Question

How can I update only a particular set of fields to the database with Play? Currently I have a User model that contains a specific field, let call it: isAdministrator:

private boolean isAdministrator;

And I have the accessor methods:

/**
 * @return the isAdministrator
 */
public boolean isAdministrator() {
    return isAdministrator;
}

/**
 * @param isAdministrator
 *            the isAdministrator to set
 */
public void setAdministrator(boolean isAdministrator) {
    this.isAdministrator = isAdministrator;
}

But when I change the username, via a form where isAdministrator is NOT included, Play resets my User objects and sets the value 0 for this user?

So, how can I update only the changed fields?

Answer 1

I don’t directly answer to your question, but instead of having a boolean indicating that your User is an admin or not, I would create an Admin class which inherits from the User.

public class Admin extends User {
....
}

It’s the “S” of SOLID 😉

EDIT:

In the controller, you can load the old value from the database before updating with the form values:

...
User userFromDB = User.findById(anId);
User userFromForm = userForm.get();

// set previous value
userFromForm.setArchived(userFromDB.getArchived());

User.update(userFromForm);
...