Tutorial on Ibatis-Using Eclipse Ibator plugin to generate Persistence POJO Models, SqlMap and DAO :: with coverage of Dynamic SQL and working downloadable example

IBatis is a lightweight persistence framework that maps objects to SQL statements. The SQL is decoupled from the application logic by storing in XML descriptor file . SQL mapping is done by data mapper to persist objects to a relational database. 
In this article i am going to discuss on how to use ibator plugin in eclipse to generate Java model objects from your database, the DAO interface and its auto implementation to access your db and auto generated SQL map xml files. And also we will deal with fun of dynamic SQL.  The Link for downloading the working eclipse project is given at the end of article. For more detail about ibatis visit the references at last of this article.


Part A: Ibator/DB Configuration

Step 1. Installing IBator

Visit this link and download ibator plugin for eclipse

http://code.google.com/p/mybatis/wiki/Downloads?tm=2

Or From Eclipse Update Site :

http://ibatis.apache.org/tools/ibator

Step 2. Requirements and Project Configuration: 

EasyJFrame : Reusable JFrame class

Here, i am going to describe a reusable jFrame class, which can be used as substitute of standard console output.

Resuable JFrame CODE:

Java-Opening a URL in default browser with start utility in windows

Java-Opening a URL in default browser with start utility in windows

String cmd = "cmd.exe /c start ";
String file = "http://www.google.com";
Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd + file);

Dependency Injection with Java Spring IoC, A Complete Example

Here i am going to describe a simple example of Dependency Injection which uses Spring IoC framework.

You may refer to my earlier"Understanding Dependency Injection and Its Importance" for understanding the concepts.

This example uses Implementation of  Operation, Reader and Writer Interfaces.

We simply perform a one of the arithmentic Operation by taking values from Reader and write the values using Writer Class.

Reader Interface:

public interface Reader {

    Operands readValues(String promptMsg);

}

Its implementations can be:

ConsoleReader:

public class ConsoleReader implements Reader{

    Operands oprnds;

    Scanner sc;

    public ConsoleReader (){

        oprnds=new Operands();

        sc=new Scanner(System.in);

    }

    public Operands readValues(String promptMsg) {

        System.out.println(promptMsg);

        oprnds.setOp1(sc.nextLong());

        oprnds.setOp2(sc.nextLong());

        return oprnds;

    }

}

The Operation Interface

public interface Operation {

    Result operate(long op1,long op2);

    String getOperationName();

}

The Operation Interface can have implementations such as

Multiply

public class Multiply implements Operation {

    Result res;

    public Multiply(){

          res=new Result();

    }

    public Result operate(long op1, long op2) {

        res.setRes(op1*op2);

        return res;

    }

    public String getOperationName() {

        return "Multiply";

    }

}

Addition

public class Add implements Operation {

    Result res;

    public Add(){

        res=new Result();

    }

    public Result operate(long op1, long op2) {

        res.setRes(op1+op2);

        return res;

    }

    public String getOperationName() {

        return "Add";

    }

}

The  writer Interface

public interface Writer {

    void write(Result res);

}

Its ConsoleWriter Implementation

public class ConsoleWriter implements Writer{

 public void write(Result res){

    System.out.println("The result after operation : "+res.getRes());

  }

}

Its TXTFileWriter Implementation

public class TXTFileWriter implements Writer{

    File file;

    PrintWriter fwriter;

    public TXTFileWriter(){

        try {

           file = new File("output.txt");

           fwriter = new PrintWriter( new BufferedWriter( new FileWriter(file)));

       } catch (Exception ex) {

           System.err.println(ex);

        }

    }

    public void write(Result res)

  {

     fwriter.println(res.getRes());

     fwriter.close();

    }

}

The Model Classes

Operands

public class Operands {

    private long op1;

    private long op2;

//setters and getters

}

The Result Class

public class Result {

    private long res;

    //setters and getters

}

Now create a configuration file in class path i.e, src folder of project directory - confBean.xml.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"

xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"

xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans

http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.0.xsd">

<bean id="operation" class="com.gt.spring.operation.Add"/>

<bean id="reader" class="com.gt.spring.reader.ConsoleReader"/>

<bean id="writer" class="com.gt.spring.writer.ConsoleWriter"/>

<beans>

The dependency injection will help you to inject the implementations of an object at runtime.

In the Main Class: read the xml file and inject the dependent beans…

public class Main {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

    ApplicationContext ctx = 

new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("confBean.xml");

        //get beans from ctx

        Reader rdr = (Reader) ctx.getBean("reader");

        Operation opr = (Operation)ctx.getBean("operation");

        Writer wrt = (Writer) ctx.getBean("writer");//

        //read operands

        Operands opnds = rdr.readValues("Enter the Values :");

        //do operation

        Result res =opr.operate(opnds.getOp1(), opnds.getOp2());

        //write result

        wrt.write(res);

    }

}

Dependency Injection in Java without Spring IoC Framework........ How it is possible... A Simple way

You can first read Understanding Dependency Injection and its Importance, before this post for clearing Funda of Dependency Injection.
How can we this do programmatically.

• Create a interface Wheel.

    Interface Wheel(){
         rotate();
         applyBreak();
    }

• Create implementations

    class ChineseRubberWheel implements Wheel{
         //override and define
    }
    class NepaleseRubberWheel implements Wheel{
         //override and define
    }

• Create a txt file, where you write the valid name(say NepaleseRubberWheel ) of a Implementation of Wheel
• Read the txt file
• And finally, to Dynamically load the NepaleseRubberWheel as instance of Wheel;

    String wheeltoInject = ReadFromTXTFile();
    // Create Wheel object
    Wheel wheelToRun =(Wheel)     (Class.forName(wheelToInject).newInstance());
    // Execute methods of the wheel object.
    wheelToRun.rotate();
    wheelToRun.applyBreak();


This works for any implementation of Wheel. To change the Wheel on the Car just change name of Implementation on the txt file.

Understanding Dependency Injection and its Importance, A tutorial

Understanding Dependency Injection and its Importance

Any application is composed of many objects that collaborate with each other to perform some useful stuff. Traditionally each object is responsible for obtaining its own references to the dependent objects (dependencies) it collaborate with. This leads to highly coupled classes and hard-to-test code.

For example, consider a `Car` object.

A `Car` depends on wheels, engine, fuel, battery, etc. to run. Traditionally we define the brand of such dependent objects along with the definition of the `Car` object.

Without Dependency Injection (DI):

  class Car{  
    private Wheel wh = new NepaliRubberWheel();  
    private Battery bt = new ExcideBattery();  
    //The rest  
   }  

Here, the `Car` object *is responsible for creating the dependent objects.*

What if we want to change the type of its dependent object - say `Wheel` - after the initial `NepaliRubberWheel()` punctures?
We need to recreate the Car object with its new dependency say `ChineseRubberWheel()`, but only the `Car` manufacturer can do that.

 Then what does the `Dependency Injection` do for us...?

When using dependency injection, objects are given their dependencies *at run time rather than compile time (car manufacturing time)*.
So that we can now change the `Wheel` whenever we want. Here, the `dependency` (`wheel`) can be injected into `Car` at run time.

After using dependency injection:

Here, we are **injecting** the **dependencies** (Wheel and Battery) at runtime. Hence the term : *Dependency Injection.* We normally rely on DI frameworks such as Spring, Guice, Weld to create the dependencies and inject where needed.

   class Car{  
    private Wheel wh; // Inject an Instance of Wheel (dependency of car) at runtime  
    private Battery bt; // Inject an Instance of Battery (dependency of car) at runtime  
    Car(Wheel wh,Battery bt) {  
      this.wh = wh;  
      this.bt = bt;  
    }  
    //Or we can have setters  
    void setWheel(Wheel wh) {  
      this.wh = wh;  
    }  
   }  

The advantages/benefits of dependency injection are:

• decoupling the creation of an object (in another word, separate usage from the creation of object)
• ability to replace dependencies (eg: Wheel, Battery) without changing the class that uses it(Car)
• promotes "Code to interface not to an implementation" principle
• ability to create and use mock dependency during a test (if we want to use a Mock of Wheel during test instead of a real instance.. we can create Mock Wheel object and let DI framework inject to Car)

Understanding Importance of Interface, Inheritance...... OOP concepts in a different way !

Lets talk about some fundamentals of Object Oriented Design concepts in a different way...
1.IS A - Inheritance
A super class for Animal

class Animal {
int legs;
String name;
public Animal(int legs, String name) {
  this.legs = legs;
  this.name = name;
}
public void walk() {}
}

Creating Cow class, a type of Animal

class Cow extends Animal {
public Cow(int legs, String name) {
  super(legs, name);
}
}
In the example above,
Cow is a subclass of Animal because Cow inherits from Animal. So inheritance is ISA relationship. You see the walk() methods is already defined for Animal and we don't need to defined them again and again.
2. Has A - Member Field
Lets create Brain...

class Memory {
 int size;
 public void loadIntoMemory(Object anything) {}
 public boolean isInMemory(Object suspect) {
  return true;
}
}
Adding brain to Dogs' head.
class Dog extends Animal{
  Memory dogMemory;
}
Dog is obvioulsy an Animal and a Dog has some Memory called dogMemory. Hence, HAS-A relation is defined by a member field.
3. Performs - Interface
Lets introduce a interface IHelp.

interface IHelp {
  void doHelp();
}
Creating A Dog
class Dog extends Animal implements IHelp {
  private Memory dogMemory;
  public Dog(int legs, String name) {
  super(legs, name);
}
@Override
public void doHelp() {
  if (dogMemory.isInMemory(new Object())) {
  walk();
  findSuspect();
 }
}
private void findSuspect() {}
}

Here Dog is an Animal, it has Memory and it can Help. We can ensure a Dog can help by implementing IHelp interface.

Something More
The benefit of IHelp interface is that we can get help from all Animals by using same interface methods.
For example , lets create a Horse Class

class Horse extends Animal implements IHelp{
public Horse(int legs, String name){
  super(legs,name);
}
@Override
public void doHelp() {
  carryHuman();
}
private void carryHuman();
}



Getting help from Horse
Horse aHorse= new Horse(4,"Acorn");
horse.doHelp();


and for getting help from Dog
Dog aDog= new Dog(4,"Puppy");
aDog.doHelp();


You see we can get help from these Animals from same method doHelp();.
Its the fun of Object Oriented Design.......
Enjoy !!!!!