How to use toplink "build expression" with soundex function

Question

We are using toplink experssion builder to build the query. can any one help me on build a query with soundex using toplink..
for example :
SELECT last_name, first_name
FROM hr.employees
WHERE SOUNDEX(last_name)
= SOUNDEX('SMYTHE');

Answer 1

TopLink's ExpressionOperator does have an operator defined for soundex. I have an example that uses it that I customized to match you case.
I would recommend defining these queries as named queries using an after-load method:
    public static void afterLoadEmployee(ClassDescriptor descriptor) {
        ReadAllQuery raq = new ReadAllQuery(Employee.class);
        ExpressionBuilder eb = raq.getExpressionBuilder();
        Expression fnExp =
            ExpressionOperator.soundex().expressionFor(eb.get("lastName"));
        Expression valExp =
            ExpressionOperator.soundex().expressionFor(eb.getParameter("L_NAME"));
        raq.setSelectionCriteria(fnExp.equal(valExp));
        raq.addArgument("L_NAME", String.class);
        descriptor.getDescriptorQueryManager().addQuery("Employee.findBySoundexLastName",
                                                        raq);
    }Now you can execute the query anywhere in your application using:
        List<Employee> emps =
            (List<Employee>)session.executeQuery("Employee.findBySoundexLastName",
                                                 Employee.class, "SMYTHE");The SQL generated is a little different due to the multiple tables used in the employee example model but here is what I got:
SELECT t0.EMP_ID, t1.EMP_ID, t0.F_NAME, t1.SALARY, t0.L_NAME, t0.GENDER, t0.VERSION, t0.ADDR_ID,
t0.MANAGER_ID, t0.END_DATE, t0.START_DATE FROM EMPLOYEE t0, SALARY t1
WHERE ((SOUNDEX(t0.L_NAME) = SOUNDEX('SMYTHE')) AND (t1.EMP_ID = t0.EMP_ID))Doug