootstrapping Metadata.

public class ClassImportIntegrator implements Integrator {

    private final List<? extends Class> classImportList;

    public ClassImportIntegrator(
            List<? extends Class> classImportList) {
        this.classImportList = classImportList;
    }

    @Override
    public void integrate(
            Metadata metadata,
            SessionFactoryImplementor sessionFactory,
            SessionFactoryServiceRegistry serviceRegistry) {
        for(Class classImport : classImportList) {
            metadata.getImports().put(
                classImport.getSimpleName(),
                classImport.getName()
            );
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void disintegrate(
            SessionFactoryImplementor sessionFactory,
            SessionFactoryServiceRegistry serviceRegistry) {}
}

You don’t have to create the ClassImportIntegrator class. The hibernate-types project already provides it out of the box.

Now, we only have to provide the ClassImportIntegrator to Hibernate, and we will be able to run JPA projection queries that use the DTO simple class name.

Bootstrapping JPA programmatically with Hibernate

If we’re bootstrapping JPA programmatically using the Hibernate, we can pass the ClassImportIntegrator via thehibernate.integrator_provider` configuration property:

Properties properties = new Properties();
properties.put(
    "hibernate.integrator_provider", 
    (IntegratorProvider) () -> Collections.singletonList(
        new ClassImportIntegrator(Arrays.asList(PostDTO.class))
    )
);

EntityManagerFactory entityManagerFactory = new EntityManagerFactoryBuilderImpl(
    new PersistenceUnitInfoDescriptor(
        persistenceUnitInfo
    ), 
    properties
).build();

When the HHH-13853 fix that I submitted to Hibernate ORM gets integrated, you will be able to pass the fully-qualified name of a class that implements the IntegratorProvider interface and defines the ClassImportIntegrator instance containing all the DTOs you’d like to use in your projection queries.

So, the fix for the HHH-13853 issue will allow you to pass the hibernate.integrator_provider property via the persistence.xml JPA XML configuration or the application.properties Spring Boot configuration file.

Spring framework

If you’re using Spring or Spring Boot, you can choose to use either JPA or the native Hibernate API for the data access layer.

Spring and JPA

To bootstrap JPA with Spring, you need to use the LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean:

@Bean
public LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean entityManagerFactory() {

    LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean emf = 
       new LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean();

    emf.setPersistenceUnitName(getClass().getSimpleName());
    emf.setPersistenceProvider(new HibernatePersistenceProvider());
    emf.setDataSource(dataSource());
    emf.setPackagesToScan(packagesToScan());

    emf.setJpaVendorAdapter(new HibernateJpaVendorAdapter());
    
    Properties properties = new Properties();
    
    properties.setProperty(
        "hibernate.dialect", 
        hibernateDialect
    );
    
    properties.put(
        "hibernate.integrator_provider",
        (IntegratorProvider) () -> Collections.singletonList(
            new ClassImportIntegrator(
                Arrays.asList(
                    PostDTO.class
                )
            )
        )
    );
    
    emf.setJpaProperties(properties);

    return emf;
}

Notice how we passed the hibernate.integrator_provider configuration property to the LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean via its setJpaProperties method.

Spring and Hibernate

To bootstrap the native Hibernate with Spring, you need to use the SessionactoryBean:

@Bean
public LocalSessionFactoryBean sessionFactory() {

    LocalSessionFactoryBean sf = 
        new LocalSessionFactoryBean();
        
    sf.setDataSource(dataSource());
    sf.setPackagesToScan(packagesToScan());
    
    Properties properties = new Properties();
    
    properties.setProperty(
        "hibernate.dialect", 
        hibernateDialect
    );
    
    sf.setHibernateProperties(properties);
    
    sf.setHibernateIntegrators(
        new ClassImportIntegrator(
            Arrays.asList(
                PostDTO.class
            )
        )
    );
    
    return sf;
}

I'm running an online workshopk on the 14th of May about The Best Way to Fetch Data with Java Persistence and Hibernate.

If you enjoyed this article, I bet you are going to love my Book and Video Courses as well.

Conclusion

Omitting the DTO package name in a JPA query is definitely that type of enhancement most Java developers wanted to have for a long time, as demonstrated by the positive reactions I got on this tweet.

Next week, I'm going to show you how you can omit the package name when doing DTO projections with @Java Persistence JPQL.

Who's interested in this awesome tip? pic.twitter.com/B249xV47nZ

— Vlad Mihalcea (@vlad_mihalcea) September 7, 2019

Enjoy running simpler DTO projection queries with JPA and Hibernate.

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