How to run an aggregate function like SUM on two columns in JPA and display their results?

Question

I am new to JPA. So my question should be so simple to some.

Below is the Simple Query in SQL which i would like to convert to JPA. I already have an entity class called TimeEnt.

SELECT 
     SUM(TimeEntryActualHours) as UnBilledHrs,
     SUM (TimeEntryAmount) as UnbilledAmount
FROM TimeEnt WHERE MatterID = 200

Answer 1

The JPA Query Language does support aggregates functions in the SELECT clause like AVG, COUNT, MAX, MIN, SUM and does support multiple select_expressions in the SELECT clause, in which case the result is a List of Object array (Object[]). From the JPA specification:

4.8.1 Result Type of the SELECT Clause

...

The result type of the SELECT clause is defined by the the result types of the select_expressions contained in it. When multiple select_expressions are used in the SELECT clause, the result of the query is of type Object[], and the elements in this result correspond in order to the order of their specification in the SELECT clause and in type to the result types of each of the select_expressions.

In other words, the kind of query you mentioned in a comment (and since you didn't provide your entity, I'll base my answer on your example) is supported, no problem. Here is a code sample:

String qlString = "SELECT AVG(x.price), SUM(x.stocks) FROM Magazine x WHERE ...";
Query q = em.createQuery(qlString);
Object[] results = (Object[]) q.getSingleResult();

for (Object object : results) {
    System.out.println(object);
}

References

• JPA 1.0 Specification
  • 4.8.1 Result Type of the SELECT Clause
  • 4.8.4 Aggregate Functions in the SELECT Clause