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Can I directly map the data from an external source on it to persist on DB?

I am pretty new in Spring Data JPA and ORM in general. I have the following architectural doubt.
Lets consider this entity class:
#Entity // This tells Hibernate to make a table out of this class
public class Order {
#Id
#GeneratedValue(strategy=GenerationType.AUTO)
private int id;
#Column(name = "name")
private String fullName;
private String address;
private String product;
#Column(name = "order_date_time")
private String orderDate;
private Double quantity;
// getters, setters
}
This class is mapped on my order database table.
In my application data came from an Excel document that I parse via Apace POI and than I have to persist on the database.
My doubt is: can I directly use this entity class to map an Excel row using Apache POI in order to persist the Excel rows as order table records? Or is better to use another DTO class to read the rows from Excel and than use this DTO to set the field values of my entity class?
An entity class can contain a constructor using fields?

Can I directly use this entity class to map an Excel row using Apache
POI in order to persist the Excel rows as order table records?
Yes you can.
Or is better to use another DTO class to read the rows from Excel and
than use this DTO to set the field values of my entity class?
It's certainly common to have a DTO layer between the two, but it's not required so it's up to you.
An entity class can contain a constructor using fields?
Yes, but at least Hibernate wants a non-private default constructor as well, so remember to create a protected Order() {} (or any visibility modifier besides private) in addition to your parameterized constructor.

I'm not a heavy user of Apache POI, but I do know it's used to manipulate MS files.
So, here are my two cents, in your use case, you can just read it and map directly to the Entity class as it doesn't expose an API to the external world.
However, if you were building a REST/SOAP API, I recommend you put a DTO in between so you don't mistakenly expose things that shouldn't be exposed.

From architectural point of view better to have a DTO class and encapsulate some logic there.
class CsvOrder {
private String fullName;
private String address;
public CsvRecord(String[] record) {
fullName = get(record, FULLNAME_INDEX);
address = get(record, ADDRESS_INDEX);
}
public Order toOrder() {
Order result = new Order();
result.setFullName(fullName);
return result;
}
}
public static <T> T get(T[] arr, int index) {
final T notFound = null;
return index < size(arr) ? arr[index] : notFound;
}
public static <T> int size(T[] array) {
return array == null ? 0 : array.length;
}
You can put a static method toOrder() to OrderServiceMapper, if you want to totally decouple layers
class OrderServiceMapper {
public static Order toOrder(CsvOrder order) {
Order result = new Order();
result.setFullName(order.getFullName());
return result;
}
}
Also, use Integer in place of int for id. Better to use Long everywhere
// This tells Spring to add this class to Hibernate configuration during auto scan
#Entity
public class Order {
#Id
#GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO)
private Integer id;
}

#XmlVariableNode ignores the second property if used twice

I have to create POJOs so that I can generate XML using JAXB for the below XML (Just a sample because child elements may go beyond 40).
Here, important thing to note is that I cannot declare these elements as properties in POJO because I won't be knowing the elements name.
<User>
<FirstName>Mahendra</FirstName>
<MiddleName>Singh</MiddleName>
<LastName>Dhoni</LastName>
<Organization>
<Name>Electronics</Name>
<id>elc001</id>
</Organization>
<Manager>
<Name>Sourabh</Name>
<id>emp_001</id>
</Manager>
</User>
I have created POJO for above XML as:
Fields1.java : For elements having value only.
public class Fields1
{
#XmlTransient
public String fieldName1;
#XmlValue
public String value;
// getter,setter
}
Fields2.java : For elements having child elements.
public class Fields2
{
#XmlTransient
public String fieldName2;
#XmlElement(name="NAME")
public String name;
#XmlElement(name="ID")
public String id;
// getter,setter
}
User.java : Root element class
public class User
{
#XmlVariableNode("fieldName1")
public List<Fields1> fields1;
#XmlVariableNode("fieldName2")
public List<Fields2> fields2;
// getter, setter
}
Here, #XmlVariableNode is helping me to generate elements name dynamically.
1. But, it only works fine if there is only single property
2. and if, there are two properties then it just works for the first one and ignores the next.

AFAIK, multiple #XmlVariableNodes in the same class are not possible. EclipseLink's documentation states:
Since this [#XmlVariableNode] makes use of the any logic during unmarshal and MOXy only
handles one Any mapping on a class if a class makes use of the
XmlVariableNode annotation then that class can not have XmlAnyElement
annotations or any other variables that would cause AnyObject or
AnyCollection mappings to be created.
(Source: EclipseLink/DesignDocs/406697)
You might be able to solve your problem by using nested #XmlVariableNodes:
public class TopLevelField {
#XmlTransient
public String fieldName;
#XmlVariableNode("fieldName")
public List<NestedField> fields;
// ...
}
public class NestedField {
#XmlTransient
public String fieldName;
#XmlValue
public String value;
// ...
}
#XmlRootElement
public class User {
#XmlVariableNode("fieldName")
public List<TopLevelField> fields;
}

Serialize Jackson field in two different ways

I am doing POJO serialization / deserialization using Jackson.
Here is a POJO exemple :
public class Pojo {
public String productId;
public String name;
}
I have to read the field productId in this JSON :
{"productId":"1","name":"exemple"}
But also in :
{"_id":"1","name":"exemple"}
To make it short, I would like to use the same object to read the field in a JSON file found somewhere and to save the object as this in MongoDB, using productId as the primary key, which has to be named _id.
Since I am using Jackson (fasterxml) both to read from the file and to write to the database, I can not find a way to do so, except by creating a new class with the same fields (or inheritance) and fill them one by one. Basically, I would like to find a way to put 2 #JsonProperty annotations on productId.

Works with both strings:
public class Pojo {
#JsonProperty("_id")
public String productId;
public String name;
#JsonProperty("productId")
public void setProductId(String id) {
productId = id;
}
}

Want to hide some fields of an object that are being mapped to JSON by Jackson

I have a User class that I want to map to JSON using Jackson.
public class User {
private String name;
private int age;
private int securityCode;
// getters and setters
}
I map this to a JSON string using -
User user = getUserFromDatabase();
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
String json = mapper.writeValueAsString(user);
I don't want to map the securityCode variable. Is there any way of configuring the mapper so that it ignores this field?
I know I can write custom data mappers or use the Streaming API but I would like to know if it possible to do it through configuration?

You have two options:
Jackson works on setters-getters of fields. So, you can just remove getter of field which you want to omit in JSON. ( If you don't need getter at other place.)
Or, you can use the #JsonIgnore annotation of Jackson on getter method of that field and you see there in no such key-value pair in resulted JSON.
#JsonIgnore
public int getSecurityCode(){
return securityCode;
}

Adding this here because somebody else may search this again in future, like me. This Answer is an extension to the Accepted Answer
You have two options:
1. Jackson works on setters-getters of fields. So, you can just remove getter of field which you want to omit in JSON. ( If you don't need getter at other place.)
2. Or, you can use the `#JsonIgnore` [annotation of Jackson][1] on getter method of that field and you see there in no such key-value pair in resulted JSON.
#JsonIgnore
public int getSecurityCode(){
return securityCode;
}
Actually, newer version of Jackson added READ_ONLY and WRITE_ONLY annotation arguments for JsonProperty. So you could also do something like this.
#JsonProperty(access = Access.WRITE_ONLY)
private String securityCode;
instead of
#JsonIgnore
public int getSecurityCode(){
return securityCode;
}

you also can gather all properties on an annotation class
#JsonIgnoreProperties( { "applications" })
public MyClass ...
String applications;

If you don't want to put annotations on your Pojos you can also use Genson.
Here is how you can exclude a field with it without any annotations (you can also use annotations if you want, but you have the choice).
Genson genson = new Genson.Builder().exclude("securityCode", User.class).create();
// and then
String json = genson.serialize(user);

Field Level:
public class User {
private String name;
private int age;
#JsonIgnore
private int securityCode;
// getters and setters
}
Class Level:
#JsonIgnoreProperties(value = { "securityCode" })
public class User {
private String name;
private int age;
private int securityCode;
}

if you are using GSON you have to mark the field/member declarations as #Expose and use the GsonBuilder().excludeFieldsWithoutExposeAnnotation().create()
Don't forget to mark your sub classes with #Expose otherwise the fields won't show.

I suggest you use this.
#JsonProperty(access = JsonProperty.Access.WRITE_ONLY)
private int securityCode;
This allows you to set the value of securityCode(especially if you use lombok #Setter) and also prevent the field from showing up in the GET request.

I had a similar case where I needed some property to be deserialized (JSON to Object) but not serialized (Object to JSON)
First i went for #JsonIgnore - it did prevent serialization of unwanted property, but failed to de-serialize it too. Trying value attribute didn't help either as it requires some condition.
Finally, working #JsonProperty with access attribute worked like a charm.

Modifying property names in JPA queries

I'm using a convention of prefixing field names with an underscore. When I generate annotate entity classes with such fields I am stuck to using the underscore-prefixed property names in queries. I want to avoid that, and be able to do:
#Entity
public class Container {
private String _value;
}
// in a lookup method
executeQuery("from Container where value = ?", value);
Is that possible with JPA in general or Hibernate in particular?
Update: Still trying to remember why, but I need this to be annotated on fields rather than on getters.

You can annotate the getter:
#Entity
public class Container {
private String _value;
#Column
public String getValue()
{
return _value;
}
public void setValue( String value )
{
this._value = value;
}
}

You could perhaps write subclasses of your generated entity classes, which have getter methods on them, and then configure the entity manager to use getter/setter access instead if field access? Then your getters/setters could have any name you liked.

Have a look at NamingStrategy. It would be fairly easy to extend the DefaultNamingStrategy and override the columnName method to strip the first underscore (if it is there).