WebSphere eXtreme Scale Programming Guide > Access data in WebSphere eXtreme Scale > Query API > EntityManager Query API



Simple queries with EntityManager


WebSphere eXtreme Scale comes with EntityManager query API.

The EntityManager query API is very similar to SQL other query engines that query over objects. A query is defined, then the result is retrieved from the query using various getResult methods.

The following examples refer to the entities used in the EntityManager tutorial in the Product Overview.


Run a simple query

In this example, customers with the surname of Claus are queried:

em.getTransaction().begin();

  Query q = em.createQuery("select c from Customer c where c.surname='Claus'");

  Iterator iter = q.getResultIterator();
  while(iter.hasNext())
  {
    Customer c = (Customer)iter.next();
    System.out.println("Found a claus with id " + c.id);
  }

  em.getTransaction().commit();


Use parameters

Since to find all customers with a surname of Claus, a parameter to specify the surname is used since you might may want to use this query more than once.


Positional Parameter Example

Query q = em.createQuery("select c from Customer c where c.surname=?1");
  q.setParameter(1, "Claus");

Use parameters is very important when the query is used more than once. The EntityManager needs to parse the query string and build a plan for the query, which is expensive. By using a parameter, the EntityManager caches the plan for the query, thereby reducing the time it takes to run a query.

Both positional and named parameters are used:


Named Parameter Example

Query q = em.createQuery("select c from Customer c where c.surname=:name");
  q.setParameter("name", "Claus");


Use an index to improve performance

If there are millions of customers, then the previous query needs to scan over all rows in the Customer Map. This is not very efficient. But eXtreme Scale provides a mechanism for defining indexes over individual attributes in an entity. The query automatically uses this index when appropriate, which can speed up queries dramatically.

You can specify which attributes to index very simply by using the @Index annotation on the entity attribute:

@Entity
public class Customer
{
  @Id String id;
  String firstName;
  @Index String surname;
  String address;
  String phoneNumber;
}

The EntityManager creates an appropriate ObjectGrid index for the surname attribute in the Customer entity and the query engine automatically uses the index, which greatly decreases the query time.


Use pagination to improve performance

If there are a million customers named Claus, then it is not likely that you would want to display a page displaying a million customers. It is more likely that you would want to display 10 or 25 customers at a time.

The Query setFirstResult and setMaxResults methods helps by only returning a subset of the results.


Pagination Example

Query q = em.createQuery("select c from Customer c where c.surname=:name");
  q.setParameter("name", "Claus");
  // Display the first page
  q.setFirstResult=1;
  q.setMaxResults=25;
  displayPage(q.getResultIterator());

  // Display the second page
  q.setFirstResult=26;
  displayPage(q.getResultIterator());



Parent topic

EntityManager Query API


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