Help on Decode function in Toplink

Question

Hi,
I have a sql statement like this:
select field1, field2 from table1 where upper(field1) like 'ADELPHI%'
order by field1,
DECODE(TO_CHAR(NVL(LENGTH(TRANSLATE(field1,'A1234567890','A')),0)),'0',LPAD(field1 ,50),field1)
How would I converted this to toplink query?
I appreciate any help you guys can extend to me.

Answer 1

I just spent about a half hour writing a response here, and the damned forum timed out on me. #$^!@$#!^!@$%.
Here is the summary:
- Using TL Expressions and EJBQL are to allow Java developers who don't necessarily know SQL to write queries and to facilitate portability/maintainability of the apps. For REALLY gnarly queries, using TL Expressions or EJBQL won't buy you this. I.e., SQL is more expressive and easier for this kind of quer, so it's not easier to use, and frankly with the code needed to support it, it won't be easier to maintain or port... Bottom line, maybe SQL is the best option here?
- If you want to experiment, search for TO_CHAR on this forum, and the decode function in the javadoc. You need to build the expressions in pieces and you can treat expressions as arguments to other expressions -- in other words, you can build an expression like builder.leftPad(50, builder.get("field1")) and use it as one of the key/values in the hashtable to the decode function (in theory).
- Don