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jOOQ as a SQL builder with code generation

Applies to ✅ Open Source Edition   ✅ Express Edition   ✅ Professional Edition   ✅ Enterprise Edition

In addition to using jOOQ as a standalone SQL builder, you can also use jOOQ's code generation features in order to compile your SQL statements using a Java compiler against an actual database schema. This adds a lot of power and expressiveness to just simply constructing SQL using the query DSL and custom strings and literals, as you can be sure that all database artefacts actually exist in the database, and that their type is correct. We strongly recommend using this approach. An example is given here:

// Fetch a SQL string from a jOOQ Query in order to manually execute it with another tool.
Query query = create.select(BOOK.TITLE, AUTHOR.FIRST_NAME, AUTHOR.LAST_NAME)
                    .from(BOOK)
                    .join(AUTHOR)
                    .on(BOOK.AUTHOR_ID.eq(AUTHOR.ID))
                    .where(BOOK.PUBLISHED_IN.eq(1948));

String sql = query.getSQL();
List<Object> bindValues = query.getBindValues();

The SQL string built with the jOOQ query DSL can then be executed using JDBC directly, using Spring's JdbcTemplate, using Apache DbUtils and many other tools (note that since jOOQ uses java.sql.PreparedStatement by default, this will generate a bind variable for "1948". Read more about bind variables here).

You can also avoid getting the SQL string and bind values separately:

String sql = query.getSQL(ParamType.INLINED);

If you wish to use jOOQ only as a SQL builder with code generation, the following sections of the manual will be of interest to you:

  • SQL building: This section contains a lot of information about creating SQL statements using the jOOQ API
  • Code generation: This section contains the necessary information to run jOOQ's code generator against your developer database
  • Bind values: This section explains how bind values are managed and/or inlined in jOOQ.

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