Does CMP bean finder method supports "LIKE" sql?

Question

I put something like this in the orion-ejb-jar.xml file:
<finder-method partial="false" query="select * from EMP where $ename like $1 AND $job like $2">
</finder-method>
If I put in exact value like 'ADAMS' or 'CLERK', it works fine. But if I put in 'A%' or 'CL%', it does not work. I know the record is there and the same sql does return a row in sql-plus.
Appreciate any help.
Adam

Answer 1

I put something like this in the orion-ejb-jar.xml file:
<finder-method partial="false" query="select * from EMP where $ename like $1 AND $job like $2">
</finder-method>
If I put in exact value like 'ADAMS' or 'CLERK', it works fine. But if I put in 'A%' or 'CL%', it does not work. I know the record is there and the same sql does return a row in sql-plus.
Appreciate any help.
Adam gday Adam -
I don't think there is anything in the persistence manager that will prevent this from working as you want.
Can I ask what version of OC4J you are using?
I'm not sure from your email if you are you specifying the fields in the finder method by surrounding them with SQL style quotes as in 'A%'? You shouldn't need to do that if you are.
I just tested it out with a simple client and entity bean based on the employee table, which I created in about 30 seconds with the new JDeveloper CMP Entity Bean Wizard, using the create from existing table option.
I added a finder method that looks like the following:
Collection findByEnameAndJob(String ename, String job) throws RemoteException, FinderException;
And then changed the SQL in the finder dialog (or orion-ejb-jar.xml) for the finder to be
<finder-method partial="False" query="select * from emp where $ename like $1 and $job like $2">
<method>
<ejb-name>Emp</ejb-name>
<method-name>findByEnameAndJob</method-name>
<method-params>
<method-param>java.lang.String</method-param>
<method-param>java.lang.String</method-param>
</method-params>
</method>
</finder-method>
The client code then looked for employees with a name starting with the letter A and whose job started with the letters CL as follows:
Collection coll = empHome.findByEnameAndJob("A%","CL%");
System.out.println("*** There were : " + coll.size() + " records returned ***");
Iterator iter = coll.iterator();
while (iter.hasNext())
emp = (Emp)iter.next();
System.out.println("empno = " + emp.getEmpno());
System.out.println("ename = " + emp.getEname());
When the client was run, this was the resulting output:
*** There were : 1 records returned ***
empno = 7876
ename = ADAMS
job = CLERK
mgr = 7788
hiredate = 1987-05-23 00:00:00.0
sal = 1100
comm = 0
deptno = 20
If you want to find all the entries that have a job that starts with CL you can even use the same finder method like:
Collection coll = empHome.findByEnameAndJob("%","CL%");
This results in the output
*** There were : 4 records returned ***
empno = 7369
ename = SMITH
job = CLERK
mgr = 7902
hiredate = 1980-12-17 00:00:00.0
sal = 800
comm = 0
deptno = 20
empno = 7876
ename = ADAMS
job = CLERK
mgr = 7788
hiredate = 1987-05-23 00:00:00.0
sal = 1100
comm = 0
deptno = 20
empno = 7900
ename = JAMES
job = CLERK
mgr = 7698
hiredate = 1981-12-03 00:00:00.0
sal = 950
comm = 0
deptno = 30
empno = 7934
ename = MILLER
job = CLERK
mgr = 7782
hiredate = 1982-01-23 00:00:00.0
sal = 1300
comm = 0
deptno = 10
I can send you the packaged EAR file if you want to try this simple example for yourself - or you I would even encourage you to grab JDeveloper 9i and see how it easy it makes it to build and test the example I was just working with.
cheers!
-steve