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Spring Data Jpa
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Quick Start

Quick Start

Learn essential Spring Data JPA operations and query patterns for effective database work with Spring Boot. This Quick Start teaches core Spring Data JPA concepts.

🎯 What You’ll Learn

By the end of this tutorial, you’ll understand:

  • Repository methods and query derivation
  • Custom queries with @Query
  • Relationships and associations
  • Pagination and sorting

📋 Prerequisites

  • Spring Data JPA installed (see Initial Setup)
  • Basic Java and Spring Boot knowledge

📊 Repository Methods

Built-in Methods 

// JpaRepository provides:
userRepository.findAll();
userRepository.findById(1L);
userRepository.save(user);
userRepository.delete(user);
userRepository.count();

Query Method Derivation 

public interface UserRepository extends JpaRepository<User, Long> {
    List<User> findByName(String name);
    List<User> findByAgeGreaterThan(Integer age);
    List<User> findByNameAndAge(String name, Integer age);
    List<User> findByEmailContaining(String emailPart);
    List<User> findByOrderByNameAsc();
}

🔍 Custom Queries

JPQL Queries 

public interface UserRepository extends JpaRepository<User, Long> {
    @Query("SELECT u FROM User u WHERE u.email LIKE %:domain%")
    List<User> findByEmailDomain(@Param("domain") String domain);

    @Query("SELECT u FROM User u WHERE u.age > :age ORDER BY u.name")
    List<User> findUsersOlderThan(@Param("age") Integer age);
}

Native SQL Queries 

@Query(value = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE age > ?1", nativeQuery = true)
List<User> findUsersOlderThanNative(Integer age);

🔗 Relationships

One-to-Many 

@Entity
public class User {
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue
    private Long id;

    @OneToMany(mappedBy = "user", cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
    private List<Post> posts;
}

@Entity
public class Post {
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue
    private Long id;

    @ManyToOne
    @JoinColumn(name = "user_id")
    private User user;
}

Many-to-Many 

@Entity
public class User {
    @ManyToMany
    @JoinTable(
        name = "user_roles",
        joinColumns = @JoinColumn(name = "user_id"),
        inverseJoinColumns = @JoinColumn(name = "role_id")
    )
    private Set<Role> roles;
}

📄 Pagination and Sorting 

// Pagination
Pageable pageable = PageRequest.of(0, 10);
Page<User> users = userRepository.findAll(pageable);

// Sorting
Sort sort = Sort.by(Sort.Direction.DESC, "name");
List<User> users = userRepository.findAll(sort);

// Both
Pageable pageable = PageRequest.of(0, 10, Sort.by("name").ascending());
Page<User> users = userRepository.findAll(pageable);

✅ Next Steps

You now understand Spring Data JPA essentials! To deepen your knowledge:

  1. Try the examples: Create repositories and execute operations
  2. Explore By Example: Spring Data JPA By Example

🎯 Self-Assessment

After completing this Quick Start, you should be able to:

  • Use built-in repository methods
  • Create query methods with derivation
  • Write custom JPQL and native queries
  • Define entity relationships
  • Implement pagination and sorting
Last updated
Initial Setup