Querying Relationships Using Joins

For queries that navigate to related entity classes, the query must define a join to the related entity by calling one of the From.join methods on the query root object, or another join object. The join methods are similar to the JOIN keyword in JPQL.

The target of the join uses the Metamodel class of type EntityType<T> to specify the persistent field or property of the joined entity.

The join methods return an object of type Join<X, Y>, where X is the source entity and Y is the target of the join.

Example 22–10 Joining a Query

CriteriaQuery<Pet> cq = cb.createQuery(Pet.class);
Metamodel m = em.getMetamodel();
EntityType<Pet> Pet_ = m.entity(Pet.class);

Root<Pet> pet = cq.from(Pet.class);
Join<Pet, Owner> owner = pet.join(Pet_.owners);

Joins can be chained together to navigate to related entities of the target entity without having to create a Join<X, Y> instance for each join.

Example 22–11 Chaining Joins Together in a Query

CriteriaQuery<Pet> cq = cb.createQuery(Pet.class);
Metamodel m = em.getMetamodel();
EntityType<Pet> Pet_ = m.entity(Pet.class);
EntityType<Owner> Owner_ = m.entity(Owner.class);

Root<Pet> pet = cq.from(Pet.class);
Join<Owner, Address> address = cq.join(Pet_.owners).join(Owner_.addresses);