Create spring repository without entity

Certain scenarios may arise where you need to create a Spring repository without explicitly defining an entity class. While CrudRepository or JpaRepository are designed to work in conjunction with an <Entity, ID> pair, there are workarounds and alternative approaches you can explore.

Option 1: Utilize a Custom Repository

  @Repository
  public class CustomNativeRepositoryImpl implements CustomNativeRepository {

    @Autowired
    private EntityManager entityManager;

    @Override
    public Object runNativeQuery() {
        entityManager.createNativeQuery("myNativeQuery")
         .getSingleResult();
    }
}

Here, you create a custom repository interface CustomNativeRepository and its implementation CustomNativeRepositoryImpl. Within the implementation, you can directly inject the EntityManager and execute native queries using createNativeQuery().

Option 2: Implement a Custom Repository with Criteria API

public interface ProductFilterRepository {
    Page<Product> filter(FilterTO filter, Pageable pageable);
}



@Repository
@AllArgsConstructor
public class ProductFilterRepositoryImpl implements ProductFilterRepository {

    private final EntityManager em;

    @Override
    public Page<Product> filter(FilterTO filter, Pageable pageable) {
        CriteriaBuilder cb = em.getCriteriaBuilder();
        CriteriaQuery<Product> cq = cb.createQuery(Product.class);
        Root<Product> root = cq.from(Product.class);
        List<Predicate> predicates = new ArrayList<>();

        if (filter.getPriceMin() != null) {
            predicates.add(cb.ge(root.get("price"), filter.getPriceMin()));
        }
        if (filter.getPriceMax() != null) {
            predicates.add(cb.le(root.get("price"), filter.getPriceMax()));
        }
        if (filter.getBrands() != null && !filter.getBrands().isEmpty()) {
            predicates.add(root.get("brand").in(filter.getBrands()));
        }
        if (filter.getCategories() != null && !filter.getCategories().isEmpty()) {
            predicates.add(root.get("category").in(filter.getCategories()));
        }
        cq.where(predicates.toArray(new Predicate[0]));
        TypedQuery<Product> tq = em.createQuery(cq);
        tq.setMaxResults(pageable.getPageSize());
        tq.setFirstResult(pageable.getPageNumber() * pageable.getPageSize());

        CriteriaQuery<Long> countCq = cb.createQuery(Long.class);
        countCq.select(cb.count(countCq.from(Product.class)));
        countCq.where(predicates.toArray(new Predicate[0]));
        TypedQuery<Long> countTq = em.createQuery(countCq);
        Long count = countTq.getSingleResult();

        return new PageImpl<>(tq.getResultList(), pageable, count);
    }
}

This approach allows you to define a custom repository interface ProductFilterRepository and its implementation ProductFilterRepositoryImpl. Here, you can utilize the Criteria API to construct complex queries without relying on an entity class.

Additional Resources:

• Spring Data Commons Documentation - Custom Repository Behavior
• Baeldung Tutorial - Using EntityManager