2.4.9. Filters

Hibernate has the ability to apply arbitrary filters on top of your data. Those filters are applied at runtime on a given session. First, you need to define them.

@org.hibernate.annotations.FilterDef or @FilterDefs define filter definition(s) used by filter(s) using the same name. A filter definition has a name() and an array of parameters(). A parameter will allow you to adjust the behavior of the filter at runtime. Each parameter is defined by a @ParamDef which has a name and a type. You can also define a defaultCondition() parameter for a given @FilterDef to set the default condition to use when none are defined in each individual @Filter. A @FilterDef(s) can be defined at the class or package level.

We now need to define the SQL filter clause applied to either the entity load or the collection load. @Filter is used and placed either on the entity or the collection element

@Entity
@FilterDef(name="minLength", parameters=@ParamDef( name="minLength", type="integer" ) )
@Filters( {
    @Filter(name="betweenLength", condition=":minLength <= length and :maxLength >= length"),
    @Filter(name="minLength", condition=":minLength <= length")
} )
public class Forest { ... }

When the collection use an association table as a relational representation, you might want to apply the filter condition to the association table itself or to the target entity table. To apply the constraint on the target entity, use the regular @Filter annotation. However, if you want to target the association table, use the @FilterJoinTable annotation.

    @OneToMany
    @JoinTable
    //filter on the target entity table
    @Filter(name="betweenLength", condition=":minLength <= length and :maxLength >= length")
    //filter on the association table
    @FilterJoinTable(name="security", condition=":userlevel >= requiredLevel")
    public Set<Forest> getForests() { ... }