Re: Newbie Question: Mapping a Collection of Strings

From: Matt Kerr (mat..entralparksoftware.com)
Date: Wed Aug 26 2009 - 10:36:37 EDT

  • Next message: Michael Gentry: "Re: Newbie Question: Mapping a Collection of Strings"

    Thank you Mr. Gentry for posting actual code. This is always most helpful.

    I will add two small comments-

    #1 - please note: that code snippet is pseudo-code, and will likely
    explode w/OOM due to recursion .. since getKeywords() is calling
    itself. adjust accordingly.

    #2 - matter of personal preference:
    If the structure is Product -> Keyword
    and therefore, aProduct.getKeywords() is defined in the model -
    which would return a List of Keyword objects, ie List<Keyword> ..
    Having an API called getKeywords() -- which returned List<String>
    *instead* of actual Keyword objects pretty darned misleading. :-?
    Since you will have an abstraction/class for a Keyword object (which
    has an ivar String) - don't mix and match Keyword vs. String. They're
    not the same thing.
    If you want to provide the List<String> as a convenience on Product -
    call the api something like ..
        public List<String> getKeywordStrings()
    or something to represent the fact that you're not dealing with
    Keyword objects, but plain old String objs(!)

    hope this makes sense.
    mk

    On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 9:48 AM, Michael Gentry<mgentr..asslight.net> wrote:
    > Actually, Cayenne 3.x is pretty stable for the core features.
    >
    > What I would do in your Product.java class (the subclass of
    > _Product.java) is to write a few custom methods.  Something like:
    >
    > public List<String> getKeywords()
    > {
    >    List<String> keywords = new ArrayList<String>();
    >
    >    for (Keyword keyword : getKeywords())
    >        keywords.add(keyword.getKeyword());
    >
    >    return keywords;
    > }
    >
    > Your Keywords table/class could be rather complex and involved.
    > Cayenne normalizes the access to it, but you have the flexibility to
    > add custom accessors to make your application simpler and more natural
    > to develop.
    >
    > mrg
    >
    >
    > On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 9:36 AM, Bret Gregory<bmg12..ahoo.com> wrote:
    >> Hey Matt,
    >>
    >> Thanks for the response.  These are exactly the steps that I took.  The problem that
    >> I am running into is that when I generate my classes the Product Class contains a List
    >> of Keyword.class not java.lang.String.
    >>
    >> I am guessing that since Cayenne 2.0.4 requires persistent classes to extend a base class
    >> that persisting simple classes/relationships like collections java.lang.String is not as simple.
    >> The big question is whether it is even possible.
    >>
    >> I have read a little on Cayenne 3.0 and it sounds like it is more inline, but the fact that it is not
    >> stable is a little disconcerting to me since I am writing something that will be in production before
    >> it is even gets into a release candidate stage.
    >>
    >> Any other ideas?
    >>
    >>
    >>
    >> ----- Original Message ----
    >> From: Matt Kerr <mat..entralparksoftware.com>
    >> To: use..ayenne.apache.org; Bret Gregory <bmg125@yahoo.com>
    >> Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 10:55:15 PM
    >> Subject: Re: Newbie Question: Mapping a Collection of Strings
    >>
    >> Hey Bret -
    >>
    >> Unless I'm missing - yes, this is right on the mark for cayenne.
    >>
    >> If you have an existing database, the easiest is to create a new model
    >> and use Tools -> Re-engineer Databae Schema, ie
    >>    http://cayenne.apache.org/doc/reverse-engineer-database.html
    >>
    >> Note- I find there a few quirks in the Modeler, so pay attention to
    >> the fine print like this,
    >> "... you need to select either a DataDomain or one of its children on
    >> the project tree."
    >>
    >> If you're starting from scratch - hmm, I'd thought there'd be more
    >> info here, but I'm not seeing it :-?
    >>    http://cayenne.apache.org/doc/modeler-guide.html
    >>
    >> You'd need to do something *vaguely* like ..
    >>
    >> 1/ create a Database Entity for each of your tables: Product and
    >> Keyword.  This includes defining PK.
    >> 2/ then still in the Database Entity - add the Relationship from
    >> Product -> Keyword.  You have to open the Inspector (I) to define the
    >> columns which define the join.  Set the name of reverse relationship
    >> -which will use the FK you mention.
    >> 3/ when that's all set, I'd hit the "C+" (Create Object Entity) to
    >> define your classes.
    >> 4/ Tools -> Generate Classes
    >>
    >> Hope this helps for now.
    >> -mk
    >>
    >>
    >>
    >> On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 10:08 PM, Bret Gregory<bmg12..ahoo.com> wrote:
    >>> I have a DB that looks something like this:
    >>>
    >>> Product
    >>> -ProductId
    >>> -Description
    >>>
    >>> Keyword
    >>> -ProductId
    >>> -Keyword
    >>>
    >>> Where Product -> Keyword is 1:N and Keyword has a FK rel back to Product.
    >>>
    >>> I would like the object model to look something like this:
    >>>
    >>> Product
    >>> -(String) _description
    >>> -(List<String>) _keywords
    >>>
    >>> Is it possible to map collections of simple objects and have them persisted by Cayenne?  Seems like this would be a pretty common request, but
    >>> I am not seeing a way to do this in the modeler.
    >>>
    >>>
    >>>
    >>>
    >>
    >>
    >>
    >>
    >>
    >



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