Full Query Language Syntax
This section discusses the query language syntax, as defined in the Java
Persistence API 2.0 specification available at
http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=317. Much of the following material
paraphrases or directly quotes the specification.
The following topics are addressed here:
BNF Symbols
Table 42-1 describes the BNF symbols used in this chapter.
Table 42-1 BNF Symbol Summary
Symbol |
Description |
|
The element to the left of the symbol is defined by the constructs on the right. |
|
The preceding construct may occur zero or more times. |
|
The constructs within the braces are grouped together. |
|
The constructs within the brackets are optional. |
` |
` |
An exclusive |
|
A keyword; although capitalized in the BNF diagram, keywords are not case-sensitive. |
White space |
BNF Grammar of the Java Persistence Query Language
Here is the entire BNF diagram for the query language:
QL_statement ::= select_statement | update_statement | delete_statement
select_statement ::= select_clause from_clause [where_clause] [groupby_clause]
[having_clause] [orderby_clause]
update_statement ::= update_clause [where_clause]
delete_statement ::= delete_clause [where_clause]
from_clause ::=
FROM identification_variable_declaration
{, {identification_variable_declaration |
collection_member_declaration}}*
identification_variable_declaration ::=
range_variable_declaration { join | fetch_join }*
range_variable_declaration ::= abstract_schema_name [AS]
identification_variable
join ::= join_spec join_association_path_expression [AS]
identification_variable
fetch_join ::= join_specFETCH join_association_path_expression
association_path_expression ::=
collection_valued_path_expression |
single_valued_association_path_expression
join_spec::= [LEFT [OUTER] |INNER] JOIN
join_association_path_expression ::=
join_collection_valued_path_expression |
join_single_valued_association_path_expression
join_collection_valued_path_expression::=
identification_variable.collection_valued_association_field
join_single_valued_association_path_expression::=
identification_variable.single_valued_association_field
collection_member_declaration ::=
IN (collection_valued_path_expression) [AS]
identification_variable
single_valued_path_expression ::=
state_field_path_expression |
single_valued_association_path_expression
state_field_path_expression ::=
{identification_variable |
single_valued_association_path_expression}.state_field
single_valued_association_path_expression ::=
identification_variable.{single_valued_association_field.}*
single_valued_association_field
collection_valued_path_expression ::=
identification_variable.{single_valued_association_field.}*
collection_valued_association_field
state_field ::=
{embedded_class_state_field.}*simple_state_field
update_clause ::=UPDATE abstract_schema_name [[AS]
identification_variable] SET update_item {, update_item}*
update_item ::= [identification_variable.]{state_field |
single_valued_association_field} = new_value
new_value ::=
simple_arithmetic_expression |
string_primary |
datetime_primary |
boolean_primary |
enum_primary simple_entity_expression |
NULL
delete_clause ::= DELETE FROM abstract_schema_name [[AS]
identification_variable]
select_clause ::= SELECT [DISTINCT] select_expression {,
select_expression}*
select_expression ::=
single_valued_path_expression |
aggregate_expression |
identification_variable |
OBJECT(identification_variable) |
constructor_expression
constructor_expression ::=
NEW constructor_name(constructor_item {,
constructor_item}*)
constructor_item ::= single_valued_path_expression |
aggregate_expression
aggregate_expression ::=
{AVG |MAX |MIN |SUM} ([DISTINCT]
state_field_path_expression) |
COUNT ([DISTINCT] identification_variable |
state_field_path_expression |
single_valued_association_path_expression)
where_clause ::= WHERE conditional_expression
groupby_clause ::= GROUP BY groupby_item {, groupby_item}*
groupby_item ::= single_valued_path_expression
having_clause ::= HAVING conditional_expression
orderby_clause ::= ORDER BY orderby_item {, orderby_item}*
orderby_item ::= state_field_path_expression [ASC |DESC]
subquery ::= simple_select_clause subquery_from_clause
[where_clause] [groupby_clause] [having_clause]
subquery_from_clause ::=
FROM subselect_identification_variable_declaration
{, subselect_identification_variable_declaration}*
subselect_identification_variable_declaration ::=
identification_variable_declaration |
association_path_expression [AS] identification_variable |
collection_member_declaration
simple_select_clause ::= SELECT [DISTINCT]
simple_select_expression
simple_select_expression::=
single_valued_path_expression |
aggregate_expression |
identification_variable
conditional_expression ::= conditional_term |
conditional_expression OR conditional_term
conditional_term ::= conditional_factor | conditional_term AND
conditional_factor
conditional_factor ::= [NOT] conditional_primary
conditional_primary ::= simple_cond_expression |(
conditional_expression)
simple_cond_expression ::=
comparison_expression |
between_expression |
like_expression |
in_expression |
null_comparison_expression |
empty_collection_comparison_expression |
collection_member_expression |
exists_expression
between_expression ::=
arithmetic_expression [NOT] BETWEEN
arithmetic_expressionAND arithmetic_expression |
string_expression [NOT] BETWEEN string_expression AND
string_expression |
datetime_expression [NOT] BETWEEN
datetime_expression AND datetime_expression
in_expression ::=
state_field_path_expression [NOT] IN (in_item {, in_item}*
| subquery)
in_item ::= literal | input_parameter
like_expression ::=
string_expression [NOT] LIKE pattern_value [ESCAPE
escape_character]
null_comparison_expression ::=
{single_valued_path_expression | input_parameter} IS [NOT]
NULL
empty_collection_comparison_expression ::=
collection_valued_path_expression IS [NOT] EMPTY
collection_member_expression ::= entity_expression
[NOT] MEMBER [OF] collection_valued_path_expression
exists_expression::= [NOT] EXISTS (subquery)
all_or_any_expression ::= {ALL |ANY |SOME} (subquery)
comparison_expression ::=
string_expression comparison_operator {string_expression |
all_or_any_expression} |
boolean_expression {= |<> } {boolean_expression |
all_or_any_expression} |
enum_expression {= |<> } {enum_expression |
all_or_any_expression} |
datetime_expression comparison_operator
{datetime_expression | all_or_any_expression} |
entity_expression {= |<> } {entity_expression |
all_or_any_expression} |
arithmetic_expression comparison_operator
{arithmetic_expression | all_or_any_expression}
comparison_operator ::= = |> |>= |< |<= |<>
arithmetic_expression ::= simple_arithmetic_expression |
(subquery)
simple_arithmetic_expression ::=
arithmetic_term | simple_arithmetic_expression {+ |- }
arithmetic_term
arithmetic_term ::= arithmetic_factor | arithmetic_term {* |/ }
arithmetic_factor
arithmetic_factor ::= [{+ |- }] arithmetic_primary
arithmetic_primary ::=
state_field_path_expression |
numeric_literal |
(simple_arithmetic_expression) |
input_parameter |
functions_returning_numerics |
aggregate_expression
string_expression ::= string_primary | (subquery)
string_primary ::=
state_field_path_expression |
string_literal |
input_parameter |
functions_returning_strings |
aggregate_expression
datetime_expression ::= datetime_primary | (subquery)
datetime_primary ::=
state_field_path_expression |
input_parameter |
functions_returning_datetime |
aggregate_expression
boolean_expression ::= boolean_primary | (subquery)
boolean_primary ::=
state_field_path_expression |
boolean_literal |
input_parameter
enum_expression ::= enum_primary | (subquery)
enum_primary ::=
state_field_path_expression |
enum_literal |
input_parameter
entity_expression ::=
single_valued_association_path_expression |
simple_entity_expression
simple_entity_expression ::=
identification_variable |
input_parameter
functions_returning_numerics::=
LENGTH(string_primary) |
LOCATE(string_primary, string_primary[,
simple_arithmetic_expression]) |
ABS(simple_arithmetic_expression) |
SQRT(simple_arithmetic_expression) |
MOD(simple_arithmetic_expression,
simple_arithmetic_expression) |
SIZE(collection_valued_path_expression)
functions_returning_datetime ::=
CURRENT_DATE |
CURRENT_TIME |
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
functions_returning_strings ::=
CONCAT(string_primary, string_primary) |
SUBSTRING(string_primary,
simple_arithmetic_expression,
simple_arithmetic_expression)|
TRIM([[trim_specification] [trim_character] FROM]
string_primary) |
LOWER(string_primary) |
UPPER(string_primary)
trim_specification ::= LEADING | TRAILING | BOTH
FROM Clause
The FROM clause defines the domain of the query by declaring
identification variables.
The following topics are addressed here:
Identifiers
An identifier is a sequence of one or more characters. The first
character must be a valid first character (letter, $, ) in an
identifier of the Java programming language, hereafter in this chapter
called simply "Java." Each subsequent character in the sequence must be
a valid nonfirst character (letter, digit, $, ) in a Java
identifier. (For details, see the Java SE API documentation of the
isJavaIdentifierStart and isJavaIdentifierPart methods of the
Character class.) The question mark (?) is a reserved character in
the query language and cannot be used in an identifier.
A query language identifier is case-sensitive, with two exceptions:
-
Keywords
-
Identification variables
An identifier cannot be the same as a query language keyword. Here is a list of query language keywords:
ABS
ALL
AND
ANY
AS
ASC
AVG
BETWEEN
BIT_LENGTH
BOTH
BY
CASE
CHAR_LENGTH
CHARACTER_LENGTH
CLASS
COALESCE
CONCAT
COUNT
CURRENT_DATE
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
DELETE
DESC
DISTINCT
ELSE
EMPTY
END
ENTRY
ESCAPE
EXISTS
FALSE
FETCH
FROM
GROUP
HAVING
IN
INDEX
INNER
IS
JOIN
KEY
LEADING
LEFT
LENGTH
LIKE
LOCATE
LOWER
MAX
MEMBER
MIN
MOD
NEW
NOT
NULL
NULLIF
OBJECT
OF
OR
ORDER
OUTER
POSITION
SELECT
SET
SIZE
SOME
SQRT
SUBSTRING
SUM
THEN
TRAILING
TRIM
TRUE
TYPE
UNKNOWN
UPDATE
UPPER
VALUE
WHEN
WHERE
It is not recommended that you use an SQL keyword as an identifier, because the list of keywords may expand to include other reserved SQL words in the future.
Identification Variables
An identification variable is an identifier declared in the FROM
clause. Although they can reference identification variables, the
SELECT and WHERE clauses cannot declare them. All identification
variables must be declared in the FROM clause.
Because it is an identifier, an identification variable has the same naming conventions and restrictions as an identifier, with the exception that an identification variable is case-insensitive. For example, an identification variable cannot be the same as a query language keyword. (See Identifiers for more naming rules.) Also, within a given persistence unit, an identification variable name must not match the name of any entity or abstract schema.
The FROM clause can contain multiple declarations, separated by
commas. A declaration can reference another identification variable that
has been previously declared (to the left). In the following FROM
clause, the variable t references the previously declared variable
p:
FROM Player p, IN (p.teams) AS t
Even if it is not used in the WHERE clause, an identification
variable’s declaration can affect the results of the query. For example,
compare the next two queries. The following query returns all players,
whether or not they belong to a team:
In contrast, because it declares the t identification variable, the
next query fetches all players who belong to a team:
SELECT p
FROM Player p, IN (p.teams) AS t
The following query returns the same results as the preceding query, but
the WHERE clause makes it easier to read:
SELECT p
FROM Player p
WHERE p.teams IS NOT EMPTY
An identification variable always designates a reference to a single value whose type is that of the expression used in the declaration. There are two kinds of declarations: range variable and collection member.
Range Variable Declarations
To declare an identification variable as an abstract schema type, you
specify a range variable declaration. In other words, an identification
variable can range over the abstract schema type of an entity. In the
following example, an identification variable named p represents the
abstract schema named Player:
A range variable declaration can include the optional AS operator:
To obtain objects, a query usually uses path expressions to navigate through the relationships. But for those objects that cannot be obtained by navigation, you can use a range variable declaration to designate a starting point, or query root.
If the query compares multiple values of the same abstract schema type,
the FROM clause must declare multiple identification variables for the
abstract schema:
FROM Player p1, Player p2
Collection Member Declarations
In a one-to-many relationship, the multiple side consists of a collection of entities. An identification variable can represent a member of this collection. To access a collection member, the path expression in the variable’s declaration navigates through the relationships in the abstract schema. (For more information on path expressions, see Path Expressions.) Because a path expression can be based on another path expression, the navigation can traverse several relationships. See Traversing Multiple Relationships.
A collection member declaration must include the IN operator but can
omit the optional AS operator.
In the following example, the entity represented by the abstract schema
named Player has a relationship field called teams. The
identification variable called t represents a single member of the
teams collection:
FROM Player p, IN (p.teams) t
Joins
The JOIN operator is used to traverse over relationships between
entities and is functionally similar to the IN operator.
In the following example, the query joins over the relationship between customers and orders:
SELECT c
FROM Customer c JOIN c.orders o
WHERE c.status = 1 AND o.totalPrice > 10000
The INNER keyword is optional:
SELECT c
FROM Customer c INNER JOIN c.orders o
WHERE c.status = 1 AND o.totalPrice > 10000
These examples are equivalent to the following query, which uses the
IN operator:
SELECT c
FROM Customer c, IN (c.orders) o
WHERE c.status = 1 AND o.totalPrice > 10000
You can also join a single-valued relationship:
SELECT t
FROM Team t JOIN t.league l
WHERE l.sport = :sport
A LEFT JOIN or LEFT OUTER JOIN retrieves a set of entities where
matching values in the join condition may be absent. The OUTER keyword
is optional:
SELECT c.name, o.totalPrice
FROM CustomerOrder o LEFT JOIN o.customer c
A FETCH JOIN is a join operation that returns associated entities as a
side effect of running the query. In the following example, the query
returns a set of departments and, as a side effect, the associated
employees of the departments, even though the employees were not
explicitly retrieved by the SELECT clause:
SELECT d
FROM Department d LEFT JOIN FETCH d.employees
WHERE d.deptno = 1
Path Expressions
Path expressions are important constructs in the syntax of the query
language for several reasons. First, path expressions define navigation
paths through the relationships in the abstract schema. These path
definitions affect both the scope and the results of a query. Second,
path expressions can appear in any of the main clauses of a query
(SELECT, DELETE, HAVING, UPDATE, WHERE, FROM, GROUP BY,
ORDER BY). Finally, although much of the query language is a subset of
SQL, path expressions are extensions not found in SQL.
The following topics are addressed here:
Examples of Path Expressions
Here, the WHERE clause contains a single_valued_path_expression; the
p is an identification variable, and salary is a persistent field of
Player:
SELECT DISTINCT p
FROM Player p
WHERE p.salary BETWEEN :lowerSalary AND :higherSalary
Here, the WHERE clause also contains a
single_valued_path_expression; t is an identification variable,
league is a single-valued relationship field, and sport is a
persistent field of league:
SELECT DISTINCT p
FROM Player p, IN (p.teams) t
WHERE t.league.sport = :sport
Here, the WHERE clause contains a collection_valued_path_expression;
p is an identification variable, and teams designates a
collection-valued relationship field:
SELECT DISTINCT p
FROM Player p
WHERE p.teams IS EMPTY
Expression Types
The type of a path expression is the type of the object represented by the ending element, which can be one of the following:
-
Persistent field
-
Single-valued relationship field
-
Collection-valued relationship field
For example, the type of the expression p.salary is double because
the terminating persistent field (salary) is a double.
In the expression p.teams, the terminating element is a
collection-valued relationship field (teams). This expression’s type
is a collection of the abstract schema type named Team. Because Team
is the abstract schema name for the Team entity, this type maps to the
entity. For more information on the type mapping of abstract schemas,
see Return Types.
Navigation
A path expression enables the query to navigate to related entities. The
terminating elements of an expression determine whether navigation is
allowed. If an expression contains a single-valued relationship field,
the navigation can continue to an object that is related to the field.
However, an expression cannot navigate beyond a persistent field or a
collection-valued relationship field. For example, the expression
p.teams.league.sport is illegal because teams is a collection-valued
relationship field. To reach the sport field, the FROM clause could
define an identification variable named t for the teams field:
FROM Player AS p, IN (p.teams) t
WHERE t.league.sport = 'soccer'
WHERE Clause
The WHERE clause specifies a conditional expression that limits the
values returned by the query. The query returns all corresponding values
in the data store for which the conditional expression is TRUE.
Although usually specified, the WHERE clause is optional. If the
WHERE clause is omitted, the query returns all values. The high-level
syntax for the WHERE clause is as follows:
where_clause ::= WHERE conditional_expression
The following topics are addressed here:
Literals
There are four kinds of literals: string, numeric, Boolean, and enum.
-
String literals: A string literal is enclosed in single quotes:
If a string literal contains a single quote, you indicate the quote by using two single quotes:
Like a Java
String, a string literal in the query language uses the Unicode character encoding. -
Numeric literals: There are two types of numeric literals: exact and approximate.
-
An exact numeric literal is a numeric value without a decimal point, such as 65, –233, and +12. Using the Java integer syntax, exact numeric literals support numbers in the range of a Java
long. -
An approximate numeric literal is a numeric value in scientific notation, such as 57., –85.7, and +2.1. Using the syntax of the Java floating-point literal, approximate numeric literals support numbers in the range of a Java
double.
-
-
Boolean literals: A Boolean literal is either
TRUEorFALSE. These keywords are not case-sensitive. -
Enum literals: The Java Persistence query language supports the use of enum literals using the Java enum literal syntax. The enum class name must be specified as a fully qualified class name:
SELECT e FROM Employee e WHERE e.status = com.example.EmployeeStatus.FULL_TIME
Input Parameters
An input parameter can be either a named parameter or a positional parameter.
-
A named input parameter is designated by a colon (
:) followed by a string; for example,:name. -
A positional input parameter is designated by a question mark (
?) followed by an integer. For example, the first input parameter is?1, the second is?2, and so forth.
The following rules apply to input parameters.
-
They can be used only in a
WHEREorHAVINGclause. -
Positional parameters must be numbered, starting with the integer 1.
-
Named parameters and positional parameters may not be mixed in a single query.
-
Named parameters are case-sensitive.
Conditional Expressions
A WHERE clause consists of a conditional expression, which is
evaluated from left to right within a precedence level. You can change
the order of evaluation by using parentheses.
Operators and Their Precedence
Table 42-2 lists the query language operators in order of decreasing precedence.
Table 42-2 Query Language Order Precedence
Type |
Precedence Order |
Navigation |
|
Arithmetic |
|
Comparison |
|
Logical |
|
BETWEEN Expressions
A BETWEEN expression determines whether an arithmetic expression falls
within a range of values.
These two expressions are equivalent:
p.age BETWEEN 15 AND 19
p.age >= 15 AND p.age <= 19
The following two expressions also are equivalent:
p.age NOT BETWEEN 15 AND 19
p.age < 15 OR p.age > 19
If an arithmetic expression has a NULL value, the value of the
BETWEEN expression is unknown.
IN Expressions
An IN expression determines whether a string belongs to a set of
string literals or whether a number belongs to a set of number values.
The path expression must have a string or numeric value. If the path
expression has a NULL value, the value of the IN expression is
unknown.
In the following example, the expression is TRUE if the country is
UK , but FALSE if the country is Peru:
o.country IN ('UK', 'US', 'France')
You may also use input parameters:
o.country IN ('UK', 'US', 'France', :country)
LIKE Expressions
A LIKE expression determines whether a wildcard pattern matches a
string.
The path expression must have a string or numeric value. If this value
is NULL, the value of the LIKE expression is unknown. The pattern
value is a string literal that can contain wildcard characters. The
underscore (_) wildcard character represents any single character. The
percent (%) wildcard character represents zero or more characters. The
ESCAPE clause specifies an escape character for the wildcard
characters in the pattern value. Table 42-3 shows some
sample LIKE expressions.
Table 42-3 LIKE Expression Examples
Expression |
TRUE |
FALSE |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NULL Comparison Expressions
A NULL comparison expression tests whether a single-valued path
expression or an input parameter has a NULL value. Usually, the NULL
comparison expression is used to test whether a single-valued
relationship has been set:
SELECT t
FROM Team t
WHERE t.league IS NULL
This query selects all teams where the league relationship is not set. Note that the following query is not equivalent:
SELECT t
FROM Team t
WHERE t.league = NULL
The comparison with NULL using the equals operator (=) always
returns an unknown value, even if the relationship is not set. The
second query will always return an empty result.
Empty Collection Comparison Expressions
The IS [NOT] EMPTY comparison expression tests whether a
collection-valued path expression has no elements. In other words, it
tests whether a collection-valued relationship has been set.
If the collection-valued path expression is NULL, the empty collection
comparison expression has a NULL value.
Here is an example that finds all orders that do not have any line items:
SELECT o
FROM CustomerOrder o
WHERE o.lineItems IS EMPTY
Collection Member Expressions
The [NOT] MEMBER [OF] collection member expression determines
whether a value is a member of a collection. The value and the
collection members must have the same type.
If either the collection-valued or single-valued path expression is
unknown, the collection member expression is unknown. If the
collection-valued path expression designates an empty collection, the
collection member expression is FALSE.
The OF keyword is optional.
The following example tests whether a line item is part of an order:
SELECT o
FROM CustomerOrder o
WHERE :lineItem MEMBER OF o.lineItems
Subqueries
Subqueries may be used in the WHERE or HAVING clause of a query.
Subqueries must be surrounded by parentheses.
The following example finds all customers who have placed more than ten orders:
SELECT c
FROM Customer c
WHERE (SELECT COUNT(o) FROM c.orders o)> 10
Subqueries may contain EXISTS, ALL, and ANY expressions.
-
EXISTS expressions: The
[NOT] EXISTSexpression is used with a subquery and is true only if the result of the subquery consists of one or more values; otherwise, it is false.The following example finds all employees whose spouses are also employees:
SELECT DISTINCT emp FROM Employee emp WHERE EXISTS ( SELECT spouseEmp FROM Employee spouseEmp WHERE spouseEmp = emp.spouse) -
ALL and ANY expressions: The
ALLexpression is used with a subquery and is true if all the values returned by the subquery are true or if the subquery is empty.The
ANYexpression is used with a subquery and is true if some of the values returned by the subquery are true. AnANYexpression is false if the subquery result is empty or if all the values returned are false. TheSOMEkeyword is synonymous withANY.The
ALLandANYexpressions are used with the=,<,⇐,>,>=, and<>comparison operators.The following example finds all employees whose salaries are higher than the salaries of the managers in the employee’s department:
SELECT emp FROM Employee emp WHERE emp.salary > ALL ( SELECT m.salary FROM Manager m WHERE m.department = emp.department)
Functional Expressions
The query language includes several string, arithmetic, and date/time
functions that may be used in the SELECT, WHERE, or HAVING clause
of a query. The functions are listed in Table 42-4,
Table 42-5, and Table 42-6.
In Table 42-4, the start and length arguments are of
type int and designate positions in the String argument. The first
position in a string is designated by 1.
Table 42-4 String Expressions
Function Syntax |
Return Type |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
`TRIM([[LEADING |
TRAILING |
BOTH] char) FROM] (String)` |
|
|
|
|
|
The CONCAT function concatenates two strings into one string.
The LENGTH function returns the length of a string in characters as an
integer.
The LOCATE function returns the position of a given string within a
string. This function returns the first position at which the string was
found as an integer. The first argument is the string to be located. The
second argument is the string to be searched. The optional third
argument is an integer that represents the starting string position. By
default, LOCATE starts at the beginning of the string. The starting
position of a string is 1. If the string cannot be located, LOCATE
returns 0.
The SUBSTRING function returns a string that is a substring of the
first argument based on the starting position and length.
The TRIM function trims the specified character from the beginning
and/or end of a string. If no character is specified, TRIM removes
spaces or blanks from the string. If the optional LEADING
specification is used, TRIM removes only the leading characters from
the string. If the optional TRAILING specification is used, TRIM
removes only the trailing characters from the string. The default is
BOTH, which removes the leading and trailing characters from the
string.
The LOWER and UPPER functions convert a string to lowercase or
uppercase, respectively.
In Table 42-5, the number argument can be an int, a
float, or a double.
Table 42-5 Arithmetic Expressions
Function Syntax |
Return Type |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The ABS function takes a numeric expression and returns a number of
the same type as the argument.
The MOD function returns the remainder of the first argument divided
by the second.
The SQRT function returns the square root of a number.
The SIZE function returns an integer of the number of elements in the
given collection.
In Table 42-6, the date/time functions return the date, time, or timestamp on the database server.
Table 42-6 Date/Time Expressions
Function Syntax |
Return Type |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Case Expressions
Case expressions change based on a condition, similar to the case
keyword of the Java programming language. The CASE keyword indicates
the start of a case expression, and the expression is terminated by the
END keyword. The WHEN and THEN keywords define individual
conditions, and the ELSE keyword defines the default condition should
none of the other conditions be satisfied.
The following query selects the name of a person and a conditional
string, depending on the subtype of the Person entity. If the subtype
is Student, the string kid is returned. If the subtype is Guardian
or Staff, the string adult is returned. If the entity is some other
subtype of Person, the string unknown is returned:
SELECT p.name
CASE TYPE(p)
WHEN Student THEN 'kid'
WHEN Guardian THEN 'adult'
WHEN Staff THEN 'adult'
ELSE 'unknown'
END
FROM Person p
The following query sets a discount for various types of customers. Gold-level customers get a 20% discount, silver-level customers get a 15% discount, bronze-level customers get a 10% discount, and everyone else gets a 5% discount:
UPDATE Customer c
SET c.discount =
CASE c.level
WHEN 'Gold' THEN 20
WHEN 'SILVER' THEN 15
WHEN 'Bronze' THEN 10
ELSE 5
END
NULL Values
If the target of a reference is not in the persistent store, the target
is NULL. For conditional expressions containing NULL, the query
language uses the semantics defined by SQL92. Briefly, these semantics
are as follows.
-
If a comparison or arithmetic operation has an unknown value, it yields a
NULLvalue. -
Two
NULLvalues are not equal. Comparing twoNULLvalues yields an unknown value. -
The
IS NULLtest converts aNULLpersistent field or a single-valued relationship field toTRUE. TheIS NOT NULLtest converts them toFALSE. -
Boolean operators and conditional tests use the three-valued logic defined by Table 42-7 and Table 42-8. (In these tables, T stands for
TRUE, F forFALSE, and U for unknown.)
Table 42-7 AND Operator Logic
AND |
T |
F |
U |
T |
T |
F |
U |
F |
F |
F |
F |
U |
U |
F |
U |
Table 42-8 OR Operator Logic
OR |
T |
F |
U |
T |
T |
T |
T |
F |
T |
F |
U |
U |
T |
U |
U |
Equality Semantics
In the query language, only values of the same type can be compared. However, this rule has one exception: Exact and approximate numeric values can be compared. In such a comparison, the required type conversion adheres to the rules of Java numeric promotion.
The query language treats compared values as if they were Java types and
not as if they represented types in the underlying data store. For
example, a persistent field that could be either an integer or a NULL
must be designated as an Integer object and not as an int primitive.
This designation is required because a Java object can be NULL, but a
primitive cannot.
Two strings are equal only if they contain the same sequence of
characters. Trailing blanks are significant; for example, the strings
'abc' and 'abc ' are not equal.
Two entities of the same abstract schema type are equal only if their primary keys have the same value. Table 42-9 shows the operator logic of a negation, and Table 42-10 shows the truth values of conditional tests.
Table 42-9 NOT Operator Logic
NOT Value |
Value |
T |
F |
F |
T |
U |
U |
Table 42-10 Conditional Test
Conditional Test |
T |
F |
U |
Expression |
T |
F |
F |
Expression |
F |
T |
F |
Expression is unknown |
F |
F |
T |
SELECT Clause
The SELECT clause defines the types of the objects or values returned
by the query.
The following topics are addressed here:
Return Types
The return type of the SELECT clause is defined by the result types of
the select expressions contained within it. If multiple expressions are
used, the result of the query is an Object[], and the elements in the
array correspond to the order of the expressions in the SELECT clause
and in type to the result types of each expression.
A SELECT clause cannot specify a collection-valued expression. For
example, the SELECT clause p.teams is invalid because teams is a
collection. However, the clause in the following query is valid because
t is a single element of the teams collection:
SELECT t
FROM Player p, IN (p.teams) t
The following query is an example of a query with multiple expressions
in the SELECT clause:
SELECT c.name, c.country.name
FROM customer c
WHERE c.lastname = 'Coss' AND c.firstname = 'Roxane'
This query returns a list of Object[] elements; the first array
element is a string denoting the customer name, and the second array
element is a string denoting the name of the customer’s country.
The result of a query may be the result of an aggregate function, listed in Table 42-11.
Table 42-11 Aggregate Functions in Select Statements
Name |
Return Type |
Description |
|
|
Returns the mean average of the fields |
|
|
Returns the total number of results |
|
The type of the field |
Returns the highest value in the result set |
|
The type of the field |
Returns the lowest value in the result set |
|
|
Returns the sum of all the values in the result set |
For select method queries with an aggregate function (AVG, COUNT,
MAX, MIN, or SUM) in the SELECT clause, the following rules
apply.
-
The
AVG,MAX,MIN, andSUMfunctions returnnullif there are no values to which the function can be applied. -
The
COUNTfunction returns 0 if there are no values to which the function can be applied.
The following example returns the average order quantity:
SELECT AVG(o.quantity)
FROM CustomerOrder o
The following example returns the total cost of the items ordered by Roxane Coss:
SELECT SUM(l.price)
FROM CustomerOrder o JOIN o.lineItems l JOIN o.customer c
WHERE c.lastname = 'Coss' AND c.firstname = 'Roxane'
The following example returns the total number of orders:
SELECT COUNT(o)
FROM CustomerOrder o
The following example returns the total number of items that have prices in Hal Incandenza’s order:
SELECT COUNT(l.price)
FROM CustomerOrder o JOIN o.lineItems l JOIN o.customer c
WHERE c.lastname = 'Incandenza' AND c.firstname = 'Hal'
The DISTINCT Keyword
The DISTINCT keyword eliminates duplicate return values. If a query
returns a java.util.Collection, which allows duplicates, you must
specify the DISTINCT keyword to eliminate duplicates.
Constructor Expressions
Constructor expressions allow you to return Java instances that store a
query result element instead of an Object[].
The following query creates a CustomerDetail instance per Customer
matching the WHERE clause. A CustomerDetail stores the customer name
and customer’s country name. So the query returns a List of
CustomerDetail instances:
SELECT NEW com.example.CustomerDetail(c.name, c.country.name)
FROM customer c
WHERE c.lastname = 'Coss' AND c.firstname = 'Roxane'
ORDER BY Clause
As its name suggests, the ORDER BY clause orders the values or objects
returned by the query.
If the ORDER BY clause contains multiple elements, the left-to-right
sequence of the elements determines the high-to-low precedence.
The ASC keyword specifies ascending order, the default, and the DESC
keyword indicates descending order.
When using the ORDER BY clause, the SELECT clause must return an
orderable set of objects or values. You cannot order the values or
objects for values or objects not returned by the SELECT clause. For
example, the following query is valid because the ORDER BY clause uses
the objects returned by the SELECT clause:
SELECT o
FROM Customer c JOIN c.orders o JOIN c.address a
WHERE a.state = 'CA'
ORDER BY o.quantity, o.totalcost
The following example is not valid, because the ORDER BY clause uses a
value not returned by the SELECT clause:
SELECT p.product_name
FROM CustomerOrder o, IN(o.lineItems) l JOIN o.customer c
WHERE c.lastname = 'Faehmel' AND c.firstname = 'Robert'
ORDER BY o.quantity
GROUP BY and HAVING Clauses
The GROUP BY clause allows you to group values according to a set of
properties.
The following query groups the customers by their country and returns the number of customers per country:
SELECT c.country, COUNT(c)
FROM Customer c GROUP BY c.country
The HAVING clause is used with the GROUP BY clause to further
restrict the returned result of a query.
The following query groups orders by the status of their customer and
returns the customer status plus the average totalPrice for all orders
where the corresponding customers have the same status. In addition, it
considers only customers with status 1, 2, or 3, so orders of
other customers are not taken into account:
SELECT c.status, AVG(o.totalPrice)
FROM CustomerOrder o JOIN o.customer c
GROUP BY c.status HAVING c.status IN (1, 2, 3)