Mapping Java boolean to Oracle Number column with JPA and Hibernate

Question

I have a property created like this in my model:

    public class Client {
        private Boolean active;
}

My RDBMS is Oracle and the active column is of type NUMBER(1,0).

How can I use the Restrictions API to achieve the following functionality?

criteria.add(Restrictions.eq("active"),object.isActive());

Solution 1

Hibernate maps the Boolean Java type to Oracle NUMBER(1,0) automatically.

So, you can use a Boolean value in your entity mappings, JPQL or Criteria queries and the generated SQL will use the database NUMBER(1,0) format instead.

Solution 2

I don't recommend to use Boolean, you should use boolean instead to prevent NPE, cause boolean value just has two available values - true or false. What does it mean null for boolean?? It's a rare case when you need wrapper type Boolean. Oracle - number(1) default 0 not null.

Comments

[Kaypro II]

A null Boolean can mean unknown or unspecified. Not to say you always need that distinction.

[idmitriev]

in this case you should use Enum, which is suitable for this. Boolean means true or false, nothing more. If you need to have third state - use enum.

[Gary Kephart]

Sorry, but "boolean" means true or false, nothing more. "Boolean" means true, false, or unspecified. Just like the difference between "long" and "Long"

[idmitriev]

how unspecified should be treated for boolean type? If there are more than 3 values of some kind of something it's definitely a sign that it should be an enum.

[riskop]

If the column is nullable, then use Boolean. Boolean can hold the third possibility, "unspecified". If the column is not nullable, then use boolean. Nullable column is not a reason to use Enum.

[Tobi Tiggers]

just for those who are wondering, number(1) is mapped to true and number(0) to false