Predefining and grouping a set of columns for a query

You can select and group columns to be used in a query (select/list) search by adding a parameter QueryGroup in the entity definition.

Each QueryGroup contains the columns to be used for a query. Each QueryGroup is identified by a unique name under which, the columns must be specified.

A global map QueryGroupMap is provided in the Entity class, which contains a unique query group name and attributes corresponding to the columns of the query group. This map is populated when entity repository is loaded.

Note: The QueryGroup name must be not be blank. When adding a query group name to the map, check whether the name already exists in the map.

Each entity can have multiple such query groups, which are defined under a parameter QueryGroups:

<Entity> 
  <QueryGroups> 
    <QueryGroup Name="PasswordQueryGroup">
       <Column Name="PASSWORD"/>
       <Column Name="IS_PASSWORD_ENCRYPTED"/> 
       <Column Name="SALT"/>
     </QueryGroup> 
     <QueryGroup Name="BusinessQueryGroup"> 
       <Column Name="BUSINESS_KEY"/> 
       <Column Name="CONTACTADDRESS_KEY"/> 
       <ColumnName="BILLINGADDRESS_KEY"/> 
      </QueryGroup> 
   </QueryGroups> 
</Entity>

Any number of columns can be specified under the query group. However, columns must not be repeated for a query group.

Note: A column in a QueryGroup can be a part of other QueryGroups. A query group must contain at least one valid column and columns defined for a query group must exist in the entity. You cannot add virtual columns to the query group.
To obtain a list of all columns that are part of a particular QueryGroup, use the method getColumnSetForQueryGroup in the following format:
public Set getColumnSetForQueryGroup(String queryGroupName)
The following methods also can be used along with specific parameters to get a list of columns in a query group:
  • selectWithWhereForQueryGroup
  • listWithWhereForQueryGroup
For example,
public YFS_User selectWithWhereForQueryGroup(YFCDBContext ctx, 
String aWhereClause, String queryGroupName) throws YFCDBException{ 
Set columns = getColumnSet(queryGroupName); 
return selectWithWhere(ctx, aWhereClause, columns); 
}