Spring Boot and Spring Data JPA Tutorial with Examples

Create Spring Boot project
Configure Spring Boot & JPA
Spring Data JPA (Quick Start)
Controller
Run the application

1. Create Spring Boot project

On the Eclipse, create a Spring Boot project.

Select the technologies to be used in this project, including JPA and a database that you are familiar with.

Add the following configuration snippetto the pom.xml file if you want to work with the Oracle database:

** Oracle **

<dependencies>
   <dependency>
      <groupId>com.oracle</groupId>
      <artifactId>ojdbc7</artifactId>
      <version>12.1.0.2</version>
   </dependency>
</dependencies>

<repositories>
   <!-- Repository for ORACLE ojdbc6. -->
   <repository>
      <id>codelds</id>
      <url>https://code.lds.org/nexus/content/groups/main-repo</url>
   </repository>
</repositories>

The full content of pom.xml file:

pom.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0
     http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <groupId>com.example</groupId>
    <artifactId>SpringBootDataJPA</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>jar</packaging>

    <name>SpringBootDataJPA</name>
    <description>Demo project for Spring Boot</description>

    <parent>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
        <version>2.0.1.RELEASE</version>
        <relativePath/> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
    </parent>

    <properties>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
        <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
        <java.version>1.8</java.version>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.microsoft.sqlserver</groupId>
            <artifactId>mssql-jdbc</artifactId>
            <scope>runtime</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>mysql</groupId>
            <artifactId>mysql-connector-java</artifactId>
            <scope>runtime</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.postgresql</groupId>
            <artifactId>postgresql</artifactId>
            <scope>runtime</scope>
        </dependency>
        
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.oracle</groupId>
            <artifactId>ojdbc7</artifactId>
            <version>12.1.0.2</version>
        </dependency>
    
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <repositories>
        <!-- Repository for ORACLE ojdbc6. -->
        <repository>
            <id>codelds</id>
            <url>https://code.lds.org/nexus/content/groups/main-repo</url>
        </repository>
    </repositories>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

</project>

SpringBootDataJpaApplication.java

package org.o7planning.sbdatajpa;

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;

@SpringBootApplication
public class SpringBootDataJpaApplication {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(SpringBootDataJpaApplication.class, args);
    }
    
}

2. Configure Spring Boot & JPA

For the Spring Boot to be able to connect to a database, you need to configure in the applications.properties file. You can use any database with which you are familiar. Below are 4 configurations corresponding to 4 most common kinds of databases (MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server, PostGres).

In practice, let's create a empty schema named "mydatabase". The JPA will create tables corresponding to the Entities included in the application.

application.properties (MySQL)

# ===============================
# DATABASE
# ===============================

spring.datasource.driver-class-name=com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
spring.datasource.url=jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/mydatabase
spring.datasource.username=root
spring.datasource.password=12345

# ===============================
# JPA / HIBERNATE
# ===============================

spring.jpa.show-sql=true
spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update
spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.MySQL5Dialect

application.properties (Oracle)

# ===============================
# DATABASE
# ===============================

spring.datasource.driver-class-name=oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:db12c
spring.datasource.username=mydatabase
spring.datasource.password=12345


# ===============================
# JPA / HIBERNATE
# ===============================

spring.jpa.show-sql=true
spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update
spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.Oracle10gDialect

application.properties (SQL Server)

# ===============================
# DATABASE
# ===============================

spring.datasource.driver-class-name=com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver
spring.datasource.url=jdbc:sqlserver://localhost\\SQLEXPRESS:1433;databaseName=mydatabase
spring.datasource.username=sa
spring.datasource.password=12345


# ===============================
# JPA / HIBERNATE
# ===============================

spring.jpa.show-sql=true
spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update
spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.SQLServer2012Dialect

application.properties (PostGres)

# ===============================
# DATABASE CONNECTION
# ===============================

spring.datasource.driver-class-name=org.postgresql.Driver
spring.datasource.url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/mydatabase
spring.datasource.username=postgres
spring.datasource.password=12345

# ===============================
# JPA / HIBERNATE
# ===============================

spring.jpa.show-sql=true
spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update
spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQLDialect


# Fix Postgres JPA Error:
# Method org.postgresql.jdbc.PgConnection.createClob() is not yet implemented.
spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.temp.use_jdbc_metadata_defaults=false

3. Spring Data JPA (Quick Start)

In the JPA, each Entity class will correspond to one table in the database. There are very many tables in the database, therefore, there will be a lot of entity classes. You frequently have to work with Entities, and write DAO classes (Data Access Object) to manipulate data through these Entities. This is actually a boring job.

OK, I will tell you why it is boring. Let's imagine that you have 2 tables in the database such as EMPLOYEE & DEPARTMENT, and you have 2 corresponding Entity classes such as Employee & Department.

To manipulate with Employee, you write aDAO class including similar methods as follows:

Employee findById(Long id)
List<Employee> findAll()
List<Employee> findByName(String likeName)
.....

Certainly, to manipulate with the Department, you also do the same thing and if Entities are too many, it will take you so much time.

Spring Data JPA is a library of Spring. According to the rule of the Spring Data JPA, you just need to define an extended interface- Repository<T,ID> interface, and declare methods to manipulate with the data of this Entity. The Spring Data JPA will create a class that implements that interface for you.

Employee.java

package org.o7planning.sbdatajpa.entity;

import java.util.Date;

import javax.persistence.Column;
import javax.persistence.Entity;
import javax.persistence.Id;
import javax.persistence.Table;
import javax.persistence.Temporal;
import javax.persistence.TemporalType;

@Entity
@Table(name = "EMPLOYEE")
public class Employee {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    @Column(name = "Emp_No", length = 30, nullable = false)
    private String empNo;

    @Column(name = "Full_Name", length = 128, nullable = false)
    private String fullName;

    @Temporal(TemporalType.DATE)
    @Column(name = "Hire_Date", nullable = false)
    private Date hireDate;

    public Long getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public void setId(Long id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public String getEmpNo() {
        return empNo;
    }

    public void setEmpNo(String empNo) {
        this.empNo = empNo;
    }

    public String getFullName() {
        return fullName;
    }

    public void setFullName(String fullName) {
        this.fullName = fullName;
    }

    public Date getHireDate() {
        return hireDate;
    }

    public void setHireDate(Date hireDate) {
        this.hireDate = hireDate;
    }

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return this.getEmpNo() + ", " + this.getFullName();
    }

}

EmployeeRepository Interface extends CrudRepository<Employee, Long> interface.It has methods to manipulate with the Employee entity. The Spring Data JPA will automatically create a class that implements this interface at the time of running the application.

EmployeeRepository.java

package org.o7planning.sbdatajpa.repository;

import java.util.Date;
import java.util.List;

import org.o7planning.sbdatajpa.entity.Employee;
import org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.Query;
import org.springframework.data.repository.CrudRepository;

// This is an Interface.
// No need Annotation here.
public interface EmployeeRepository extends CrudRepository<Employee, Long> { // Long: Type of Employee ID.

    Employee findByEmpNo(String empNo);

    List<Employee> findByFullNameLike(String fullName);

    List<Employee> findByHireDateGreaterThan(Date hireDate);

    @Query("SELECT coalesce(max(e.id), 0) FROM Employee e")
    Long getMaxId();

}

The Spring Data JPA will write code for your abstract methods, therefore, you need to tell the Spring Data JPA what you want through the name of method.

Keyword	Method	JPA Query
GreaterThan	findByAgeGreaterThan(int age)	Select e from Person e where e.age > :age
LessThan	findByAgeLessThan(int age)	Select e from Person e where e.age < :age
Between	findByAgeBetween(int from, int to)	Select e from Person e where e.age between :from and :to
IsNotNull, NotNull	findByFirstnameNotNull()	Select e from Person e where e.firstname is not null
IsNull, Null	findByFirstnameNull()	Select e from Person e where e.firstname is null
Like	findByFirstnameLike(String name)	Select e from Person e where e.firstname like :name
(No keyword)	findByFirstname(String name)	Select e from Person e where e.firstname = :name
Not	findByFirstnameNot(String name)	Select e from Person e where e.firstname <> :name
.....

You can also create interfaces with custom methods. In this case, you have to write the class to implement such interface.

EmployeeRepositoryCustom.java

package org.o7planning.sbdatajpa.repository;

import java.util.Date;

public interface EmployeeRepositoryCustom {
    
    public Long getMaxEmpId();

    public long updateEmployee(Long empId, String fullName, Date hireDate);

}

EmployeeRepositoryCustomImpl.java

package org.o7planning.sbdatajpa.repository;

import java.util.Date;

import javax.persistence.EntityManager;
import javax.persistence.NoResultException;
import javax.persistence.Query;

import org.o7planning.sbdatajpa.entity.Employee;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Repository;

@Repository
public class EmployeeRepositoryCustomImpl implements EmployeeRepositoryCustom {

    @Autowired
    EntityManager entityManager;

    @Override
    public Long getMaxEmpId() {
        try {
            String sql = "SELECT coalesce(max(e.id), 0) FROM Employee e";
            Query query = entityManager.createQuery(sql);
            return (Long) query.getSingleResult();
        } catch (NoResultException e) {
            return 0L;
        }
    }

    @Override
    public long updateEmployee(Long empId, String fullName, Date hireDate) {
        Employee e = entityManager.find(Employee.class, empId);
        if (e == null) {
            return 0;
        }
        e.setFullName(fullName);
        e.setHireDate(hireDate);
        entityManager.flush();
        return 1;
    }

}

4. Controller

MainController.java

package org.o7planning.sbdatajpa.controller;

import java.util.Date;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Random;

import org.o7planning.sbdatajpa.entity.Employee;
import org.o7planning.sbdatajpa.repository.EmployeeRepository;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ResponseBody;

@Controller
public class MainController {

    @Autowired
    private EmployeeRepository employeeRepository;

    private static final String[] NAMES = new String[] { "Tom", "Jerry", "Donald" };

    @ResponseBody
    @RequestMapping("/")
    public String home() {
        String html = "";
        html += "<ul>";
        html += " <li><a href='/testInsert'>Test Insert</a></li>";
        html += " <li><a href='/showAllEmployee'>Show All Employee</a></li>";
        html += " <li><a href='/showFullNameLikeTom'>Show All 'Tom'</a></li>";
        html += " <li><a href='/deleteAllEmployee'>Delete All Employee</a></li>";
        html += "</ul>";
        return html;
    }

    @ResponseBody
    @RequestMapping("/testInsert")
    public String testInsert() {

        Long empIdMax = this.employeeRepository.getMaxId();

        Employee employee = new Employee();

        int random = new Random().nextInt(3);

        long id = empIdMax + 1;
        String fullName = NAMES[random] + " " + id;

        employee.setId(id);
        employee.setEmpNo("E" + id);
        employee.setFullName(fullName);
        employee.setHireDate(new Date());
        this.employeeRepository.save(employee);

        return "Inserted: " + employee;
    }

    @ResponseBody
    @RequestMapping("/showAllEmployee")
    public String showAllEmployee() {

        Iterable<Employee> employees = this.employeeRepository.findAll();

        String html = "";
        for (Employee emp : employees) {
            html += emp + "<br>";
        }

        return html;
    }

    @ResponseBody
    @RequestMapping("/showFullNameLikeTom")
    public String showFullNameLikeTom() {

        List<Employee> employees = this.employeeRepository.findByFullNameLike("Tom");

        String html = "";
        for (Employee emp : employees) {
            html += emp + "<br>";
        }

        return html;
    }

    @ResponseBody
    @RequestMapping("/deleteAllEmployee")
    public String deleteAllEmployee() {

        this.employeeRepository.deleteAll();
        return "Deleted!";
    }

}

5. Run the application

http://localhost:8080/