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277 changes: 277 additions & 0 deletions active-record/README.md
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---
title: "Active Record Pattern in Java: A straightforward coupling of object design to database design"
shortTitle: Active Record
description: "Learn how the Active Record design pattern in Java simplifies data access and abstraction by coupling of object design to database design. Ideal for Java developers seeking a quick solution to data management in smaller-scale applications."
category: Architectural
language: en
tag:
- Data access
- Decoupling
- Persistence
---


## Intent of Active Record Design Pattern

The Active Record design pattern encapsulates database access within an object that represents a row in a database table or view.

This pattern simplifies data management by coupling object design directly to database design, making it ideal for smaller-scale applications.


## Detailed Explanation of Active Record Pattern with Real-World Examples

Real-world example

> Imagine managing an online store and having each product stored as a row inside a spreadsheet; unlike a typical spreadsheet, using the active record pattern not only lets you add information about the products on each row (such as pricing, quantity etc.), but also allows you to attach to each of these products capabilities over themselves, such as updating their quantity or their price and even properties over the whole spreadsheet, such as finding a different product by its ID.
In plain words

> The Active Record pattern enables each row to have certain capabilities over itself, not just store data. Active Record combines data and behavior, making it easier for developers to manage database records in an object-oriented way.
Wikipedia says

> In software engineering, the active record pattern is an architectural pattern. It is found in software that stores in-memory object data in relational databases. The interface of an object conforming to this pattern would include functions such as Insert, Update, and Delete, plus properties that correspond more or less directly to the columns in the underlying database table.
## Programmatic Example of Active Record Pattern in Java

Let's first look at the user entity that we need to persist.


```java

public class User {

private Integer id;
private String name;
private String email;

public User(Integer id, String name, String email) {
this.id = id;
this.name = name;
this.email = email;
}
public Integer getId() {
return id;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public String getEmail() {
return email;
}

public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}

public void setEmail(String email) {
this.email = email;
}
}
```

For convenience, we are storing the database configuration logic inside the same User class:

```java

private static final String DB_URL = "jdbc:sqlite:database.db";

// Establish a database connection.

private static Connection connect() throws SQLException {
return DriverManager.getConnection(DB_URL);
}

// Initialize the table (if not exists).

public static void initializeTable() throws SQLException {
String sql = "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS users (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT, name TEXT, email TEXT)";
try (Connection conn = connect();
Statement stmt = conn.createStatement()) {
stmt.execute(sql);
}
}
```

After configuring the database, our User class will contain methods thar mimic the typical CRUD operations performed on a database entry:

```java

/**
* Insert a new record into the database.
*/

public void save() throws SQLException {
String sql;
if (this.id == null) { // New record
sql = "INSERT INTO users(name, email) VALUES(?, ?)";
} else { // Update existing record
sql = "UPDATE users SET name = ?, email = ? WHERE id = ?";
}
try (Connection conn = connect();
PreparedStatement pstmt = conn.prepareStatement(sql, Statement.RETURN_GENERATED_KEYS)) {
pstmt.setString(1, this.name);
pstmt.setString(2, this.email);
if (this.id != null) {
pstmt.setInt(3, this.id);
}
pstmt.executeUpdate();
if (this.id == null) {
try (ResultSet generatedKeys = pstmt.getGeneratedKeys()) {
if (generatedKeys.next()) {
this.id = generatedKeys.getInt(1);
}
}
}
}
}

/**
* Find a user by ID.
*/

public static User findById(int id) throws SQLException {
String sql = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?";
try (Connection conn = connect();
PreparedStatement pstmt = conn.prepareStatement(sql)) {
pstmt.setInt(1, id);
ResultSet rs = pstmt.executeQuery();
if (rs.next()) {
return new User(rs.getInt("id"), rs.getString("name"), rs.getString("email"));
}
}
return null;
}
/**
* Get all users.
*/

public static List<User> findAll() throws SQLException {
String sql = "SELECT * FROM users";
List<User> users = new ArrayList<>();
try (Connection conn = connect();
Statement stmt = conn.createStatement();
ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery(sql)) {
while (rs.next()) {
users.add(new User(rs.getInt("id"), rs.getString("name"), rs.getString("email")));
}
}
return users;
}

/**
* Delete the user from the database.
*/

public void delete() throws SQLException {
if (this.id == null) {
return;
}

String sql = "DELETE FROM users WHERE id = ?";
try (Connection conn = connect();
PreparedStatement pstmt = conn.prepareStatement(sql)) {
pstmt.setInt(1, this.id);
pstmt.executeUpdate();
this.id = null;
}
}
```

Finally, here is the Active Record Pattern in action:

```java
public static void main(final String[] args) {
try {
// Initialize the database and create the users table if it doesn't exist
User.initializeTable();
LOGGER.info("Database and table initialized.");

// Create a new user and save it to the database
User user1 = new User(null, "John Doe", "[email protected]");
user1.save();
LOGGER.info("New user saved: {} with ID {}", user1.getName(), user1.getId());

// Retrieve and display the user by ID
User foundUser = User.findById(user1.getId());
if (foundUser != null) {
LOGGER.info("User found: {} with email {}", foundUser.getName(), foundUser.getEmail());
} else {
LOGGER.info("User not found.");
}

// Update the user’s details
assert foundUser != null;
foundUser.setName("John Updated");
foundUser.setEmail("[email protected]");
foundUser.save();
LOGGER.info("User updated: {} with email {}", foundUser.getName(), foundUser.getEmail());

// Retrieve all users
List<User> users = User.findAll();
LOGGER.info("All users in the database:");
for (User user : users) {
LOGGER.info("ID: {}, Name: {}, Email: {}", user.getId(), user.getName(), user.getEmail());
}

// Delete the user
try {
LOGGER.info("Deleting user with ID: {}", foundUser.getId());
foundUser.delete();
LOGGER.info("User successfully deleted!");
} catch (Exception e) {
LOGGER.error(e.getMessage(), e);
}

} catch (SQLException e) {
LOGGER.error("SQL error: {}", e.getMessage(), e);
}
}
```

The program outputs:

```
19:34:53.731 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.activerecord.App -- Database and table initialized.
19:34:53.755 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.activerecord.App -- New user saved: John Doe with ID 1
19:34:53.759 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.activerecord.App -- User found: John Doe with email [email protected]
19:34:53.762 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.activerecord.App -- User updated: John Updated with email [email protected]
19:34:53.764 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.activerecord.App -- All users in the database:
19:34:53.764 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.activerecord.App -- ID: 1, Name: John Updated, Email: [email protected]
19:34:53.764 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.activerecord.App -- Deleting user with ID: 1
19:34:53.768 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.activerecord.App -- User successfully deleted!
```

## When to Use the Active Record Pattern in Java

Use the Active Record pattern in Java when

* You need to simplify database interactions in an object-oriented way
* You want to reduce boilerplate code for basic database operations
* The database schema is relatively simple and relationships between tables are simple (like one-to-many or many-to-one relationships)
* Your app needs to fetch, manipulate, and save records frequently in a way that matches closely with the application's main logic

## Active Record Pattern Java Tutorials

* [A Beginner's Guide to Active Record](https://dev.to/jjpark987/a-beginners-guide-to-active-record-pnf)
* [Overview of the Active Record Pattern](https://blog.savetchuk.com/overview-of-the-active-record-pattern)

## Benefits and Trade-offs of Active Record Pattern

The active record pattern can a feasible choice for smaller-scale applications involving CRUD operations or prototyping quick database solutions. It is also a good pattern to transition to when dealing with the Transaction Script pattern.

On the other hand, it can bring about drawbacks regarding the risk of tight coupling, the lack of separation of concerns and performance constraints if working with large amounts of data, cases in which the Data Mapper pattern may be a more reliable option.

## Related Java Design Patterns

* [Data Mapper](https://java-design-patterns.com/patterns/data-mapper/): Data Mapper pattern separates database logic entirely from business entities, promoting loose coupling.
* [Transaction Script](https://martinfowler.com/eaaCatalog/transactionScript.html/): Transaction Script focuses on procedural logic, organizing each transaction as a distinct script to handle business operations directly without embedding them in objects.


## References and Credits

* [Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software](https://amzn.to/3w0pvKI)
* [Effective Java](https://amzn.to/4cGk2Jz)
* [Head First Design Patterns: Building Extensible and Maintainable Object-Oriented Software](https://amzn.to/49NGldq)
* [J2EE Design Patterns](https://amzn.to/4dpzgmx)
* [Refactoring to Patterns](https://amzn.to/3VOO4F5)
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27 changes: 27 additions & 0 deletions active-record/etc/active-record.urm.puml
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@startuml
package com.iluwatar.activerecord {
class App {
- LOGGER : Logger {static}
- App()
+ main(args : String[]) {static}
}
class User {
- DB_URL : String {static}
- email : String
- id : Integer
- name : String
+ User(id : Integer, name : String, email : String)
- connect() : Connection {static}
+ delete()
+ findAll() : List<User> {static}
+ findById(id : int) : User {static}
+ getEmail() : String
+ getId() : Integer
+ getName() : String
+ initializeTable() {static}
+ save()
+ setEmail(email : String)
+ setName(name : String)
}
}
@enduml
34 changes: 32 additions & 2 deletions active-record/pom.xml
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@@ -1,4 +1,30 @@
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--
This project is licensed under the MIT license. Module model-view-viewmodel is using ZK framework licensed under LGPL (see lgpl-3.0.txt).
The MIT License
Copyright © 2014-2022 Ilkka Seppälä
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
THE SOFTWARE.
-->
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
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<artifactId>java-design-patterns</artifactId>
<version>1.26.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
</parent>

<artifactId>active-record</artifactId>

<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.projectlombok</groupId>
<artifactId>lombok</artifactId>
<!-- <optional/> Removed -->
<version>1.18.30</version> <!-- Added -->
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
<artifactId>junit-jupiter-engine</artifactId>
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