Mapping

When it comes to mapping, DbOom tries its best to match database types with Java types of POJO properties (i.e. mapped columns). DbOom knows how to convert between various SQL types and common Java types, including enums. SQL types in DbOom are actually implementations of SqlType, that defines how to convert values between SQL and Java types.

Custom Mapping

It is possible to define custom SQL types, i.e. custom type mappings. They can be defined in two ways:

  • globally: custom SqlType implementation is registered in SqlTypeManager. Such SQL types are available all across the application.

  • locally: defined in @DbColumn annotation by setting sqlType element, this custom type applies only on annotated property.

SQL types defined in annotation are always used, even if java type of a property has its own SQL type already registered.

Naming strategies

For successful mapping and DbOom functionality, table and column naming strategies must match how used database works.

This is very important to understand! DbOom has table and column name naming strategies that define how entity/column names are converted to and from the mapped class/property names. Notice that these naming strategies are used in both directions: when converting from table/column name to class/property and vice-versa (i.e. mapping); and when converting from class/property to table/column name (i.e. resolving).

For example, if you have a table JJ_FOO_BAR (prefix and uppercase) and column value_data (lowercase), it may be mapped to class FooBar (camel-case strategy) and property valueData (again, camel-case). The opposite mapping also has to match: class UserData may be resolved to e.g. table EX_USER_DATA_N (uppercase with both prefix and suffix); property valueData may be resolved to column value_date (lowercase).

Here are the possible naming strategies options (defined in DbOomManager):

  • splitCamelCase - if camel case words should be split with separatorChar.

  • separatorChar - simple char used when splitCamelCase is true, by default its _

  • changeCase - when true (default) table or column names will be changed to upper or lowercase.

  • uppercase or lowercase - defines it table or column name should be converted to upper case or lowercase.

  • prefix and suffix - table names may have prefix and/or a suffix.

Why naming is important? Naming strategies must match how target database works. Wrong naming strategy is the most common configuration mistake when using DbOom! {: .attn}

Therefore, when working with DbOom, please use uniform naming convention across the whole database and please match it with how JDBC drivers work! One thing that can help is to enable logging. If you see WARN message like this:

 [WARN] Column SQL type not available: DbEntity: TESTER2.TIME

then it is a sign that mapping or naming conventions might be wrong.

Database auto-detection

Upon start, DbOom connects to the database and detects the vendor. Depending of the used database, DbOom should set correct naming conventions.

Mapping Example

Most of above mappings are straightforward: number fields are mapped to number java types, varchars to strings, etc. There are some useful additional mappings, like mapping String values to integer columns - of course, it is assumed that string contains only digits. In this example you can see two explicit local mapping, when SQL type is defined in @DbColumn annotation.

Custom mappings

Now something interesting: property boo has a custom type Boo, and it is also mapped to database. Of course, this mapping can't be done automatically. We must provide custom SqlType that explains how to convert database value to and from Boo type. Since we want to use this mapping everywhere, we might register it globally:

    SqlTypeManager.get().register(Boo.class, BooSqlType.class);

and BooSqlType may look like:

    public class BooSqlType extends SqlType<Boo> {

        @Override
        public void set(PreparedStatement st, int index, Boo value)
                throws SQLException {
            st.setInt(index, value.value);
        }

        @Override
        public Boo get(ResultSet rs, int index) throws SQLException {
            Boo boo = new Boo();
            boo.value = rs.getInt(index);
            return boo;
        }
    }

In this simple example, Boo is stored as an integer in database; however, you can create a more complex SQL type and conversion.

Enum mappings

Lets see how simple enumeration (FooColor) can be stored to database. Enumerations, by default, are stored as strings (varchars...).

Now, enumeration may be stored as other SQL type, but it is necessary to define custom SqlType for mapping conversion. One such implementation may look like:

    public class FooWeigthSqlType extends SqlType<FooWeight> {

        @Override
        public void set(PreparedStatement st, int index, FooWeight value)
                throws SQLException {
            st.setInt(index, value.getValue());
        }

        @Override
        public FooWeight get(ResultSet rs, int index) throws SQLException {
            return FooWeight.valueOf(rs.getInt(index));
        }
    }

If you have enumerations that are mapped to an integer, you don't even have to write custom SQL types! So above SqlType is NOT needed if you design your enumeration like this:

    public enum Status {
        PENDING(0),
        ACTIVE(1),
        COMPLETED(99);

        final int status;
        final String statusString;

        private Status(int status) {
            this.status = status;
            this.statusString = String.valueOf(status);
        }

        public int value() {
            return status;
        }

        @Override
        public String toString() {
            return statusString;
        }
    }

The key thing here is toString() that returns int value as a String. When you map such enum to a column of some int type, everything will work out of box! This is because of behavior of BeanUtil tool. Note that we have cached int value for better performances, to avoid string conversion on every access.

Other mappings

Other mappings from the example are also straightforward. It is interesting to notice that LocalDateTime is stored as number of milliseconds (compatible with System.currentTimeMillis()).

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