NeoDatis Object Database

1.9.1
Copyright © 2006-2009 NeoDatis
Publication date 07 Jun 2009
Table of Contents
1. Overview ............................................................................................................................. 1
1.1. Simple ...................................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Small ........................................................................................................................ 1
1.3. Fast ........................................................................................................................... 1
1.4. Safe and robust ........................................................................................................ 1
1.5. One single database file ........................................................................................... 1
1.6. Multiplatform ........................................................................................................... 2
1.7. Data are always available ........................................................................................ 2
1.8. Productivity .............................................................................................................. 2
1.9. Easy to integrate ...................................................................................................... 2
1.10. Refactoring ............................................................................................................. 2
1.11. License ................................................................................................................... 2
2. Download ............................................................................................................................ 3
3. Wiki and forum .................................................................................................................. 4
4. How to execute NeoDatis ................................................................................................... 5
5. IDE Integration ................................................................................................................... 6
5.1. Eclipse ...................................................................................................................... 6
6. Migration from previous versions ..................................................................................... 7
7. Storing objects .................................................................................................................... 8
8. Retrieving objects ............................................................................................................. 12
8.1. Retrieving all objects of a specific class ............................................................... 12
8.2. Criteria queries ....................................................................................................... 12
8.2.1. Equality ....................................................................................................... 14
8.2.2. like ............................................................................................................... 14
8.2.3. greater than (gt) .......................................................................................... 15
8.2.4. greater or equal (ge) ................................................................................... 15
8.2.5. less than (lt) ................................................................................................ 16
8.2.6. less or equal (le) ......................................................................................... 16
8.2.7. contain -To test if an array or a collection contains a specific value ........... 17
8.2.8. Null Objects ................................................................................................ 18
8.2.9. Where on collection or array size ............................................................... 18
8.2.10. Logical ...................................................................................................... 18
8.2.11. More criteria query examples ................................................................... 18
8.3. Native Query .......................................................................................................... 19
8.4. Retrieving an object by its OID ............................................................................ 21
8.5. Query tuning .......................................................................................................... 21
8.5.1. Indexes ........................................................................................................ 22
8.5.1.1. Creating an index ............................................................................. 22
8.5.1.2. Checking if an index exists .............................................................. 22

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8.5.1.3. Deleting an index ............................................................................. 22

8.5.1.4. Rebuilding an index ......................................................................... 22
9. Object Values API ............................................................................................................ 23
9.1. Aggregate functions ............................................................................................... 24
9.2. Dynamic Views ...................................................................................................... 27
9.3. Custom Functions .................................................................................................. 28
10. Updating Objects ............................................................................................................ 30
11. Deleting Objects ............................................................................................................. 31
12. Using NeoDatis in client/server mode ............................................................................ 33
13. Reconnecting Objects to Session .................................................................................... 35
14. Database Encoding ......................................................................................................... 36
15. Object Explorer ............................................................................................................... 37
15.1. Browsing data ...................................................................................................... 38
15.1.1. Table View ................................................................................................ 39
15.1.2. Object View .............................................................................................. 39
15.2. Queries ................................................................................................................. 40
15.3. Updating objects .................................................................................................. 41
15.4. Creating new objects ........................................................................................... 43
16. XML ................................................................................................................................ 45
16.1. Using Object Exporer .......................................................................................... 45
16.1.1. Exporting ................................................................................................... 45
16.1.2. Importing ................................................................................................... 45
16.2. Using NeoDatis API ............................................................................................ 46
17. NeoDatis Extended API .................................................................................................. 48
18. User/Password protection ............................................................................................... 49
19. Best practices .................................................................................................................. 50
20. Using NeoDatis in web applications ............................................................................. 51
20.1. Web App Example ............................................................................................... 51
21. Advanced features ........................................................................................................... 53
22. NeoDatis on Google Android ......................................................................................... 55
23. NeoDatis and Groovy ..................................................................................................... 56
24. Annexes ........................................................................................................................... 57

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Chapter 1. Overview
NeoDatis ODB is an open source Object Oriented Database. It is a real native and transparent
persistence layer for Java, .Net, Groovy, Scala and Google Android.

With NeoDatis ODB you can store and retrieve your objects with a single line of code without
the need of mapping your objects to any table.

So NeoDatis ODB will increase your productivity and let you concentrate on your business
logic.

1.1 Simple
NeoDatis is very simple and intuitive: the learning time is very short. Have a look at the
NeoDatis one minute tutorial to check this. The API is simple and does not require learning
any mapping technique. There is no need for mapping between the native objects and the
persistence store. NeoDatis simply stores the objects the way they are. NeoDatis requires zero
administration and zero installation.

1.2 Small
The NeoDtais runtime is less than 800k and is distributed as a single jar/dll that can easily be
packaged in any type of application.

1.3 Fast
NeoDatis can store more than 30000 objects per second.

1.4 Safe and robust

NeoDatis supports ACID transactions to guarantee data integrity of the database. All committed
work will be applied to the database even in case of hardware failure. This is done by automatic
transaction recovery on the next startup.

1.5 One single database file

NeoDatis uses a single file to store all data:

• The Meta-model

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 Overview

• The Objects

• The indexes

1.6 Multiplatform
NeoDatis works with Java, .Net, Groovy, Scala and Google Andoid

1.7 Data are always available

NeoDatis lets you export all data to a standard XML Format (see Annex 1: Xml Exported file
of the tutorial) which guarantee that data are always available. NeoDatis can also import data
from the same XML format. Import and Export features are available via API or via the Object
Explorer.

1.8 Productivity
NeoDatis lets you persist data with a very few lines of code. There is no need to modify the
classes that must be persisted and no mapping is needed. So developers can concentrate on
business logic implementation instead of wasting time with the persistence layer.

1.9 Easy to integrate

The only requirement to use NeoDatis is to have a single jar/dll on the application classpath/
path.

1.10 Refactoring
NeoDatis currently supports 4 types of refactoring:

• Renaming a class (via API or Object Explorer)

• Renaming a Field (via API or Object Explorer)

• Adding a new Field (automatically detected)

• Removing a Field (automatically detected)

1.11 License
NeoDatis is distributed under the LGPL license.

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Chapter 2. Download
The last NeoDatis Object Database download can be found at http://www.neodatis.org.

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Chapter 3. Wiki and forum
Check the http://www.neodatis.org/documentation site to access to wiki that contains
documentation about NeoDatis architecture!

For any question about NeoDatis, the best place is the source forge forum at http://
sourceforge.net/forum/?group_id=179124.

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Chapter 4. How to execute NeoDatis
A single jar/dll (neodatis-odb.jar/NeodatisOdb.dll) is needed to run the NeoDatis object
database. To execute a class that use NeoDatis to persist objects, just add the NeoDatis runtime
to the classpath:

java –cp neodatis-odb.jar [your-class-name]

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Chapter 5. IDE Integration
To use NeoDatis ODB in your favorite IDE, the classpath of your project must be updated to
contain the ODB runtime jar.

5.1 Eclipse
Using NeoDatis in an Eclipse Project: Select your project, right-click on the project root (In the
Navigator view or in the package explorer) choose Properties and then click on the ‘Java Build
Path’ item. In the library tab add the NeoDatis runtime jar:

Figure 5.1. Eclipse integration

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Chapter 6. Migration from previous
versions
The database file format has changed so it is necessary to export database to XML file using
previous version and import the xml in a new database using the 1.9 version. This can be done
easily with the ObjectExplorer graphical application.

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Chapter 7. Storing objects
For this Tutorial, we will create some data objects related with the Sport domain: Sport, Player,
Team, Game…

To simplify, we only describe class attributes in code sections, getters, setters and toString
methods will be omitted.

Let’s start creating a class Sport with a single name attribute:

package org.neodatis.odb.tutorial;

public class Sport {

private String name;

public Sport(String name) {

this.name = name;
}
}

To store an object, we need to create a Sport instance, open the database and store the object.

To simplify the source code, we use a Constant to define the name of the ODB base:

public static final String ODB_NAME = "tutorial1.neodatis";

And then

public void step1() throws Exception{

ODB odb = null;

try{

// Create instance
Sport sport = new Sport("volley-ball");

// Open the database

ODB odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);

// Store the object

odb.store(sport);
} finally{
if(odb!=null){
// Close the database
odb.close();
}
}

After this first step, our database already contains an instance of Sport. Let’s execute the
following code to display the instances of Sport of our database:

public void displaySports() throws Exception{

// Open the database
ODB odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);

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 Storing objects

// Get all object of type Sport

Objects<Sport> sports = odb.getObjects(Sport.class);

// display each object

Sport sport = null;
while(sports.hasNext()){
sport = sports.next();
System.out.println(sport.getName());
}
// Closes the database
odb.close();
}

This code should produce the following output:

1 sport(s):
1 : volley-ball

The most important point here is that the only thing you have to do to store an object is to call
the store method. Let’s create more classes to increase the complexity of our model. A Sport
needs one or two teams of players. So let’s create a Player class and a Team class. The Player
has a name, a date of birth and a favorite sport. A Team has a name and a list of players. Then
we can create the class Game that has a sport and two teams Player class

package org.neodatis.odb.tutorial;

import java.util.Date;

public class Player {

private String name;
private Date birthDate;
private Sport favoriteSport;

public Player(String name, Date birthDate, Sport favoriteSport) {

this.name = name;
this.birthDate = birthDate;
this.favoriteSport = favoriteSport;
}
}

Team class

package org.neodatis.odb.tutorial;

import java.util.List;

public class Team {

private String name;
private List players;

public Team(String name) {

this.name = name;
players = new ArrayList();
}

Game class

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 Storing objects

public class Game {

private Date when;
private Sport sport;
private Team team1;
private Team team2;
private String result;
}
public Game(Date when, Sport sport, Team team1, Team team2) {
this.when = when;
this.sport = sport;
this.team1 = team1;
this.team2 = team2;
}

Now, we can create a more complex scenario storing a bigger object structure:

We first create an instance of Sport(Volley-ball), create 4 Players, then two Teams with 2
players each and finally a Game of Volley-ball with the two teams.

After this, to persist all the objects, you only need to persist the game instance. NeoDatis will
traverse the instance and store all objects it references:

public void step2() throws Exception {

// Create instance
Sport volleyball = new Sport("volley-ball");

// Create 4 players
Player player1 = new Player("olivier", new Date(), volleyball);
Player player2 = new Player("pierre", new Date(), volleyball);
Player player3 = new Player("elohim", new Date(), volleyball);
Player player4 = new Player("minh", new Date(), volleyball);

// Create two teams

Team team1 = new Team("Paris");
Team team2 = new Team("Montpellier");

// Set players for team1

team1.addPlayer(player1);
team1.addPlayer(player2);

// Set players for team2

team2.addPlayer(player3);
team2.addPlayer(player4);

// Then create a volley ball game for the two teams

Game game = new Game(new Date(), volleyball, team1, team2);

ODB odb = null;

try {
// Open the database
odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);
// Store the object
odb.store(game);
} finally {
if (odb != null) {
// Close the database
odb.close();

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 Storing objects

}
}
}

After this execution of the step 2, NeoDatis should contain:

• 1 instance of Game

• 2 instances of Team

• 4 instances of Player

• 1 instance of Sport
Lets check this, here is the output of querying objects of each type: This example shows how
it is simple to store complex objects, as you don’t need to worry in storing each single objects,
storing the top-level object will resolve.

Step 2 : 1 games(s):
1 : Thu May 22 06:29:13 BRT 2009 : Game of volley-ball between Paris and Montpellier

Step 2 : 2 team(s):
1 : Team Paris [olivier, pierre]
2 : Team Montpellier [elohim, minh]

Step 2 : 4 player(s):
1 : olivier
2 : pierre
3 : elohim
4 : minh

Step 2 : 1 sport(s):
1 : volley-ball

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Chapter 8. Retrieving objects
In the previous example, we learned how to store objects. Now, obviously, we need to get these
objects back. For instance, NeoDatis has four ways to retrieve objects:

• Retrieving all objects of a specific class

• Retrieving a subset of objects of a specific class using CriteriaQuery

• Retrieving a subset of objects of a specific class using NativeQuery

• Retrieving object by OID

8.1 Retrieving all objects of a specific

class
The ODB interface has a method getObjects that receives a class and returns an object of type
Objects (that implements Collection). This method is used to obtain all objects of a specific
class:

ODB odb = null;

try{
// Open the database
odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);

// Get all object of type clazz

Objects<Player> objects = odb.getObjects(Player.class);

System.out.println(objects.size() + “ player(s)”);

// display each object

while(objects.hasNext()){
System.out.println((i+1) + "\t: " + objects.next());
}
}finally{
// Closes the database
If(odb!=null){
odb.close();
}
}

This code opens the database, retrieve a list of all objects of type Player and displays each one.

8.2 Criteria queries

CriteriaQuery let’s you specify ‘Where conditions’ on objects that the query result must contain.
The NeoDatis ODB CriteriaQuery API is very close to the Hibernate Criteria API. Here is a
simple example of CriteriaQuery:

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 Retrieving objects

public void step3() throws Exception {

ODB odb = null;

try {
// Open the database
odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);

IQuery query = new CriteriaQuery(Player.class,Where.equal("name", "olivier"));

Objects<Player> players = odb.getObjects(query);

System.out.println("\nStep 3 : Players with name olivier");

// display each object

while(players.hasNext()) {
System.out.println((i + 1) + "\t: " + players.next());
}
} finally {
if (odb != null) {
// Close the database
odb.close();
}
}
}

The following code creates a query on objects of type Player where the name is equal to olivier.

IQuery query = new CriteriaQuery(Player.class, Where.equal("name", "olivier"));

A powerful feature of ODB CriteriaQuery is the capability of navigating through object

relations. The following example demonstrates this feature by retrieving all players whose
favorite sport is Volley-ball:

IQuery query = new CriteriaQuery(Player.class,Where.equal("favoriteSport.name", "volley-ball"));

Another way to get the same result is :

• to get the object volley-ball

• then use the object in the query

Here is the code:

Retrieve the 'volley-ball' object:

IQuery query = new CriteriaQuery(Sport.class,Where.equal("name", "volley-ball"));

Sport volleyBall = (Sport) odb.getObjects(query).getFirst();

And then use the following criteria query to get all players that play volley-ball(using the volley-
ball object previously retrieved):

// Now build a query to get all players that play volley ball, using the
// volley ball object
IQuery query = new CriteriaQuery(
Player.class,

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 Retrieving objects

Where.equal("favoriteSport", volleyBall));

Objects players = odb.getObjects(query);

So, as you can see, CriteriaQuery “Where” works with objects too.

Warning:To use Criteria Queries referencing objects in client server mode, these objects must
implement Serializable.

Other functions are available while working with CriteriaQuery. Here is a list of functions
available in the Where Factory:

8.2.1 Equality
public static ICriterion equal(String attributeName,boolean value) for primitive
boolean value

public static ICriterion equal(String attributeName,int value) for primitive int

value

public static ICriterion equal(String attributeName,short value) for primitive short

value

public static ICriterion equal(String attributeName,byte value) for primitive byte

value

public static ICriterion equal(String attributeName,float value) for primitive float

value

public static ICriterion equal(String attributeName,double value) for primitive

double value

public static ICriterion equal(String attributeName,long value) for primitive long

value

public static ICriterion equal(String attributeName,char value) for primitive char

value

public static ICriterion equal(String attributeName,Object value) for Object

public static ICriterion iequal(String attributeName,Object value) case insensitive

equal

8.2.2 like
public static ICriterion like(String attributeName,String value) for patterns like
'name="pet%"'

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public static ICriterion ilike(String attributeName,String value) case insensitive

option

8.2.3 greater than (gt)

public static ICriterion gt(String attributeName,Comparable value) for Comparable
objects

public static ICriterion gt(String attributeName,int value) for primitive int

value

public static ICriterion gt(String attributeName,short value) for primitive short

value

public static ICriterion gt(String attributeName,byte value) for primitive byte

value

public static ICriterion gt(String attributeName,float value) for primitive float

value

public static ICriterion gt(String attributeName,double value) for primitive

double value

public static ICriterion gt(String attributeName,long value) for primitive long

value

public static ICriterion gt(String attributeName,char value) for primitive char

value

8.2.4 greater or equal (ge)

public static ICriterion ge(String attributeName,Comparable value) for Comparable
objects

public static ICriterion ge(String attributeName,int value) for primitive int

value

public static ICriterion ge(String attributeName,short value) for primitive short

value

public static ICriterion ge(String attributeName,byte value) for primitive byte

value

public static ICriterion ge(String attributeName,float value) for primitive float

value

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 Retrieving objects

public static ICriterion ge(String attributeName,double value) for primitive

double value

public static ICriterion ge(String attributeName,long value) for primitive long

value

public static ICriterion ge(String attributeName,char value) for primitive char

value

8.2.5 less than (lt)

public static ICriterion lt(String attributeName,Comparable value) for Comparable
objects

public static ICriterion lt(String attributeName,int value) for primitive int

value

public static ICriterion lt(String attributeName,short value) for primitive short

value

public static ICriterion lt(String attributeName,byte value) for primitive byte

value

public static ICriterion lt(String attributeName,float value) for primitive float

value

public static ICriterion lt(String attributeName,double value) for primitive

double value

public static ICriterion lt(String attributeName,long value) for primitive long

value

public static ICriterion lt(String attributeName,char value) for primitive char

value

8.2.6 less or equal (le)

public static ICriterion le(String attributeName,Comparable value) for Comparable
objects

public static ICriterion le(String attributeName,int value) for primitive int

value

public static ICriterion le(String attributeName,short value) for primitive short

value

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 Retrieving objects

public static ICriterion le(String attributeName,byte value) for primitive byte

value

public static ICriterion le(String attributeName,float value) for primitive float

value

public static ICriterion le(String attributeName,double value) for primitive

double value

public static ICriterion le(String attributeName,long value) for primitive long

value

public static ICriterion le(String attributeName,char value) for primitive char

value

8.2.7 contain -To test if an array or a

collection contains a specific value

public static ICriterion contain(String attributeName,boolean value) for primitive

boolean value

public static ICriterion contain(String attributeName,int value) for primitive int

value

public static ICriterion contain(String attributeName,short value) for primitive short

value

public static ICriterion contain(String attributeName,byte value) for primitive byte

value

public static ICriterion contain(String attributeName,float value) for primitive float

value

public static ICriterion contain(String attributeName,double value) for primitive

double value

public static ICriterion contain(String attributeName,long value) for primitive long

value

public static ICriterion contain(String attributeName,char value) for primitive char

value

public static ICriterion contain(String attributeName,Object value) for Object

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8.2.8 Null Objects

public static ICriterion isNull(String attributeName) only null objects

public static ICriterion isNotNull(String attributeName) only not null

objects

8.2.9 Where on collection or array size

public static ICriterion sizeEq(String attributeName,int size) with a size equal

to

public static ICriterion sizeNe(String attributeName,int size) with a size not

equal to

public static ICriterion sizeGt(String attributeName,int size) with a size greater

than

public static ICriterion sizeGe(String attributeName,int size) with a size greater

or equal

public static ICriterion sizeLt(String attributeName,int size) with a size lesser

than

public static ICriterion sizeLe(String attributeName,int size) with a size lesser

or equal

8.2.10 Logical

public static ComposedExpression or() a OR expression

public static ComposedExpression and() a AND expression

public static IExpression not(ICriterion criterion) negate a restriction

8.2.11 More criteria query examples

// users that have a profile which name is 'profile2'
CriteriaQuery query = new CriteriaQuery(User.class, Where.equal("profile.name", "profile2"));

// users that have a specific profile p0

query = new CriteriaQuery(User.class, Where.equal("profile", p0));

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 Retrieving objects

// users with a specific function in their profile

query = new CriteriaQuery(User.class, Where.contain("profile.functions", f2bis));

// users with a profile that contain no function

query = new CriteriaQuery(User.class, Where.sizeEq("profile.functions", 0));

// users with a profile that have 4 functions

query = new CriteriaQuery(User.class, Where.sizeEq("profile.functions", 4));

// users with a profile that have 1 function

query = new CriteriaQuery(User.class, Where.sizeEq("profile.functions", 1));

// users with a profile that have more than 2 functions

query = new CriteriaQuery(User.class, Where.sizeGt("profile.functions", 2));

// users with a profile that doas not have 1 function

query = new CriteriaQuery(User.class, Where.sizeNe("profile.functions", 1));

// TestClass objects where the attribute 'bigDecimal1' is null

query = new CriteriaQuery(TestClass.class, Where.isNull("bigDecimal1"));

// TestClass objects where the attribute 'string1' is equal to 'test

// class 1' or 'test class 2'
aq = new CriteriaQuery(TestClass.class,
Where.or().
add(Where.equal("string1", "test class 1")).
add(Where.equal("string1", "test class 3")));

// TestClass objects where the attribute 'string1' is not equal to 'test class 2'
aq = new CriteriaQuery(TestClass.class, Where.not(Where.equal("string1", "test class 2")));

// TestClass objects where the condition 'string1' is equal to 'test

// class 0' or the attribute 'bigDecimal1' is equal to 5 is not matched
aq = new CriteriaQuery(TestClass.class,
Where.not(
Where.or()
.add(Where.equal("string1", "test class 0"))
.add(Where.equal("bigDecimal1", new BigDecimal("5")))));

// TestClass object where the attribute 'string1' is equal to 'test class 2' or 'test class 3' or 'test clas
// The query result will be ordered by the fields 'boolean1' and 'int1'
ICriterion c = Where.or()
.add(Where.equal("string1", "test class 2"))
.add(Where.equal("string1", "test class 3"))
.add(Where.equal("string1", "test class 4"))
.add(Where.equal("string1", "test class 5"));

aq = new CriteriaQuery(TestClass.class, c);

aq.orderByDesc("boolean1,int1");

// Function objects where the name is not equal to 'function 2'

aq = new CriteriaQuery(Function.class, Where.not(Where.equal("name", "function 2")));

8.3 Native Query

Native queries(NQ) were introduced by Prof. William Cook at the 27th International
Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) in May of 2005 (They were first implemented by
Db4O – www.db4o.com).

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 Retrieving objects

NQs are queries written in native language.

A native query is a peace of code that receives an object of the database and returns a boolean
value to indicate the query manager if the object must be included in the query result set.

Native Queries advantages are:

• No need to learn another query language

• As NQs are written in native language(Java or .net):

• NQs are ‘refactorable’

• No more problems with string based queries, NQs are checked in compile time

To implement a Native query in NeoDatis, you must implement the interface

SimpleNativeQuery. This interface does not have contract, but you must implement the
following method ‘boolean match(ObjectType object)’ Where ObjectType must be the class
of the objects that must be queried. For example, to execute the query on Player objects, the
method signature should be:

public boolean match(Player player)

A native query that return all players whose favorite sport’s name(transformed to lower case)
starts with ‘volley’:

public void step8() throws Exception {

ODB odb = null;

try {
// Open the database
odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);
IQuery query = new SimpleNativeQuery() {

public boolean match(Player player) {

return player.getFavoriteSport().getName().toLowerCase().startsWith("volley");
}
};

Objects<Player> players = odb.getObjects(query);

System.out.println("\nStep 8 bis: Players that play Volley-ball");

// display each object

while (players.hasNext()) {
System.out.println((i + 1) + "\t: " + players.next());
}
} finally {
if (odb != null) {
// Close the database
odb.close();
}
}

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Warning: In client/Server mode, native query are executed on the server. So the NeoDatis ODB
server must be started with the Native Query (and its dependencies) in its classpath and the
Native Query class must implement the Serializable interface as NeoDatis use serialization to
send the Native Query object to the server.

8.4 Retrieving an object by its OID

If you have the OID of an object, you can use the getObjectFromId to directly retrieve it. The
OID (Object ID) is returned by the ODB.store(Object) and ODB.getObjectId(Object) methods.

Warning: The method getObjectId can only be called for objects stored or retrieved in the
current open ODB session!

8.5 Query tuning

There exist 3 signatures of the getObjects method:

• getObjects(IQuery query)

• getObjects(IQuery query, boolean inMemory)

• getObjects(IQuery query, boolean inMemory, int startIndex, int endIndex)

The boolean inMemory is used by NeoDatis to know if all objects must be created at query
time or in a lazy load fashion.

If true, a collection with all objects already created will be returned.

If false, the collection will contain ids of objects: each time you get an object from the list,
NeoDatis will create it on the fly.

The default value is true. This option is faster but uses more memory. If you know that a query
may return a lot of objects and that you won't need to get all of them, it is a good practice to
use inMemory=false.

The startIndex and endIndex are used to specify a range of objects that are to be returned.
It can be used to cut a query result into various pages. If a query result should return 20000
objects, you can use the getObjects(query,true,0,10000) to get the first 10000 objects and
getObjects(query,true,10000,20000) to get the next 10000.

Default values are -1 (which disables query result paging).

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 21

 Retrieving objects

8.5.1 Indexes
To speedup query executions, you can add indexes to your classes. Indexes can be declared on
various fields of a class. They can be unique or non unique.

8.5.1.1 Creating an index

Here is an example of a unique index declaration on the class Sport for the field ‘name’:

ODB odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);

String [] fieldNames = {"name"};

odb.getClassRepresentation(Sport.class).addUniqueIndexOn("sport-index", fieldnames,true);

Here is an example of a non unique index declaration on the class User for the fields ‘name’
and 'email' (imagine the class has 2 String attributes name and email):

ODB odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);

String [] fieldNames = {"name","email"};

odb.getClassRepresentation(User.class).addIndexOn("user-index", fieldnames,true);

The last parameter true is to ask NeoDatis to log what it is doing while creating the index.

8.5.1.2 Checking if an index exists

Here is an example of how to check if the index 'sport-index' exists on class Sport:

boolean exist = odb.getClassRepresentation(Sport.class).existIndex("sport-index");

8.5.1.3 Deleting an index

Here is an example of how to delete the index 'sport-index' of class Sport:

odb.getClassRepresentation(Sport.class).deleteIndex("sport-index", true);

8.5.1.4 Rebuilding an index

Here is an example of how to rebuild the index 'sport-index' on class Sport:

odb.getClassRepresentation(Sport.class).rebuildIndex("sport-index", true);

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 22

Chapter 9. Object Values API
Object Values API breaks the object paradigm providing direct access to the values of the
attributes of the objects and aggregate functions like Sum,Average, Min, Max, Count and Group
by. The NeoDatis ODB Object Values API provides:

• Direct access to the values of an object

• Dynamic Views : Navigation through relations capability

• Aggregate functions (Sum, Average, Min, Max , Group by and Count)

• Custom functions

This leverages the flexibility of SQL language to an Object Oriented Database. Object Values
API is a query layer and does not change anything to the object model nor impose restrictions
on objects. It does not require any specific mapping.

Here is a simple example of what Object Values API can do.

The following code create 10 players. Each player has its own favorite sport.

Then we retrieve the name of the player and the name of its favorite sport (this actually retrieve
only the name of the sport and not the whole Sport object).

ODB odb = null;

System.out.println("\nStep 18 : Object Values");
try {
// Open the database
odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);

// Creates 100 players

for(int i=0;i<100;i++){
odb.store(new Player("player "+i,new Date(),new Sport("Sport "+i)));
}
// Close the database
odb.close();

// Opens the database

odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);
// Executes the Object Values query
Values values = odb.getValues(new ValuesCriteriaQuery(Player.class)
.field("name")
.field("favoriteSport.name", "sport"));

// Iterate of the result

while(values.hasNext()){
// Each object is an ObjectValues that gives access to the fields
ObjectValues objectValues= (ObjectValues) values.next();
// Prints the name of the player and the name of the sport
// Retrieve the player name by alias and the sport name by index
System.out.println(
objectValues.getByAlias("name") + " plays " + objectValues.getByIndex(1));

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 23

 Object Values API

}
} finally {
if (odb != null) {
// Close the database
odb.close();
}
}

Here is the output of the program:

player 0 plays sport 0

player 1 plays sport 1
player 2 plays sport 2
player 3 plays sport 3
player 4 plays sport 4

Now, let's take a look at the API. In the following sections, we will be using three classes in
the examples:

• Class Function : with a name attribute (String)

• Class Profile : with a name attribute (String) and a list of Functions

• Class User : with a name(String), an email(String), number of login(integer) and profile

(Profile)

9.1 Aggregate functions

An aggregate function is a function that performs a computation on a set of values rather than
on a single value. Object Values API currently supports the following functions:

IValuesQuery.sum(StringfieldName) Calculates the sum of all the fields [fieldName]

that satisfy the query

IvaluesQuery.avg(String fieldName) Calculates the average of all the fields

[fieldName] that satisfy the query

IvaluesQuery.count(String alias) Counts the number of object that satisfy the query

IvaluesQuery.min(String fieldName) Retrieves the minimum value of the specific field

that satisfy the query

IvaluesQuery.max(String fieldName) Retrieves the maximum value of the specific field

that satisfy the query

IvaluesQuery.groupBy(String fieldNames) Execute the query group the results by the fields

IValuesQuery. The sublist Object Values API method returns a

sublist(String fieldName,
int fromIndex, int size)
sublist of a list attribute. The sublist returned is a
lazy loading list.

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 24

 Object Values API

IValuesQuery.sublist Returns a sublist of a list attribute

(String fieldName,
int fromIndex, int toIndex)

IValuesQuery.size(String fieldName) The size method is used to retrieve the size of

a collection. It is only applicable to collection
attributes. This is done without actually loading
all the objects of the list

ICriterion iequal case insensitive equal

(String attributeName,Object value)

The following paragraph demonstrates the use of aggregate functions by example and
comparing with the standard Sql version of the query

1 Sum function
Retrieving the sum of logins

API odb.getValues(new ValuesCriteriaQuery(User.class).sum("nbLogins")

Sql select sum(nbLogins) from User

2 Average function
Retrieving the average number of logins

API odb.getValues(new ValuesCriteriaQuery(User.class).avg("nbLogins")

Sql select avg(nbLogins) from User

3 Minimum and Maximum

Retrieving the minimum and maximum number of logins

API odb.getValues(new ValuesCriteriaQuery(User.class)

.min("nbLogins","min of nbLogins")
.max("nbLogins","max of nbLogins");

Sql select min(nbLogins) , max(nbLogins) from User

4 Counting values
Counting the number of users

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 25

 Object Values API

API odb.getValues(new ValuesCriteriaQuery(User.class).count("nb users");

Sql select count(*) from User

5 Group by
Retrieving the name of the profile, the number of user for that profile and their average login
number grouped by the name of the profile

API odb.getValues(new ValuesCriteriaQuery(User.class)

.field("profile.name")
.count("count")
.avg("nbLogins","avg")
.groupBy("profile.name"));

Sql select
p.name,
count(u.*),
avg(u.nbLogins)
from
User u,
Profile p
where
u.profile_id = p.id
group by p.name

6 Sublist and List size

Beyond providing aggregate functions, Object Values API also provides direct access to the
attributes of the objects. It may be very useful when only partial data are needed (to build report
for example) or when a very high volume of data is expected.

API IValuesQuery q = new ValuesCriteriaQuery(Profile.class)

.field("name")
.sublist("functions", 1, 2, false)
.size("functions", "fsize");

Sql ?

The result have three elements:

• element 1: the name of the profile

• element 2 : a sublist of the list starting at index 1 and size 2

• element 3 : The size of the whole list.

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 26

 Object Values API

The returned sublist is a lazy-loading list. The API does not return objects, it returns a list of
Map : each map contains the requested values. Example: Getting only the names of the users

Values values = odb.getValues(new ValuesCriteriaQuery(User.class).field("name"));

SQL Equivalent:

select name from User

9.2 Dynamic Views

A very interesting part of the Object Values API is the capability to directly navigate into object
relations to get the necessary information. This feature is called Dynamic Views.

To use Dynamic Views, instead of specifying the field name, the complete relation name to
reach the attribute is required:

For example, to get the name of the profile of a User, the complete relation name would be :
profile.name.

Example: getting the name of the users and their profile names:

API odb.getValues(new ValuesCriteriaQuery(User.class)

.field("name").
field("profile.name"));

Sql select u.name, p.name from User u, Profile p

where u.profile_Id = p.id

The relation navigation capability can also be used to restrict query results:

API odb.getValues(
new ValuesCriteriaQuery(
User.class,Where.equals("profile.name","profile 1"))
.field("name")
.field("profile.name"));

Sql select
u.name,
p.name
from
User u, Profile p
where
u.profileId = p.id and
p.name='profile 1'

Dynamic views provide the same facility as SQL Joins for semantic relations.

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 27

 Object Values API

9.3 Custom Functions

When a specific function is not available on the current Object Values API, it is possible
to implement it to compute the necessary information. This is done by extending the
CustomQueryFieldAction class. This implementation is done using the native programming
language (Java or C#.net).

The class CustomQueryFieldAction has five methods that need to be implemented:

void execute( The main method that will do the calculations. It receives
final OID oid,
the Object ID and the requested attribute values
final AttributeValuesMap values)

public Object getValue() A method to get the result of the calculation

public boolean isMultiRow() To indicate if the calculation return a single value or one
value per object

public void start() A method called by the query processor at the beginning of
the query execution

public void end() A method called by the query processor at the end of the
query execution

Here is a simple implementation example that computes the number of login of the user that are
currently logged in. To demonstrate the power of custom actions, notice that the logged user
information is not retrieved from database but from an external java class.

public class TestCustomQueryFieldAction2 extends CustomQueryFieldAction {

/** The number of logins */

private long nbLoggedUsers;

public TestCustomQueryFieldAction2() {
this.nbLoggedUsers = 0;
}

/** The method that actually computes the logins */

public void execute(final OID oid, final AttributeValuesMap values) {
// Gets the name of the user
String userName = (String) values.get("name");

// Call an external class (Users) to check if the user is logged in

if (Sessions.isLogged(userName)) {
nbLoggedUsers++;
}
}

public Object getValue() {

return new Long(nbLoggedUsers);
}

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 28

 Object Values API

public boolean isMultiRow() {

return false;
}

public void start() {

// Nothing to do
}

public void end() {

// Nothing to do
}
}

And here is how you use this custom function:

CustomQueryFieldAction customAction = new TestCustomQueryFieldAction();

Values values = odb.getValues(new ValuesCriteriaQuery(Users.class)

.custom("nbLogins", "nb logged users",customAction)
.field("name"));

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 29

Chapter 10. Updating Objects
To update an object in NeoDatis, it is necessary to load it first. This is necessary to let NeoDatis
know that the object already exists. So the process is to get the object, modify it and then store
it back into NeoDatis.

public void step12() throws Exception {

ODB odb = null;

try {
// Open the database
odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);
IQuery query = new CriteriaQuery(Sport.class,
Where.equal("name", "volley-ball"));

Objects<Sport> sports = odb.getObjects(query);

// Gets the first sport (there is only one!)

Sport volley = (Sport) sports.getFirst();

// Changes the name

volley.setName("Beach-Volley");

// Actually updates the object

odb.store(volley);

// Commits the changes

odb.close();

odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);

// Now query the database to check the change

sports = odb.getObjects(Sport.class);

System.out.println("\nStep 12 : Updating sport");

// display each object

while (sports.hasNext()) {
System.out.println((i + 1) + "\t: " + sports.next());
}
} finally {
if (odb != null) {
// Close the database
odb.close();
}
}
}

The output of Sport listing is:

Updating sport
1 : Beach-Volley
2 : Tennis

Warning: Always remember to retrieve the object before updating it. If an object is not
previously loaded from NeoDatis, calling the store method will create a new one!

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 30

Chapter 11. Deleting Objects
There are two ways to delete an object:

• Getting the object and ask NeoDatis to delete it

• If you have the id of the object, ask NeoDatis to delete the object with this specific id

1 Deleting an object
public void step13() throws Exception {

ODB odb = null;

try {
// Open the database
odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);
IQuery query = new CriteriaQuery(Player.class, Where.like("name", "%Agassi"));

Objects<Player> players = odb.getObjects(query);

// Gets the first player (there is only one!)

Player agassi = (Player) players.getFirst();

odb.delete(agassi);

odb.close();

odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);
// Now query the database to check the change
players = odb.getObjects(Player.class);

System.out.println("\nStep 13 : Deleting players");

// display each object
while (players.hasNext()) {
System.out.println((i + 1) + "\t: " + players.next());
}

} finally {
if (odb != null) {
// Close the database
odb.close();
}
}
}

2 Deleting an object using its internal

ID
public void step14() throws Exception {

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 31

 Deleting Objects

ODB odb = null;

try {
// Open the database
odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);

// Firts re-create Agassi player - it has been deleted in step 13

Player agassi = new Player("André Agassi",new Date(),new Sport("Tennis"));

OID agassiId = odb.store(agassi);

odb.commit();

odb.deleteObjectWithId(agassiId);

odb.close();

odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);

// Now query the databas eto check the change

Objects<Player> players = odb.getObjects(Player.class);

System.out.println("\nStep 14 : Deleting players");

// display each object
while (players.hasNext()) {
System.out.println((i + 1) + "\t: " + players.next());
}

} finally {
if (odb != null) {
// Close the database
odb.close();
}
}
}

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 32

Chapter 12. Using NeoDatis in client/
server mode
NeoDatis ODB can also be used as a client/server database and has two different Client/Server
modes:

• Traditional Client/Server where clients and server run in a different Virtual machines

• Optimized client/server mode where Clients and Server run in the same Virtual Machine
(version 1.9+). Useful when using NeoDatis ODB in a Web application. This mode is much
more faster.

The first thing to do this is to start the NeoDatis ODB server. A server needs some parameters
to be created:

• The port on which it must be executed: port that will receive client connections. Make sure
this port is free on the server.

• The database(s) that must be managed by the server: a server can ‘serve’ more that one
database. This is done by using the ‘addBase’ method in which you specify the name of the
base and its database file. The name of the base will be used by clients to tell to which base
they must be connected.

• The server can be started in the current thread( startServer(false)) or in a background thread
( startServer( true) )
Here is how to create a Server:

ODBServer server = null;

// Creates the server on port 8000

server = ODBFactory.openServer(8000);

// Tells the server to manage base 'base1' that points to the physical
// file /users/neodatis/db/base1.neodatis
server.addBase("base1", “/users/neodatis/db/base1.neodatis);

// Then starts the server to run in background

server.startServer(true);

Then a client must be created. There are two ways to create a client. If the client will run in the
same virtual machine than the server (if you are developing a web application, for example),
you can create a client from the server instance like this:

// Open the database client

ODB odb = server.openClient(“base1”);

If the client will run in another virtual machine, then the following API must be used:

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 33

 Using NeoDatis in client/server mode

// Open the database client on the localhost on port 8000 and specify which database instance
odb = ODBFactory.openClient("localhost",8000,"base1");

Here, the client will access the base ‘base1’ on the server 'localhost' on the port 8000.

The API to interact with the two types of clients is exactly the same.

The first one, using a same virtual machine, is faster because the communication between the
client server is optimized: it does not use net IO.

Here is the complete example:

public void step20() throws Exception {

// Create instance
Sport sport = new Sport("volley-ball");

ODB odb = null;

ODBServer server = null;
try {
// Creates the server on port 8000
server = ODBFactory.openServer(8000);
// Tells the server to manage base 'base1'
// that points to the file tutorial2.odb
server.addBase("base1", ODB_NAME);
// Then starts the server to run in background
server.startServer(true);

// Open the database client on the localhost

//on port 8000 and specify which database instance
odb = ODBFactory.openClient("localhost",8000,"base1");

// Store the object

odb.store(sport);
} finally {
if (odb != null) {
// First close the client
odb.close();
}
if (server != null) {
// Then close the database server
server.close();
}
}
}

Warning: when using the Same VM client server mode, you can not open 2 connections in the
same thread, each connection must be opened in its own thread.

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 34

Chapter 13. Reconnecting Objects to
Session
When opening a NeoDatis base, all objects that are stored or selected from the NeoDatis
instance are connected to the current session. Sometimes, you may need to reconnect objects
(loaded in a previous session) to a newly opened session.

This is very common when using NeoDatis in a web application for example. You may keep
the object in your session, and then when you want to update it, you should reload the object
first to be able to update it. A shortcut to this is to unable the reconnectObjectsToSession mode
by calling OdbConfiguration.setReconnectObjectsToSession(true). This will automatically re-
connect previously loaded objects the new session allowing a direct update (without having to
reload it before). The default value of 'ReconnectObjectsToSession is false

The following code creates two objects of type Function in the database. One with name
'Function 1' and the other with name 'Function A'

ODB odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);

Function f1 = new Function("Function 1");
odb.store(f1);
odb.close();

odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);
f1.setName("Function A");
odb.close();

But, if OdbConfiguration.setReconnectObjectsToSession(true) is called before, then the second

odb.store call will be understood by NeoDatis as an update and not an insert, so the code will
create a single object and update it with the name 'Function A'.

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 35

Chapter 14. Database Encoding
NeoDatis uses "ISO8859-1" as its default encoding.

The OdbConfiguration.setDatabaseCharacterEncoding(Java Encoding) can be called to set the

desired encoding.

The OdbConfiguration.setLatinDatabaseCharacterEncoding() uses the ISO8859-1 encoding

and is suitable for most of Latin languages applications.

Warning 1 :Encoding must always be configured before opening the NeoDatis database
Warning 2 :In client server mode, the correct encoding must be set on both client and server side.

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 36

Chapter 15. Object Explorer
NeoDatis Object Explorer is a graphical tool that comes with NeoDatis Database to manage
the data. The tool has the following features:

• Browse objects

• Query objects

• Create objects

• Update objects

• Delete objects

• Export/import a NeoDatis ODB Database

• Refactor the database

To start NeoDatis Object Explorer just execute the neodatis-odb.jar (java –jar neodatis-odb.jar).

To open a database, click on the NoeoDatis ODB menu and choose the ‘Open Database’ item
then point to the database file you want to open:

Figure 15.1. NeoDatis Object Explorer main menu

Then Object Explorer displays the meta-model of the database of the left of the window.

Clicking on a class, ObjectExplorer displays a contextual menu:

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 37

 Object Explorer

Figure 15.2. Meta model browser

• The ‘Table View’ item, displays data in an sql-like query result

• The ‘Object View’ item displays all objects in a hierarchy mode

• The ‘Query’ item opens a graphical wizard to build a CriteriaQuery

• The ‘New Object’ item opens a window to create a new instance of the specific class

• The Refactoring – Rename class allows renaming the class in the database.

15.1 Browsing data

To browse a database, simply open the database file. On the left of the screen, the meta-model
of the database will be displayed. Choose a class and a way to display data:

• Table View: display the result as a SQL query result.

• Object View: display objects as a tree respecting the object model.

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 38

 Object Explorer

15.1.1 Table View

Figure 15.3. Browsing object using Table View

15.1.2 Object View

If you prefer to see the objects with their recursive structure, then choose the Object Browse
mode:

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 39

 Object Explorer

Figure 15.4. Browsing object using Object View

15.2 Queries
The Object Explorer offers a graphic interface to build a CriteriaQuery to query a subset of
objects:

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 40

 Object Explorer

Figure 15.5. The query builder

15.3 Updating objects

It is possible to update objects using the Object Explorer. This can be done only in the ‘Object
View mode. When clicking on an object, the update button will be enabled. Remember to
commit or rollback your changes!:

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 41

 Object Explorer

Figure 15.6. Updating an object

When an object has an attribute that is another object, click on the ‘Choose the object’ to browse
and choose the desired object:

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 42

 Object Explorer

Figure 15.7. How to define a relation

15.4 Creating new objects

It is also possible to create objects using Object Explorer. Just select a class on the left panel
and click the `New Object` button:

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 43

 Object Explorer

Figure 15.8. Creating a new object

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 44

Chapter 16. XML
Using Object Explorer or NeoDatis API, an entire NeoDatis database can be exported to XML
and later imported back. Warning:XML import/export currently only works in local mode.

16.1 Using Object Exporer

16.1.1 Exporting
Click on the main menu and choose 'Export to XML'

Figure 16.1. Xml Exporter panel

16.1.2 Importing
Click on the main menu and choose 'Import from XML'

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 45

 XML

Figure 16.2. Xml Importer panel

16.2 Using NeoDatis API

Import and export features are also available via API using the XMLExporter and XMLImporter
classes

1 Exporting using API

public void step15() throws Exception {
ODB odb = null;

try {
// Open the database
odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME);
// Creates the exporter
XMLExporter exporter = new XMLExporter(odb);
// Actually export to current directory into the sports.xml file
exporter.export(".", "sports.xml");
} finally {
if (odb != null) {
odb.close();
}
}
}

2 Importing using API

public void step16() throws Exception {
ODB odb = null;

try {
// Open a database to receive imported data
odb = ODBFactory.open("imported-" + ODB_NAME);

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 46

 XML

// Creates the exporter

XMLImporter importer = new XMLImporter(odb);

// Actually import data from sports.xml file

importer.importFile(".", "sports.xml");

// Closes the database

odb.close();

// Re open the database

odb = ODBFactory.open("imported-" + ODB_NAME);
// Now query the databas eto check the change
Objects players = odb.getObjects(Player.class);

System.out.println("\nStep 16:getting players of imported database");

// display each object
while (players.hasNext()) {
System.out.println((i + 1) + "\t: " + players.next());
}
} finally {
if (odb != null) {
// Close the database
odb.close();
}
}
}

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 47

Chapter 17. NeoDatis Extended API
The extended NeoDatis API provides some advanced functions like:

odb.ext().getLastTransactionId() To get the last transaction id of the database

odb.ext().getObjectVersion(OID oid) To get the version of an object with the specific

OID

odb.ext().getObjectCreationDate(OID oid)Toget the creation date of an object with the

specified OID

odb.ext().convertToExternalOID(oid); To convert an internal OID (Object ID) to an

external OID : this guarantees uniqueness across
databases

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 48

Chapter 18. User/Password protection
If you need to protect the access of the database, you can open/create it with a user/password.
Once created with a user, it will always be necessary to pass the correct user and password to
open the database:

public void step17() throws Exception {

ODB odb = null;

try {
// Open the database
odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME_2, "user", "password");

odb.store(new Sport("Tennis"));

// Commits the changes

odb.close();
try {
// try to open the database without user/password
odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME_2);
} catch (ODBAuthenticationRuntimeException e) {
System.out.println("\nStep 17 : invalid user/password : database could not be opened");
}

// then open the database with correct user/password

odb = ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME_2, "user", "password");
System.out.println("\nStep 17 : user/password : database opened");

} finally {
if (odb != null) {
// Close the database
odb.close();
}
}
}

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 49

Chapter 19. Best practices
1 Open/Close Database
When working with NeoDatis ODB, it is important to call the close method to commit changes.
To be sure to do this, it is a good practice to use a try/finally block:

ODB odb = null;

try {
// Open the database
odb = ODBFactory.open(…);

// work with odb

// …

} finally {
if (odb != null && !odb.isClosed()) {
// Close the database
odb.close();
}
}

It is also a good practice to put the ODBFactory.open(ODB_NAME) code in a separated class

to isolate the opening of the database.

2 Transient fields
Sometimes, classes have fields that are used for processing but do not need to be persisted with
the objects. Such fields should be declared as transient to tell NeoDatis that they do not need
to be persisted.

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 50

Chapter 20. Using NeoDatis in web
applications
To use NeoDatis in WEB applications, you just need to put the NeoDatis jar in the WEB-INF/
lib of the war. The default place of the NeoDatis database file (if not specified when opening
the NeoDatis file) will be the execution directory of the web container. For example, if you use
Tomcat, the NeoDatis database file will be created in the $TOMCAT/bin directory.

See Reconnecting Objects to Session to see how to simply update objects for web application.

20.1 Web App Example

You can use both local mode or Client server mode for NeoDatis. If you know you will have
concurrent connections it is better to the Client / Server one.

As clients will run in the same JVM (your web server), you can opt for the 'SameVm' client
server mode (as it is faster).

How and when can I start the NeoDatis server?

You can use a ServletContextListener to start your server:

public class NeoDatisServerContextListener implements ServletContextListener {

private static final int NEODATIS_SERVER_PORT = 10001;

public static ODBServer server;
public static boolean isOk;

public void contextDestroyed(ServletContextEvent event) {

System.out.println("NeoDatis server context destroyed");

if (server != null) {
try {
server.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

public void contextInitialized(ServletContextEvent context) {

try {
System.out.println("Starting NeoDatis Server");
// Creates the server
server = ODBFactory.openServer(NEODATIS_SERVER_PORT);
// Starts the server to run in an independent thread
server.startServer(true);
isOk = true;
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 51

 Using NeoDatis in web applications

throw new RuntimeException(e);

} finally {
}
}
}

When you need to build an url to identify an object, you can use the NeoDatis OID to do that.
Example : http://localhost/MyApp/UpdateObject?oid=1000. The OID would be the NeoDatis
Object OID as you already have some API to retrieve objects by OID. See the OID chapter for
more information [54]

The default location of database creation in the webserver execution directory. For example,
if you are using tomcat, if you don't specify absolute path, the NeoDatis file will be created
in the bin directory

Use commit instead of Close. If you use the odb.commit() instead of close(), all your objects
will be in the NeoDatis cache and you won't need to reload objects when updating

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Chapter 21. Advanced features
All Configuration and tuning are done using the class : org.neodatis.odb.core.OdbConfiguration

1 Multi-thread
For instance, NeoDatis ODB used in local mode does not support concurrent access yet. But
there is a way to use it in multi-thread runtime environment. To do so, it is necessary to inform
NeoDatis ODB that you are using multi-thread and specify the thread pool size. This can be
done using:

OdbConfiguration.useMultiThread(true,[thread pool size])

Normally, if you try to open a database file that is already open, NeoDatis will throw an
exception, when useMutiThread is called, instead of throwing an exception, NeoDatis will wait
x milliseconds and retries to open the database. The time NeoDatis will wait and the number
of retries depends on the number of threads that have been configured.

2 Defragmentation
to do.

3 Classes without default constructor

NeoDatis uses Reflection to create objects. Sometimes some classes may not have empty
constructors. In this case, when ODB creates an instance, it tries to instantiate without calling
any constructor. In other cases, a default constructor exists but it may need some specific data
to be executed successfully. To resolve this, ODB has 2 interfaces that may be implemented
to help ODB instantiate objects:

• ParameterHelper

• InstanceHelper
The parameterHelper interface may be used to help NeoDatis with the right data to execute
a constructor. The InstanceHelper interface may be used to help NeoDatis create the instance.
The “No Calling Constructor” feature is enabled by default. To enable/disable, use

OdbConfiguration.setEnableEmptyConstructorCreation(true/false);

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 53

 Advanced features

4 NeoDatis logging
Default NeoDatis log behavior is logging to console(with System.out.println). But if you need
a specific log you can then create your logger implementing org.neodatis.tool.ILogger to do
what you need, logging to log4j, for example. Here is an example

public class MyLogger

implements ILogger {

public void debug(Object object) {

...
}

public void error(Object object) {

...
}

public void error(Object object, Throwable t) {

...
}

public void info(Object object) {

}
}

Then you must call org.neodatis.tool.DLogger.register( new MyLogger() );

Then all log call will be forwarded to your logger too.

There is currently no way to disable log to console.

5 OIDs
In some cases, you may need the OID to retrieve an object. This can be the case in web
application when you want to update an object for example. You can use the oid of the object as
being the key of the object in the url: http://www.mydomain.com/update?oid=[NeoDatis OID]
You can use the

String soid = OID.oid.oidToString();

to retrive a string representation of the OID. Then you can use

OID oid = OIDFactory.oidFromString(soid);

to build a real OID from the string representation. Once you have the OID, you can retrieve
the object using

odb.getObjectFromId(oid)

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 54

Chapter 22. NeoDatis on Google
Android
As Android supports java 1.5, to run NeoDatis ODB on Android, just use the Java version and
use it normally. Check http://www.neodatis.org/android

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 55

Chapter 23. NeoDatis and Groovy
Thanks to Guilherme Gomes, NeoDatis Odb can be used to persist Groovy objects

// Gets the Groovy ClassLoader

GroovyClassLoader gcl = new GroovyClassLoader();
// Gets a Groovy Engine
GroovyScriptEngine gse = new GroovyScriptEngine("", gcl);

// Sets the Groovy ClassLoader as the default NeoDatis Odb ClassLoader

OdbConfiguration.setClassLoader(gcl);

// Loads Groovy classes in the Groovy ClassLoader

gcl.parseClass(new File("scripts\\Costumer.groovy"));

Check http://www.neodatis.org/neodatis-and-groovy

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 56

Chapter 24. Annexes
1 Xml Exported file of the tutorial
NeoDatis base
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<odb name="tutorial1.neodatis" export-date-time="1241786956672" max-oid="31" file-format-version="9">
<meta-model >
<class id="1" name="org.neodatis.odb.test.tutorial.Sport">
<attribute id="1" name="name" type="java.lang.String"/>
</class>
<class id="3" name="org.neodatis.odb.test.tutorial.Game">
<attribute id="1" name="when" type="java.util.Date"/>
<attribute id="2" name="sport" type="org.neodatis.odb.test.tutorial.Sport"/>
<attribute id="3" name="team1" type="org.neodatis.odb.test.tutorial.Team"/>
<attribute id="4" name="team2" type="org.neodatis.odb.test.tutorial.Team"/>
<attribute id="5" name="result" type="java.lang.String"/>
</class>
<class id="4" name="org.neodatis.odb.test.tutorial.Team">
<attribute id="1" name="name" type="java.lang.String"/>
<attribute id="2" name="players" type="java.util.Collection"/>
</class>
<class id="5" name="org.neodatis.odb.test.tutorial.Player">
<attribute id="1" name="name" type="java.lang.String"/>
<attribute id="2" name="birthDate" type="java.util.Date"/>
<attribute id="3" name="favoriteSport" type="org.neodatis.odb.test.tutorial.Sport"/>
</class>
</meta-model>
<objects >
<object oid="7" class-id="1">
<attribute id="1" name="name" value="Beach-Volley"/>
</object>
<object oid="15" class-id="1">
<attribute id="1" name="name" value="Tennis"/>
</object>
<object oid="6" class-id="3">
<attribute id="1" name="when" value="1241786956537"/>
<attribute id="2" name="sport" ref-oid="7"/>
<attribute id="3" name="team1" ref-oid="8"/>
<attribute id="4" name="team2" ref-oid="11"/>
<attribute id="5" name="result" is-null="true"/>
</object>
<object oid="8" class-id="4">
<attribute id="1" name="name" value="Paris"/>
<attribute id="2" name="players" type="collection">
<collection native-class-name="java.util.ArrayList" size="2">
<element ref-oid="9"/>
<element ref-oid="10"/>
</collection>
</attribute>
</object>
<object oid="11" class-id="4">
<attribute id="1" name="name" value="Montpellier"/>
<attribute id="2" name="players" type="collection">
<collection native-class-name="java.util.ArrayList" size="2">

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 57

 Annexes

<element ref-oid="12"/>
<element ref-oid="13"/>
</collection>
</attribute>
</object>
<object oid="9" class-id="5">
<attribute id="1" name="name" value="olivier"/>
<attribute id="2" name="birthDate" value="1241786956537"/>
<attribute id="3" name="favoriteSport" ref-oid="7"/>
</object>
<object oid="10" class-id="5">
<attribute id="1" name="name" value="pierre"/>
<attribute id="2" name="birthDate" value="1241786956537"/>
<attribute id="3" name="favoriteSport" ref-oid="7"/>
</object>
<object oid="12" class-id="5">
<attribute id="1" name="name" value="elohim"/>
<attribute id="2" name="birthDate" value="1241786956537"/>
<attribute id="3" name="favoriteSport" ref-oid="7"/>
</object>
<object oid="13" class-id="5">
<attribute id="1" name="name" value="minh"/>
<attribute id="2" name="birthDate" value="1241786956537"/>
<attribute id="3" name="favoriteSport" ref-oid="7"/>
</object>
<object oid="30" class-id="5">
<attribute id="1" name="name" value="Andr%8E+Agassi"/>
<attribute id="2" name="birthDate" value="1241786956648"/>
<attribute id="3" name="favoriteSport" ref-oid="15"/>
</object>
</objects>
</odb>

NeoDatis 1.9.1 NeoDatis Object Database 58