Setting a parameter as a list for an IN expression

Question

Whenever I try to set a list as a parameter for use in an IN expression I get an Illegal argument exception. Various posts on the internet seem to indicate that this is possible, but it's certainly not working for me. I'm using Glassfish V2.1 with Toplink.

Has anyone else been able to get this to work, if so how?

here's some example code:

List<String> logins = em.createQuery("SELECT a.accountManager.loginName " +
    "FROM Account a " +
    "WHERE a.id IN (:ids)")
    .setParameter("ids",Arrays.asList(new Long(1000100), new Long(1000110)))
    .getResultList();

and the relevant part of the stack trace:

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: You have attempted to set a value of type class java.util.Arrays$ArrayList for parameter accountIds with expected type of class java.lang.Long from query string SELECT a.accountManager.loginName FROM Account a WHERE a.id IN (:accountIds).
at oracle.toplink.essentials.internal.ejb.cmp3.base.EJBQueryImpl.setParameterInternal(EJBQueryImpl.java:663)
at oracle.toplink.essentials.internal.ejb.cmp3.EJBQueryImpl.setParameter(EJBQueryImpl.java:202)
at com.corenap.newtDAO.ContactDaoBean.getNotificationAddresses(ContactDaoBean.java:437)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at com.sun.enterprise.security.application.EJBSecurityManager.runMethod(EJBSecurityManager.java:1011)
at com.sun.enterprise.security.SecurityUtil.invoke(SecurityUtil.java:175)
at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.invokeTargetBeanMethod(BaseContainer.java:2920)
at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.intercept(BaseContainer.java:4011)
at com.sun.ejb.containers.EJBObjectInvocationHandler.invoke(EJBObjectInvocationHandler.java:203)
... 67 more

Answer 1

Your JPQL is invalid, remove the brackets

List<String> logins = em.createQuery("SELECT a.accountManager.loginName " +
    "FROM Account a " +
    "WHERE a.id IN :ids")
    .setParameter("ids",Arrays.asList(new Long(1000100), new Long(1000110)))
    .getResultList();

Answer 2

You can also try this syntax.

static public String generateCollection(List list){
    if(list == null || list.isEmpty())
        return "()";
    String result = "( ";
    for(Iterator it = list.iterator();it.hasNext();){
        Object ob = it.next();
        result += ob.toString();
        if(it.hasNext())
            result += " , ";
    }
    result += " )";
    return result;
}

And put into query, "Select * from Class where field in " + Class.generateCollection(list);

Answer 3

I found the answer, providing a list as a parameter is not supported in JPA 1.0; however, it is supported in JPA 2.0.

The default persistence provider for Glassfish v2.1 is Toplink which implements JPA 1.0, to get JPA 2.0 you need EclipseLink which is the default for the Glassfish v3 preview or can be plugged into v2.1.

- Loren

Answer 4

Simply, the parameter will be List and set it as

"...WHERE a.id IN (:ids)")
.setParameter("ids", yourlist)

This works for JPA 1.0

Answer 5

Oh, and if you can't use EclipseLink for some reason then here is a method you can use to add the needed bits to your query. Just insert the resulting string into your query where you would put "a.id IN (:ids)".

    /** 
     * @param field The jpql notation for the field you want to evaluate
     * @param collection The collection of objects you want to test against
     * @return Jpql that can be concatenated into a query to test if a feild is in a collection of objects
     */
    public String in(String field, List collection) {
        String queryString = new String();
        queryString = queryString.concat(" AND (");
        int size = collection.size();
        for(int i = 0; i &gt size; i++) {
            queryString = queryString.concat(" "+field+" = '"+collection.get(i)+"'");
            if(i &gt size-1) {
                queryString = queryString.concat(" OR");
            }
        }
        queryString = queryString.concat(" )");
        return queryString;
    }

Answer 6

Use NamedQuery instead:

List<String> logins = em.createNamedQuery("Account.findByIdList").setParameter("ids", Arrays.asList(new Long(1000100), new Long(1000110))).getResultList();

Add the named query to your entity

@NamedQuery(name = "Account.findByIdList", query = "SELECT a.accountManager.loginName FROM Account a WHERE a.id IN :ids")

Answer 7

Try this code instead of the one supplied by @Szymon Tarnowski to add the OR list.. warning if you have hundreds of IDs though, you might break whatever limit is in place regarding the max length of a query.

/**
 * @param field
 *           The jpql notation for the field you want to evaluate
 * @param collection
 *           The collection of objects you want to test against
 * @return Jpql that can be concatenated into a query to test if a feild is
 *         in a collection of objects
 */
public static String in(String field, List<Integer> idList) {
  StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
  sb.append(" AND (");
  for(Integer id : idList) {
    sb.append(" ").append(field).append(" = '").append(id).append("'").append(" OR ");
  }
  String result = sb.toString();
  result = result.substring(0, result.length() - 4); // Remove last OR
  result += ")";
  return result;
}

To test this:

public static void main(String[] args) {
  ArrayList<Integer> list = new ArrayList<Integer>();
  list.add(122);
  list.add(132);
  list.add(112);
  System.out.println(in("myfield", list));
}

Which gave output: AND ( myfield = '122' OR myfield = '132' OR myfield = '112')

Answer 8

IN :ids instead of IN (:ids) - will work.

Answer 9

Hope this helps some one. I have faced the issue and did the following to resolve (using eclipselink 2.2.0)

1. I had JavaEE jar as well as jpa 2 jar(javax.persistence*2*) in the class path. Removed the JavaEE from the class path.

2. I was using something like " idItm IN ( :itemIds ) " which was throwing the exception :

type class java.util.ArrayList for parameter itemIds with expected type of class java.lang.String from query string

Solution: I just changed the in condition to " idItm IN :itemIds ", i.e. I removed the brackets ().