Can I execute a plain SQL statement with the Spring JDBC template? - java

I am studying for the Spring Core certification and I have some doubts about the use of JdbcTemplate. On the study material I found this question:
Can I execute a plain SQL statement with the JDBC template?
What exactly is a plain SQL statement? Is it a standard SQL query? or what?
If it is a standard SQL query (not something like JPQL) I think that the answer is yes because I can do something like it:
public Date getOldest() {
String sql = “select max(dob) from PERSON”;
return jdbcTemplate.queryForObject(sql, Date.class);
}
public long getPersonCount() {
String sql = “select count(*) from PERSON”;
return jdbcTemplate.queryForObject(sql, Long.class);
}
But I am absolutly not sure to have understand the sense of the question and what exactly represent a plain SQL statement.
What do you think about?

From my point of view:
a non-plain sql is a query in jql.
Some stuff is quite complicate to achive with jql (ie. joins over a few tables) in an already existent data scheme.
jpa requests primary keys in tables - which is not always the case in existent databases
the question aims on 'i wanna have a fallback to traditional queries to do my everyday's life'

Related

Is SQL Injection possible in the below query

So I'm reviewing some code and Fortify marked the following query as SQL Injectible
"select"+seqName+".NEXTVAL from DUAL;"
Yes, absolutely. It is basically the archetypical example for SQL Injection vulnerability.
If seqName is something like " * from User_passwords; --" the select will query whatever table is used in seqName.
Of course this might not apply if seqName is from a secure source, like some hardcoded list inside the program for example.
To avoid the SQL injection, you'd need to assert the value of the string before concatenating it into the statement, which you can do using one of the dbms_assert subprograms, e.g. DBMS_ASSERT.SQL_OBJECT_NAME

Java PreparedStatement Cross-DB with casting

I have a PreparedStatement intended to be run both on ORACLE and on MYSQL.
But I cannot figure out how to handle the CAST(NULL AS ...)
On Oracle the following works (but not on Mysql):
SELECT TIMB_INS,
CAST(NULL AS TIMESTAMP) AS TIMB_CLO
FROM TOPS
On Mysql the following works (but not on Oracle):
SELECT TIMB_INS,
CAST(NULL AS DATETIME) AS TIMB_CLO
FROM TOPS
(Please note that the first column selected, "TIMB_INS", returns the correct data type for target database type in both cases, i.e. TIMESTAMP for Oracle and DATETIME for MySql.)
There is a way to put it so that it works for both?
I.E. Can i make it db-indipendent in some way?
Thanks
Marco
Based on the tags I can see you're calling this statement from some java code. There are several ways doing so:
Use the DAO pattern. I.e. for each SQL flavor provide a java file that contains the SQL-s.
Use an ORM like Hibernate or JPA. That will take care of this kind of differences.
As a quick hack, you can edit the SQL manually, like in the snippet below. But then you have to determine somehow if the underlying database is Oracle or MySQL
String SQL_PATTERN = "... CAST(NULL AS %s) AS TIMB_CLO ...";
String SQL = String.format(SQL_PATTERN, isOracle ? "TIMESTAMP" : "DATETIME");

How to keep the sql queries out of the java code

I've written a small code which functions like follows:
Read an input file
Read the first line in it and check if it
has value AAA at a certain position
if it satisfies the
condition call the method insertAAAmethod and load the data to the
oracle table
read the next line if it is record BBB call the insertBBBrmethod which has different insert query
The problem is I have 15 different records in the input file so I have 15 different methods like insertAAAmethod each with different insert query:
public static void insertAAARecord() throws Exception {
String sqlQuery = "insert into my_table(ColumnA,ColumnB,ColumnC,ColumnD,ColumnE,ColumnF,ColumnG)"
+ "values (?,?,?,?,?,?,?)";
try {
pstmt = conn.prepareStatement(sqlQuery);
pstmt.setString(1, "AAA");
pstmt.setDate(2,
StringtoDate("AAA", CurrentLine.substring(150, 158)));
pstmt.setDate(3,
StringtoDate("AAA", CurrentLine.substring(158, 166)));
pstmt.setString(4, CurrentLine.substring(24, 34));
pstmt.setString(5, CurrentLine.substring(37, 45));
pstmt.setString(6, CurrentLine.substring(147, 150));
pstmt.setDate(7, headerDate);
pstmt.executeUpdate();
} catch (SQLException e) {
e.printStackTrace(System.out);
} finally {
pstmt.close();
}
}
Is it possible to keep the sql query out of the java code? (Like in a properties file, for example)
Note: The insert query changes as per the record if it is record 'AAA' it should follow one insert query if the record is different insert query should change..
Let me know how to optimize my code.
Yes, you should create a properties file with all your queries and load them on startup using Properties object, then use the Properties to look them up. You can also you Spring to inject the queries into your configuration objects.
I have always built DB object that integrate your code to DB data and queries are kept there, it is much easier to debug and manage as everything you need is in one place.
Make your life simple, avoid ORMs and tune your SQL queries (or let DBAs do that that's what they do and they are good at it). However if you do not like SQL or don't care how efficient it is, then ORM like Hibernate may be what you need.
Maybe this will take more time than other approaches, but it would help you with your code optimization.
Every query/process have common attributes.
SQL Query
String pattern
Parameters
and each parameter has
Position
Datatype
etc
If you're using spring already, you'll be able to define these as beans in your config.xml.
if not, you can use xml configuration anyway (instead of property files)
Then, you will have to create some class to parse these beans and create the custom queries.
Hope it helps.
Try to use any ORM framework like Hibernate/JPA, Ibatis?
You want to use JPA. I would recommend walking through a simple JPA tutorial such as the following: http://glassfish.java.net/javaee5/persistence/persistence-example.html
That tutorial will demonstrate the basics of how to create or modify objects and persist those changes in a database. Good luck.

Hibernate session.createQuery error while replace method with single quote

I got very typical issue. My dynamically generated query like this...
UPDATE Templates t SET t.TEMPLATE_DATA = replace(t.TEMPLATE_DATA, 'Test\'s Test', 'Kent"s Test'), t.TEMPLATE_DATA = replace(t.TEMPLATE_DATA, 'Test"s Test', 'Kent"s Test'), UPDATE_DATE = NOW() where PRACTICE_ID = 1 AND CATEGORY_ID IN (1)
This works perfect when I explictily fire this query in db. but by using hibernate's session.createQuery(-- my query --) if thwows an error QueryTranslatorException.
Database : Mysql 5.3
Have any one faced this issue?
Thanks in advance.
Try to run this in Hibernate as native SQL query:
session.createSQLQuery(-- query text --);
Because if you use
session.createQuery(-- query text --);
Hibernate will try to execute it as HQL query which differs from usual SQL query.
HQL is object oriented query language. It operates in terms of objects rather then in terms of tables. Here posted a brief description of difference between SQL and HQL. But if you have time better to read appropriate sections of hibernate's documentation about HQL and Native SQL usage.
If you want to execute SQL Query in hibernate, Use : session.createSQLQuery(String query);

Cleanest way to build an SQL string in Java

I want to build an SQL string to do database manipulation (updates, deletes, inserts, selects, that sort of thing) - instead of the awful string concat method using millions of "+"'s and quotes which is unreadable at best - there must be a better way.
I did think of using MessageFormat - but its supposed to be used for user messages, although I think it would do a reasonable job - but I guess there should be something more aligned to SQL type operations in the java sql libraries.
Would Groovy be any good?
First of all consider using query parameters in prepared statements:
PreparedStatement stm = c.prepareStatement("UPDATE user_table SET name=? WHERE id=?");
stm.setString(1, "the name");
stm.setInt(2, 345);
stm.executeUpdate();
The other thing that can be done is to keep all queries in properties file. For example
in a queries.properties file can place the above query:
update_query=UPDATE user_table SET name=? WHERE id=?
Then with the help of a simple utility class:
public class Queries {
private static final String propFileName = "queries.properties";
private static Properties props;
public static Properties getQueries() throws SQLException {
InputStream is =
Queries.class.getResourceAsStream("/" + propFileName);
if (is == null){
throw new SQLException("Unable to load property file: " + propFileName);
}
//singleton
if(props == null){
props = new Properties();
try {
props.load(is);
} catch (IOException e) {
throw new SQLException("Unable to load property file: " + propFileName + "\n" + e.getMessage());
}
}
return props;
}
public static String getQuery(String query) throws SQLException{
return getQueries().getProperty(query);
}
}
you might use your queries as follows:
PreparedStatement stm = c.prepareStatement(Queries.getQuery("update_query"));
This is a rather simple solution, but works well.
For arbitrary SQL, use jOOQ. jOOQ currently supports SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, TRUNCATE, and MERGE. You can create SQL like this:
String sql1 = DSL.using(SQLDialect.MYSQL)
.select(A, B, C)
.from(MY_TABLE)
.where(A.equal(5))
.and(B.greaterThan(8))
.getSQL();
String sql2 = DSL.using(SQLDialect.MYSQL)
.insertInto(MY_TABLE)
.values(A, 1)
.values(B, 2)
.getSQL();
String sql3 = DSL.using(SQLDialect.MYSQL)
.update(MY_TABLE)
.set(A, 1)
.set(B, 2)
.where(C.greaterThan(5))
.getSQL();
Instead of obtaining the SQL string, you could also just execute it, using jOOQ. See
http://www.jooq.org
(Disclaimer: I work for the company behind jOOQ)
One technology you should consider is SQLJ - a way to embed SQL statements directly in Java. As a simple example, you might have the following in a file called TestQueries.sqlj:
public class TestQueries
{
public String getUsername(int id)
{
String username;
#sql
{
select username into :username
from users
where pkey = :id
};
return username;
}
}
There is an additional precompile step which takes your .sqlj files and translates them into pure Java - in short, it looks for the special blocks delimited with
#sql
{
...
}
and turns them into JDBC calls. There are several key benefits to using SQLJ:
completely abstracts away the JDBC layer - programmers only need to think about Java and SQL
the translator can be made to check your queries for syntax etc. against the database at compile time
ability to directly bind Java variables in queries using the ":" prefix
There are implementations of the translator around for most of the major database vendors, so you should be able to find everything you need easily.
I am wondering if you are after something like Squiggle (GitHub). Also something very useful is jDBI. It won't help you with the queries though.
I would have a look at Spring JDBC. I use it whenever I need to execute SQLs programatically. Example:
int countOfActorsNamedJoe
= jdbcTemplate.queryForInt("select count(0) from t_actors where first_name = ?", new Object[]{"Joe"});
It's really great for any kind of sql execution, especially querying; it will help you map resultsets to objects, without adding the complexity of a complete ORM.
I tend to use Spring's Named JDBC Parameters so I can write a standard string like "select * from blah where colX=':someValue'"; I think that's pretty readable.
An alternative would be to supply the string in a separate .sql file and read the contents in using a utility method.
Oh, also worth having a look at Squill: https://squill.dev.java.net/docs/tutorial.html
I second the recommendations for using an ORM like Hibernate. However, there are certainly situations where that doesn't work, so I'll take this opportunity to tout some stuff that i've helped to write: SqlBuilder is a java library for dynamically building sql statements using the "builder" style. it's fairly powerful and fairly flexible.
I have been working on a Java servlet application that needs to construct very dynamic SQL statements for adhoc reporting purposes. The basic function of the app is to feed a bunch of named HTTP request parameters into a pre-coded query, and generate a nicely formatted table of output. I used Spring MVC and the dependency injection framework to store all of my SQL queries in XML files and load them into the reporting application, along with the table formatting information. Eventually, the reporting requirements became more complicated than the capabilities of the existing parameter mapping frameworks and I had to write my own. It was an interesting exercise in development and produced a framework for parameter mapping much more robust than anything else I could find.
The new parameter mappings looked as such:
select app.name as "App",
${optional(" app.owner as "Owner", "):showOwner}
sv.name as "Server", sum(act.trans_ct) as "Trans"
from activity_records act, servers sv, applications app
where act.server_id = sv.id
and act.app_id = app.id
and sv.id = ${integer(0,50):serverId}
and app.id in ${integerList(50):appId}
group by app.name, ${optional(" app.owner, "):showOwner} sv.name
order by app.name, sv.name
The beauty of the resulting framework was that it could process HTTP request parameters directly into the query with proper type checking and limit checking. No extra mappings required for input validation. In the example query above, the parameter named serverId
would be checked to make sure it could cast to an integer and was in the range of 0-50. The parameter appId would be processed as an array of integers, with a length limit of 50. If the field showOwner is present and set to "true", the bits of SQL in the quotes will be added to the generated query for the optional field mappings. field Several more parameter type mappings are available including optional segments of SQL with further parameter mappings. It allows for as complex of a query mapping as the developer can come up with. It even has controls in the report configuration to determine whether a given query will have the final mappings via a PreparedStatement or simply ran as a pre-built query.
For the sample Http request values:
showOwner: true
serverId: 20
appId: 1,2,3,5,7,11,13
It would produce the following SQL:
select app.name as "App",
app.owner as "Owner",
sv.name as "Server", sum(act.trans_ct) as "Trans"
from activity_records act, servers sv, applications app
where act.server_id = sv.id
and act.app_id = app.id
and sv.id = 20
and app.id in (1,2,3,5,7,11,13)
group by app.name, app.owner, sv.name
order by app.name, sv.name
I really think that Spring or Hibernate or one of those frameworks should offer a more robust mapping mechanism that verifies types, allows for complex data types like arrays and other such features. I wrote my engine for only my purposes, it isn't quite read for general release. It only works with Oracle queries at the moment and all of the code belongs to a big corporation. Someday I may take my ideas and build a new open source framework, but I'm hoping one of the existing big players will take up the challenge.
Why do you want to generate all the sql by hand? Have you looked at an ORM like Hibernate Depending on your project it will probably do at least 95% of what you need, do it in a cleaner way then raw SQL, and if you need to get the last bit of performance you can create the SQL queries that need to be hand tuned.
You can also have a look at MyBatis (www.mybatis.org) . It helps you write SQL statements outside your java code and maps the sql results into your java objects among other things.
Google provides a library called the Room Persitence Library which provides a very clean way of writing SQL for Android Apps, basically an abstraction layer over underlying SQLite Database. Bellow is short code snippet from the official website:
#Dao
public interface UserDao {
#Query("SELECT * FROM user")
List<User> getAll();
#Query("SELECT * FROM user WHERE uid IN (:userIds)")
List<User> loadAllByIds(int[] userIds);
#Query("SELECT * FROM user WHERE first_name LIKE :first AND "
+ "last_name LIKE :last LIMIT 1")
User findByName(String first, String last);
#Insert
void insertAll(User... users);
#Delete
void delete(User user);
}
There are more examples and better documentation in the official docs for the library.
There is also one called MentaBean which is a Java ORM. It has nice features and seems to be pretty simple way of writing SQL.
Read an XML file.
You can read it from an XML file. Its easy to maintain and work with.
There are standard STaX, DOM, SAX parsers available out there to make it few lines of code in java.
Do more with attributes
You can have some semantic information with attributes on the tag to help do more with the SQL. This can be the method name or query type or anything that helps you code less.
Maintaince
You can put the xml outside the jar and easily maintain it. Same benefits as a properties file.
Conversion
XML is extensible and easily convertible to other formats.
Use Case
Metamug uses xml to configure REST resource files with sql.
If you put the SQL strings in a properties file and then read that in you can keep the SQL strings in a plain text file.
That doesn't solve the SQL type issues, but at least it makes copying&pasting from TOAD or sqlplus much easier.
How do you get string concatenation, aside from long SQL strings in PreparedStatements (that you could easily provide in a text file and load as a resource anyway) that you break over several lines?
You aren't creating SQL strings directly are you? That's the biggest no-no in programming. Please use PreparedStatements, and supply the data as parameters. It reduces the chance of SQL Injection vastly.

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