Question

I have been trying to fully understand and implement a GenericDAO layer in hibernate. I am new to the concept and have been doing a bit of reading and studying. I have found numberous examples on example implementations of a GenericDAO Layer, and this is what I have ended up with.

public class GenericDAOImpl<T, ID extends Serializable> implements GenericDAO<T, ID> {

    private static Logger log = Logger.getLogger(GenericDAOImpl.class.getName());


    private SessionFactory sessionFactory;


    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    public T findById(long id, Class<T> objectClass) {
        log.info("Entered GenericDAOImpl findById(" + id +")");
        T result = (T) getSessionFactory().getCurrentSession().load(objectClass, id);
        if(result != null){
            Hibernate.initialize(result);
            return result;
        }else{ 
            return null;
        }
    }

    public boolean create(T newInstance) {
        log.info("Entered GenericDAOImpl create()");
        if(newInstance == null){
            return false;
        }
        getSessionFactory().getCurrentSession().saveOrUpdate(newInstance);
        return true;        
    }


    public boolean updpate(T updateInstance) {
        log.info("Entered GenericDAOImpl updpate()");
        if(updateInstance == null){
            return false;
        }
        getSessionFactory().getCurrentSession().update(updateInstance); 
        return true;
    }

    public boolean delete(T entity) {
        log.info("Entered GenericDAOImpl delete()");
        if(entity == null){
            return false;
        }
        getSessionFactory().getCurrentSession().delete(entity);
        return true;
    }

    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    public List<T> findByExample(T exampleInstance, Class<T> objectClass){
        log.info("Entered GenericDAOImpl findByExample()");
        Criteria searchCriteria = getSessionFactory().getCurrentSession().createCriteria(objectClass);

        searchCriteria.add(Example.create(exampleInstance));

        return (List<T>)searchCriteria.list();          

    }

    public SessionFactory getSessionFactory() {
        return sessionFactory;
    }

    public void setSessionFactory(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
        this.sessionFactory = sessionFactory;
    }       
}

It seems as though this should work in theory (may need some tweaking)

My question is can I use a generic service and view layer to “pass through” the layered architecture approach? I do not fully understand hibernate transactions enough to know if it is safe to do this, with its handling of transactions etc…

Maybe something like this for the service layer for example

public class GenericServiceImpl<T, ID extends Serializable> implements GenericService<T, ID>{

    private GenericDAO<T, ID> genericDao;

    @Override
    public T findById(long id, Class<T> objectClass) {
        return this.getGenericDao().findById(id, objectClass);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean create(T newInstance) {
        return this.getGenericDao().create(newInstance);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean updpate(T updateInstance) {
        return this.getGenericDao().updpate(updateInstance);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean delete(T entity) {
        return this.getGenericDao().delete(entity);
    }

    @SuppressWarnings({ "unchecked", "rawtypes" })
    @Override
    public List findByExample(T exampleInstance, Class<T> objectClass) {
        return this.getGenericDao().findByExample(exampleInstance, objectClass);
    }


    public GenericDAO<T, ID> getGenericDao() {
        return genericDao;
    }

    public void setGenericDao(GenericDAO<T, ID> genericDao) {
        this.genericDao = genericDao;
    }


}

Then could I go on and do a generic view layer as well?

Please let me know if this approach is acceptable or if there are any concerns with this approach.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and responses!

Answer 1

Your service, as it stands, is simply delegating everything to the underlying DAO. This may be desired sometimes, but typically I put “business logic” in the service layer. Putting logic in the service layer will help keep your controller layer pretty light too.

A service can use one or more DAOs to accomplish the task it needs. So consider a simple bank system, where I have a AccountDao

public class AccountDao implements GenericDao<Account, Long> {
  // your save, insert, delete, find, etc
}

Then in my service, I would put “makePayment” or something

@Service
public class AccountService {

   @Autowired
   private AccountDao dao;

   @Transactional
   public void makePayment(Long fromId, Long toId, double amount) {
      Account from = dao.find(fromId);
      from.withdrawl(amount);

      Account to = dao.find(toId);
      to.deposit(amount);

      dao.save(from);
      dao.save(to);
   }
}

Use transactions on your service layer, to give you more control over which operations need to be in the same transaction.