20 Exposing JPA Entities Through RESTful Data Services

This chapter describes how to expose JPA persistence units using RESTful Data services.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Use Case

Expose persistent data model and application logic over REST for the development of Thin Server Architecture (TSA) clients including HTML5/JavaScript and mobile technologies.

Solution

Use RESTful Data Services to expose entities using a RESTful service, without writing JAX-RS code.

Components

  • A Java EE application server with the following:

    • TopLink 12c (12.1.2.0.0) or later.

      Note:

      TopLink's core functionality is provided by EclipseLink, the open source persistence framework from the Eclipse Foundation. EclipseLink implements Java Persistence API (JPA), Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB), and other standards-based persistence technologies, plus extensions to those standards. TopLink includes all of EclipseLink, plus additional functionality from Oracle.
    • Support for Java API for RESTful Web Services (JAX-RS) 1.0, for example the JAX-RS reference implementation, Jersey (see http://jersey.java.net/).

  • A compliant Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) database, such as Oracle Database, Oracle Express, or MySQL

20.1 Introduction to the Solution

REpresentational State Transfer (REST) defines a set of architectural principles for distributed systems, in which Web Services are viewed as resources. Those resources are identified by URIs and can be addressed and transferred using the HTTP protocol. REST can be used with a number of technologies, including JPA. HTTP methods are used to access and perform operations on resources.

The Java API for RESTful Web Services (JAX-RS) is an API designed to make it easy to develop Java applications that use the REST architecture. With JAX-RS, you use annotations to define resources and the actions that can be performed on those resources.

While it is possible to use JAX-RS directly to interact with JPA persistence units in a RESTful application, RESTful Data Services provide an API that makes it easier to implement REST for JPA persistence,. You can use this API to interact with JPA persistence units without explicitly writing JAX-RS code, thus providing a simple way to expose persistence units through REST.

Note:

For an example that uses JAX-RS directly to implement JPA persistence in a RESTful application, see "RESTful Service Example" at http://wiki.eclipse.org/EclipseLink/Examples/REST/GettingStarted. For information about simplifying that process by using RESTful Data Services, continue reading this chapter.

RESTful Data Services are made available via a web fragment, which extends the capabilities of a web application. The REST functionality is made available by including the RESTful Data Services JAR file in the WEB-INF/lib folder of a web application.

The RESTful Data Services runtime provides access to all persistence units packaged in the application in which it is running, as well as any dynamic persistence units that are provisioned within it.

20.2 Implementing the Solution

This section contains the following tasks for exposing JPA entities using RESTful Data Services:

20.2.1 Step 1: Prerequisites

To implement and use RESTful Data Services, you need:

  • Oracle WebLogic Server 12c (12.1.3) or later, which includes:

    • EclipseLink 2.4 or later, configured as the persistence provider.

    • Jersey, the reference implementation of the Java API for RESTful Web Services (JAX-RS) 1.0 specification.

  • The toplink-dataservices-web.jar file. This file is included in the TopLink distribution under TOPLINK_HOME\oracle_common\modules\oracle.toplink_release_num, where TOPLINK_HOME is the location where you installed TopLink, and release_num is the TopLink release number, such as oracle.toplink_12.1.2.

  • Any compliant Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) database, including Oracle Database, Oracle Database Express Edition (Oracle Database XE), or MySQL. These instructions are based on Oracle Database XE 11g Release 2.

    For the certification matrix, see http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/ias/index-099524.html

20.2.2 Step 2: Create and Configure the Application

RESTful Data Services are designed to function with standard JPA applications, with little extra work required beyond enabling the service, as described below:

  1. Develop an application using one or more standard JPA persistence units, package it in a Web ARchive (WAR) file, and deploy it normally.

    Note:

    The fragment must be placed inside a WAR, because it offers Web services. That WAR may optionally be packaged inside an Enterprise Archive (EAR) file.

    Note:

    Weaving is required for several RESTful Data Services features to work: providing relationships as links, editing relationships, and dealing with lazy many-to-one relationships. Therefore, for those features, you must either deploy to a Java EE compliant server or statically weave your classes.
  2. Include the RESTful Data Services servlet in the WAR containing the application. (For instructions on downloading, see.Step 1: Prerequisites)

    Note:

    The RESTful Data Services JAR file includes a web-fragment.xml file that identifies the servlet and defines the root URI for the RESTful service.

    Add the toplink-dataservices-web.jar file to the WAR containing the application, under WEB-INF/lib.

20.2.3 Step 3: Understand RESTful Data Services URI Basics

URIs used for making REST calls for RESTful Data Services follow these standard patterns:

  • The base URI for an application is: http://server:port/application-name/persistence/{version}

    Note:

    The version of RESTful Data Services in TopLink 12.1.2 is v1.0, and that version number should be used to make REST requests to RESTful Data Services. For example, the base URI for RESTful Data Services in an application using the current version of RESTful Data Services would be something like http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0.
  • For base operations on the persistence unit, add the persistence unit name:

    /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}

  • For specific types of operations, add the type of operation, for example:

    • Entity operations: /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/entity

    • Query operations: /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/query

    • Single result query operations: /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/singleResultQuery

    • Persistence unit level metadata operations: /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/metadata

    • Base operations: /persistence/{version}

For complete documentation on how to construct these URIs, see Section 20.4, "RESTful Data Services API Reference."

20.2.4 Step 4: Represent Entities Using JPA, JAXB, or JSON

Entities in RESTful Data Services are represented in two ways:

  • As JPA Entities - The mappings of the JPA entities must be represented in the typical JPA fashion, using either annotations or XML files. These mappings are used to interact with the data source.

  • As JAXB/JSON - No specific mapping information is required when using JAXB/JSON. By default, RESTful Data Services use the JAXB defaults (defined in the JAXB specification) to map to JAXB/JSON. You can optionally provide JAXB annotations on the classes to alter the way the objects are mapped. Additionally, the persistence unit property eclipselink.jpa-rs.oxm can be specified in a persistence unit's persistence.xml to specify XML-defined JAXB mappings.

20.2.4.1 Relationships

In general, JAXB default mappings are sufficient to allow information exchange using JSON/JAXB. There are, however, some special cases when dealing with relationships.

Bidirectional Relationships and Cycles

Bidirectional relationships are typical in JPA and are easy to represent in a database using foreign keys. They are more difficult to represent in an XML or JSON document using standard JAXB. However, the EclipseLink JAXB implementation provides a way to define an inverse relationship. Inverse relationships are not directly written to XML or JSON but are populated when the XML or JSON is unmarshalled. The way this is handled is as follows:

JPA bidirectional relationships are defined to have an owning side and a non-owning side. The entity that has the table with a foreign key in the database is the owning entity. The other table--the one pointed to--is the inverse (non-owning) entity. JPA mapping provides a mapped-by attribute that defines which is which. The mappedBy attribute must be on the inverse side. RESTful Data Services default the owning side to be an inverse relationship. As a result, when an object with an owned relationship is read or written, that relationship is ignored.

Consider the following pseudo-code:

  @Entity
  ClassA{
 
  @Id
  int id
 
  @OneToOne
  myB
 
}
 
 
  @Entity
  ClassB{
 
  @Id
  int id
 
  @OneToOne(mappedby="myB")
  myA
 
}

If the objects are identified as follows...

  • A1 with id=1 and myB = B1

  • B1 with id=11 and myA = A1

...the following JSON corresponds to those objects:

  A {
    id:1
  }
 
  B {
    id:11
    myA: {
      id: 1
    }
  }

Passing By Value vs. Passing By Reference

RESTful Data Services allow relationship objects to be passed either by value or by reference in the REST request. JSON attributes hold resource references (see "Pass By Value"), while _relationships have "navigation" links (see "Pass By Reference").

Pass By Value

To pass an object by value, create typical JSON or XML that represents the object. The following JSON passes myA by value:

  B {
    id:11
    myA {
      id: 1
    }
  }

Pass By Reference

To pass an object by reference, use a _link. The link represents the RESTful Data Services call necessary to get that object. The following JSON passes myA by reference:

  B {
    id:11
    myA {
      _link:{
          href: "http://localhost:8080/app/persistence/v1.0/pu/entity/A/1"
          method: "GET"
          rel: "self"
      }
    }
  }

A link consists of href, method and rel attributes.

  • The href (Hypertext REFerence) is the URI of the entity linked to. The href uniquely identifies the linked entity or attribute.

  • The method identifies the operation the href is to be used for.

  • The rel represents the relationship between the containing entity and the entity linked to.

Lists can mix and match items represented by reference and by value. The corresponding entity must exist if an item is represented by reference in a request; otherwise RESTful Data Services returns an error.

The following example shows JSON that can be sent to RESTful Data Services as a request, in a regular-expression-like syntax:

{
    "numericAttribute": 1
    "stringAttribute": "auction1"
    "dateAttribute": 12-09-16
    "singleRelatedItem": RELATED_ITEM?
      "listRelatedItem":
      {
          RELATED_ITEM*
      }
  }
 
 
  RELATED_ITEM =
 
      {
        "numericAttribute": 11
        "stringAttribute": "myName"
      }
 
  OR
 
      "_link" {
        "rel"="self", 
        "href" = "LINK_HREF", 
        "method"="GET"
     }

The following JSON represents an entity called Auction with several directly mapped fields and a collection of an entity called Bid.

  {
    "description": "Auction 1",
    "endPrice": 0,
    "id": 2,
    "image": "auction1.jpg",
    "name": "A1",
    "sold": false,
    "startPrice": 100,
    "bids": [
      {
        "_link": {
       "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/auction/entity/Bid/5",
        "method": "GET",
        "rel": "self"
      }
    },
    {
      "_link": {
        "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/auction/entity/Bid/6",
        "method": "GET",
        "rel": "self"
      }
    }
  ]
  }

XML representation mimics the JSON representation. The following is sample XML for an entity called Auction, with several directly mapped attributes and a list of an entity called Bid.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Auction>
    <description>Auction 1</description>
    <endPrice>0.0</endPrice>
    <id>2</id>
    <image>auction1.jpg</image>
    <name>A1</name>
    <sold>false</sold>
    <startPrice>100.0</startPrice>
    <bids>
      <_link href="http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/auction/entity/Bid/5" method="GET" rel="self" />
    </bids>
    <bids>
      <_link href="http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/auction/entity/Bid/6" method="GET" rel="self" />
    </bids>
  </Auction> 

20.2.5 Step 5: Issue Client Calls for Operations on the Persistence Unit

Clients use HTTP calls to perform operations on persistence units in a deployed application. The requirements and options for constructing the calls are described in Section 20.4, "RESTful Data Services API Reference."

20.2.5.1 Specify Media Format in the Header

This REST interface can handle both XML and JSON representations of data. The caller is responsible for using HTTP header values to indicate the format of the content:

  • Content-Type = application/json indicates that the content being sent is JSON

  • Content-Type = application/xml indicates that the content being sent is XML

  • Accept = application/json indicates that the expected format of the result is JSON

  • Accept = application/xml indicates that the expected format of the result is XML

If no header value is specified, JSON is used by default. If Content-type is specified and Accept is not specified, the returned format matches the Content-type passed in.

Note:

In many REST utilities, the Accept value is defaulted to application/xml. In those cases, you must configure this value explicitly if you want JSON.

20.2.5.2 About Logging

Messages related to RESTful Data Services operations are logged to a logger called org.eclipse.persistence.jpars. Most messages are logged at the FINE level. Exception stacks are logged at FINER.

Messages related to operations within EntityManagers, EntityManagerFactorys and JAXBContexts are logged in the same manner as other EclipseLink logging.

20.2.6 Step 6: Implement Security

Secure RESTful Data Services through typical REST security mechanisms.

20.2.7 Step 7: Understand the Structure of RESTful Data Services Responses

The RESTful Data Services response messages, either in XML or in JSON, contain following categories:

  • Basic data types, such as int, double, String, Integer, Double, Boolean, etc.

  • Relationships (links and relationships)

The next sections explain the semantic and syntactic details of each category of data.

There is also a minor generic difference between the XML and JSON responses (other than format). The JSON responses do not include the root name of an entity, while XML responses do. See the employee root/grouping name in the XML response below. The root name is derived from the name of the entity it represents.

JSON

{
   "firstName":"John",
   "lastName": "Smith",
   …
}

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<employee>
   <firstName>John</firstName>
   <lastName>Smith</lastName>
   …
</employee>

20.2.7.1 Basic Data Types

In the RESTful Data Services responses, basic data types and primitives are presented as simple JSON or XML fields. For example:

JSON

{
   "firstName":"John",
   "lastName": "Smith",
   …
}

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<employee>
   <firstName>John</firstName>
   <lastName>Smith</lastName>
   …
</employee>

20.2.7.2 Links and Relationships

RESTful Data Services operations return all relationships by reference, with the exception of JPA embeddables and element collections.

The relationships are links pointing to the (JPA) relationships of an entity, such as one-to-one and one-to-many. For example, assume that an employee has multiple phone numbers (one-to-many). When the employee is read, the response will contain a relationship link pointing to the relationship between the employee and the phone entities, plus a list of the links, with each link pointing to a (unique) phone number that the employee owns. For example:

{
   "firstName": "Jacob",
   "gender": "Male",
   "id": 743627,
   "lastName": "Smith",
   "version": 1,
   "_relationships": [
      {
         "_link": {
            "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/hr/entity/Employee/743627/phoneNumbers",
            "rel": "phoneNumbers"
         }
      }
   ],
 
   "phoneNumbers": [
      {
         "_link": {
            "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/hr/entity/PhoneNumber/743627+cell",
            "method": "GET",
            "rel": "self"
         }
      },
      {
         "_link": {
            "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/hr/entity/PhoneNumber/743627+work",
            "method": "GET",
            "rel": "self"
         }
      }
   ]
}

Embedded objects and element collections are strictly privately-owned (dependent) objects.They have no identity, and there is no cascade option on an ElementCollection. The target objects are always persisted, merged, and removed with their parent. Therefore, RESTful Data Services embeds these objects directly in responses, rather than providing links to them. For example, assume the Employee object has EmploymentPeriod defined as Embedded. When the Employee is read, the response will contain EmploymentPeriod as an embedded object, not a link to it. Relationships are currently not supported for embedded attributes. See the example below:

{
   "firstName": "John",
   "lastName": "Smith",
 
   "employmentPeriod": {
      "startDate": "2010-04-23T14:12:03.905-04:00",
      "endDate": "2013-01-23T12:00:02.301-04:00",
      "_relationships": []
   },
   ...
}

Similarly, element collections are also directly contained in RESTful Data Services responses as collections, not as links. For example, assume the Employee object has a "certifications" attribute defined as a collection of Certification objects. When the Employee is read, the response will contain list of Certification objects, not links:

{
   "firstName": "John",
   "lastName": "Smith",
   "certifications": [
      {
         "issueDate": "2013-04-23T15:02:23.071-04:00",
         "name": "Java"
      },
      {
         "issueDate": "2010-05-23T11:02:23.033-04:00",
         "name": "Weblogic"
      }
   ],
   ...
}

20.3 Additional Resources

See the following resources for more information about the technologies and tools used to implement the solutions in this chapter:

20.4 RESTful Data Services API Reference

The following types of RESTful operations can be used with JPA via HTTP when using RESTful Data Services:

Entity Operations

Entity operations are those performed against a specific entity type within the persistence unit.

The base URI for entity operations is as follows:

/persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/entity/{type}/*

The {type} value refers to the type name (descriptor alias).

Supported entity operations are:

FIND

HTTP Request Syntax

GET /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/entity/{type}/{id}?{hints}

where:

  • {id} is a string

  • hints are specified using HTTP query parameters, with the key being the name of the EclipseLink query hint

Example

GET http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/ExamplePU/entity/Foo/1

Produces

JSON or XML

Response

  • OK, with a payload containing the entity

  • NOT_FOUND if the entity does not exist

Usage

Composite Keys

Composite keys are supported. The + character is reserved and therefore cannot be used in fields that represent keys. Composite keys are separated using the + character and should be specified in an order corresponding to the Java default sorting of the attribute names.

For example, consider an entity Phone, with attributes extB=123 and extA=321. The URL to find the entity is:

http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/ExamplePU/entity/Phone/321+123

The 321 comes before the 123 because extA comes before extB when sorted in Java.

Result Caching

Default EclipseLink and HTTP caching is enabled and configured through standard means.

Refresh

The EntityManager.refresh operation can be invoked using the find with the query hint for Refresh.

Attributes

Navigating into the attributes of an entity (for example, to get the Address entity associated with an employee in a single REST request) is supported to one level, for example:

/persistence/v1.0/{unit-name}/entity/{type}/{id}/{relationship} will work

while

/persistence/v1.0/{unit-name}/entity/{type}/{id}/{relationship}/{index}/{relationship2} will not

PERSIST

HTTP Request Syntax

PUT /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/entity/{type}

Example

PUT http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/ExamplePU/entity/Foo

Consumes

JSON or XML

Payload

Entity

Produces

JSON or XML

Response

Payload containing the entity returned by the persist operation

Usage

PUT is required to be idempotent. As a result, it will fail if called with an object that expects the server to provide an ID field. Typically this will occur if the metadata specifies a generated key and the field that contains that key is unpopulated.

MERGE

HTTP Request Syntax

POST /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/entity/{type}

Example

POST http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/ExamplePU/entity/Foo

Consumes

JSON or XML

Payload

Entity

Produces

JSON or XML

Response

Payload containing the entity returned by the merge operation.

Merge takes an object graph and makes it part of the persistence context through comparison. It compares the object and all related objects to the ones that already exist and issues INSERTs, UPDATEs, and DELETEs to put the object in the persistence context.

DELETE

HTTP Request Syntax

DELETE /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/entity/{type}{id}

where {id} is defined using a string

Example

DELETE http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/ExamplePU/entity/Foo/1

Response

OK

Entity Operations on Relationships

The base URI for relationship operations is as follows:

/persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/entity/{entity}/{id}/{relationship}

Supported relationship operations are:

READ

Use this operation to get the values of a relationship.

HTTP Request Syntax

GET /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/entity/{type}/{id}/{relationship}

where:

  • {id} is a string.

  • {relationship} is the JPA name of the relationship.

Example

GET http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/ExamplePU/entity/Foo/1/myRelationship

Produces

JSON or XML

Response

  • OK, Payload containing an entity or a list of entities.

  • NOT_FOUND if the entity does not exist

ADD

Use this operation to add to a list or replace the value of a many-to-one relationship.

HTTP Request Syntax

POST /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/entity/{type}/{id}/{relationship}?{partner}

Note:

partner must be specified as a query parameter. Do not specify partner as a matrix parameter.

Examples

For unidirectional relationships, {partner} is not required, for example:

POST http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/ExamplePU/entity/Foo/1/myRelationship

For bi-directional relationships, you must provide the name of the attribute that makes up the opposite side of the relationship. For example, to update an Auction.bid where the opposite side of the relationship is Bid.auction, use the following:

POST http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/ExamplePU/entity/Foo/1/myRelationship?partner=bid

Consumes

JSON or XML

Payload

Entity with the new value.

Note:

Relationship objects can be passed by value or by reference. See "Passing By Value vs. Passing By Reference".

Produces

JSON or XML

Response

Payload containing the entity with the added element

REMOVE

Use this operation to remove a specific entity from the list or a null on a many-to-one relationship.

HTTP Request Syntax

DELETE /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/entity/{type}/{id}/{relationship}?{relationshipListItemId}

where relationshipListItemId is an optional query parameter. The relationshipListItemId is meaningful only when the {relationship} to be removed is a list. The relationshipListItemId should be set to the id of a member in the relationship list when only that member of the relationship list needs to be removed. The entire list specified by the {relationship} will be removed when relationshipListItemId is not specified.

Example

DELETE http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/ExamplePU/entity/Foo/1/myRelationship

Consumes

JSON or XML

Note:

Relationship objects can be passed by value or by reference. See "Passing By Value vs. Passing By Reference".

Produces

JSON or XML

Response

  • OK

  • Payload containing the entity with the removed element

Query Operations

The base URI for query operations is as follows:

GET /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/query/{name}{params}

The following query operations are supported:

Named queries doing reads can be run two ways in JPA. Both are supported in the REST API. They are:

Query Returning List of Results

HTTP Request Syntax

GET /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/query/{name};{parameters}? {hints}

where:

  • parameters are specified using HTTP matrix parameters

  • hints are specified using HTTP query parameters and with the key being the name of the EclipseLink query hint

Examples

GET http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/ExamplePU/query/Foo.findByName;name=myname

GET http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/ExamplePU/query/Foo.findByName;name=myname?eclipselink.jdbc.max-results=500

Produces

JSON or XML

Response

A payload containing a list of entities. An XML response contains a List as a grouping name for a collection of items and item as a grouping name for each member of a collection returned. JSON responses use square brackets [] to encapsulate a collection and curly braces {} to encapsulate each member of a collection. For example:

XML Example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<List>
   <item>
      <firstName>Miles</firstName>
      <lastName>Davis</lastName>
      <manager>
         <firstName>Charlie</firstName>
         <lastName>Parker</lastName>
         <gender>Male</gender>
         <id>26</id>
      </manager>
   </item>
   <item>
      <firstName>Charlie</firstName>
      <lastName>Parker</lastName>
      <manager>
         <firstName>Louis</firstName>
         <lastName>Armstrong</lastName>
         <gender>Male</gender>
         <id>27</id>
      </manager>
   </item>
</List>

JSON Example

[
   {
      "firstName": "Miles",
      "lastName": "Davis",
      "manager": {
         "firstName": "Charlie",
         "lastName": "Parker",
         "gender": "Male",
         "id": 26
      }
   },
   {
      "firstName": "Charlie",
      "lastName": "Parker",
      "manager": {
         "firstName": "Louis",
         "lastName": "Armstrong",
         "gender": "Male",
         "id": 27
      }
   }
]

Update/Delete Query

HTTP Request Syntax

POST /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/query/{name};parameters?hints

where:

  • parameters are specified using HTTP matrix parameters

  • hints are specified using HTTP query parameters and with the key being the name of the EclipseLink query hint

Examples

POST http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/ExamplePU/query/Foo.deleteAllByName;name=myname

POST http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/ExamplePU/query/Foo.updateName;name=myname?eclipselink.jdbc.max-results=500

Produces

JSON or XML

Response

A payload containing the number of entities updated or deleted

Single Result Queries

HTTP Request Syntax

GET /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/singleResultQuery/{name};{parameters}?{hints}

where:

  • parameters are specified using HTTP matrix parameters

  • hints are specified using HTTP query parameters and with the key being the name of the EclipseLink query hint

Example

GET http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/ExamplePU/singleResultQuery/Foo.findByName;name=myname

Produces

JSON, XML, or application/octet-stream

Response

A payload containing an entity

Base Operations

Base operations are:

List Existing Persistence Units

HTTP Request Syntax

GET /persistence/{version}

Example

GET http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0

Produces

JSON or XML

Response

A payload containing a list of persistence unit names and links to metadata about them. For example:

[
   {
 
      "_link": {
         "href": "http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/employee/metadata",
         "method": "application/json",
         "rel": "employee"
      }
   },
   {
      "_link": {
         "href": "http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/traveler/metadata",
         "method": "application/json",
         "rel": "traveler"
      }
   }
]

Metadata Operations

The following metadata operations are supported:

List Types in a Persistence Unit

HTTP Request Syntax

GET /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/metadata

Example

GET http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/ExamplePU/metadata

Produces

JSON

Response

  • OK, with a payload containing a list of types, with links to more detailed metadata, for example:

    
    
    {
        "persistenceUnitName": "hr",
        "types": [
            {
                "_link": {
                    "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/metadata/entity/Employee",
                    "method": "application/json",
                    "rel": "Employee"
                }
            },
            {
                "_link": {
                    "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/metadata/entity/PhoneNumber",
                    "method": "application/json",
                    "rel": "PhoneNumber"
                }
            }
        ]
    }
    
  • NOT_FOUND if the persistence unit is not found

List Queries in a Persistence Unit

HTTP Request Syntax

GET /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/metadata/query

Example

GET http://localhost:8080/exampleApp/persistence/v1.0/ExamplePU/metadata/query

Produces

JSON

Response

  • OK with a payload containing a list of all available queries, for example:

    [
        {
            "queryName": "Employee.count",
            "returnTypes": [
                "Long"
            ],
            "linkTemplate": {
                "method": "get",
                "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/query/Employee.count",
                "rel": "execute"
            },
            "jpql": "SELECT count(e) FROM Employee e"
        },
        {
            "queryName": "EmployeeAddress.getRegion",
            "returnTypes": [
                "String",
                "String",
                "String"
            ],
            "linkTemplate": {
                "method": "get",
                "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/query/EmployeeAddress.getRegion",
                "rel": "execute"
            },
            "jpql": "SELECT u.postalCode, u.province, u.street FROM EmployeeAddress u"
        },
        {
            "queryName": "Employee.getPhoneNumbers",
            "returnTypes": [
                "String",
                "String",
                "PhoneNumber"
            ],
            "linkTemplate": {
                "method": "get",
                "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/query/Employee.getPhoneNumbers",
                "rel": "execute"
            },
            "jpql": "SELECT e.firstName, e.lastName, pn FROM Employee e JOIN e.phoneNumbers pn"
        },
        {
            "queryName": "EmployeeAddress.getPicture",
            "returnTypes": [
                "byte[]"
            ],
            "linkTemplate": {
                "method": "get",
                "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/query/EmployeeAddress.getPicture;id={id}",
                "rel": "execute"
            },
            "jpql": "SELECT u.areaPicture FROM EmployeeAddress u where u.id = :id"
        },
        {
            "queryName": "EmployeeAddress.updatePostalCode",
            "returnTypes": [
                "EmployeeAddress"
            ],
            "linkTemplate": {
                "method": "post",
                "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/query/EmployeeAddress.updatePostalCode;postalCode={postalCode};id={id}",
                "rel": "execute"
            },
            "jpql": "UPDATE EmployeeAddress u SET u.postalCode = :postalCode where u.id = :id"
        },
        {
            "queryName": "Employee.salaryMax",
            "returnTypes": [
                "int",
                "Object"
            ],
            "linkTemplate": {
                "method": "get",
                "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/query/Employee.salaryMax",
                "rel": "execute"
            },
            "jpql": "SELECT e.id, max(e.salary) AS max_salary from Employee e GROUP BY e.id, e.salary"
        },
        {
            "queryName": "EmployeeAddress.getAll",
            "returnTypes": [
                "EmployeeAddress"
            ],
            "linkTemplate": {
                "method": "get",
                "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/query/EmployeeAddress.getAll",
                "rel": "execute"
            },
            "jpql": "SELECT u FROM EmployeeAddress u"
        },
        {
            "queryName": "EmployeeAddress.getById",
            "returnTypes": [
                "EmployeeAddress"
            ],
            "linkTemplate": {
                "method": "get",
                "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/query/EmployeeAddress.getById;id={id}",
                "rel": "execute"
            },
            "jpql": "SELECT u FROM EmployeeAddress u where u.id = :id"
        },
        {
            "queryName": "Employee.getManagerById",
            "returnTypes": [
                "String",
                "String",
                "Employee"
            ],
            "linkTemplate": {
                "method": "get",
                "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/query/Employee.getManagerById;id={id}",
                "rel": "execute"
            },
            "jpql": "select u.firstName, u.lastName, u.manager from Employee u where u.id = :id"
        },
        {
            "queryName": "Employee.findAll",
            "returnTypes": [
                "Employee"
            ],
            "linkTemplate": {
                "method": "get",
                "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/query/Employee.findAll",
                "rel": "execute"
            },
            "jpql": "SELECT e FROM Employee e ORDER BY e.id"
        },
        {
            "queryName": "Employee.getManager",
            "returnTypes": [
                "String",
                "String",
                "Employee"
            ],
            "linkTemplate": {
                "method": "get",
                "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/query/Employee.getManager",
                "rel": "execute"
            },
            "jpql": "select u.firstName, u.lastName, u.manager from Employee u"
        }
    ]
    
  • NOT_FOUND if persistence unit is not found

Describe a Specific Entity

HTTP Request Syntax

GET /persistence/{version}/{unit-name}/metadata/entity/ type

Example

GET http://localhost:8080/CustomerApp/persistence/v1.0/Inventory/metadata/entity/Customer

Produces

JSON

Response

  • OK, with a payload containing details about the entity and available operations on it, for example,

    {
        "name": "Employee",
        "attributes": [
            {
                "name": "id",
                "type": "int"
            },
            {
                "name": "firstName",
                "type": "String"
            },
            {
                "name": "gender",
                "type": "Gender"
            },
            {
                "name": "lastName",
                "type": "String"
            },
            {
                "name": "salary",
                "type": "double"
            },
            {
                "name": "version",
                "type": "Long"
            },
            {
                "name": "period",
                "type": "EmploymentPeriod"
            },
            {
                "name": "manager",
                "type": "Employee"
            },
            {
                "name": "office",
                "type": "Office"
            },
            {
                "name": "address",
                "type": "EmployeeAddress"
            },
            {
                "name": "certifications",
                "type": "List<Certification>"
            },
            {
                "name": "responsibilities",
                "type": "List<String>"
            },
            {
                "name": "projects",
                "type": "List<Project>"
            },
            {
                "name": "expertiseAreas",
                "type": "List<Expertise>"
            },
            {
                "name": "managedEmployees",
                "type": "List<Employee>"
            },
            {
                "name": "phoneNumbers",
                "type": "List<PhoneNumber>"
            }
        ],
        "linkTemplates": [
            {
                "method": "get",
                "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/entity/Employee/{primaryKey}",
                "rel": "find"
            },
            {
                "method": "put",
                "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/entity/Employee",
                "rel": "persist"
            },
            {
                "method": "post",
                "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/entity/Employee",
                "rel": "update"
            },
            {
                "method": "delete",
                "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/entity/Employee/{primaryKey}",
                "rel": "delete"
            }
        ],
        "queries": [
            {
                "queryName": "Employee.count",
                "returnTypes": [
                    "Long"
                ],
                "linkTemplate": {
                    "method": "get",
                    "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/query/Employee.count",
                    "rel": "execute"
                },
                "jpql": "SELECT count(e) FROM Employee e"
            },
            {
                "queryName": "Employee.getPhoneNumbers",
                "returnTypes": [
                    "String",
                    "String",
                    "PhoneNumber"
                ],
                "linkTemplate": {
                    "method": "get",
                    "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/query/Employee.getPhoneNumbers",
                    "rel": "execute"
                },
                "jpql": "SELECT e.firstName, e.lastName, pn FROM Employee e JOIN e.phoneNumbers pn"
            },
            {
                "queryName": "Employee.salaryMax",
                "returnTypes": [
                    "int",
                    "Object"
                ],
                "linkTemplate": {
                    "method": "get",
                    "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/query/Employee.salaryMax",
                    "rel": "execute"
                },
                "jpql": "SELECT e.id, max(e.salary) AS max_salary from Employee e GROUP BY e.id, e.salary"
            },
            {
                "queryName": "Employee.getManagerById",
                "returnTypes": [
                    "String",
                    "String",
                    "Employee"
                ],
                "linkTemplate": {
                    "method": "get",
                    "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/query/Employee.getManagerById;id={id}",
                    "rel": "execute"
                },
                "jpql": "select u.firstName, u.lastName, u.manager from Employee u where u.id = :id"
            },
            {
                "queryName": "Employee.findAll",
                "returnTypes": [
                    "Employee"
                ],
                "linkTemplate": {
                    "method": "get",
                    "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/query/Employee.findAll",
                    "rel": "execute"
                },
                "jpql": "SELECT e FROM Employee e ORDER BY e.id"
            },
            {
                "queryName": "Employee.getManager",
                "returnTypes": [
                    "String",
                    "String",
                    "Employee"
                ],
                "linkTemplate": {
                    "method": "get",
                    "href": "http://localhost:8080/eclipselink.jpars.test/persistence/v1.0/hr/query/Employee.getManager",
                    "rel": "execute"
                },
                "jpql": "select u.firstName, u.lastName, u.manager from Employee u"
            }
        ]
    }
    
  • NOT_FOUND if the persistence unit is not found