Question

I want to access my applicant database that’s why I created a DAO class for it.

I think I have lots of code smells because I keep on repeating some code. So what can I do to make my code simpler in order to achieve less code smells? What rules am I violating? How can i improve my code? Thank you.

My code is as follows:

public class ApplicantDAO {

private static ApplicantDAO me = null;

private ApplicantDAO(){};

public static synchronized ApplicantDAO getInstance() {
    if(me == null) {
        me = new ApplicantDAO();
    }
    return me;
}

public Applicant getApplicant(int applicantNumber) throws SQLException {
    Applicant applicant = null;

    Connection conn = null; 
    Statement statement= null;
    String query = null;
    ResultSet rs = null;

    try {
        conn = ConnectionManager.getConnection();
        statement = conn.createStatement();
        query = "SELECT * FROM applicant WHERE applicant_no = '" + applicantNumber +"'";    //check applicant_number
        rs = statement.executeQuery(query);

        while(rs.next()){
            applicant = new Applicant();

            applicant.setApplicantNumber(rs.getInt("applicant_no"));
            applicant.setApplicationDate(rs.getString("applicant_date")); 
            applicant.setfName(rs.getString("first_name"));
            applicant.setlName(rs.getString("last_name"));
            applicant.setmName(rs.getString("middle_name"));
            applicant.setAge(rs.getInt("age"));
            applicant.setGender(rs.getString("gender"));
            applicant.setEmail(rs.getString("email_address"));
            applicant.setContactNumber(rs.getString("contact_no"));
            applicant.setCity(rs.getString("city"));
            applicant.setSchool(rs.getString("school"));
            applicant.setCourse(rs.getString("course"));
            applicant.setYearGraduated(rs.getInt("year_graduated"));
            applicant.setYearWorkExp(rs.getInt("year_work_exp"));
            applicant.setSourceChannel(rs.getString("source_channel"));
            applicant.setStatus_id(rs.getInt("status_id"));

        }

    } catch (SQLException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    }finally {
        if (rs != null) try { rs.close(); } catch (SQLException logOrIgnore) {}
        if (statement != null) try { statement.close(); } catch (SQLException logOrIgnore) {}
        if (conn!= null) try { conn.close(); } catch (SQLException logOrIgnore) {}
    }


    return applicant;
}

public ArrayList<Applicant> getApplicants() throws SQLException{
    ArrayList<Applicant> applicantList = null;
    Applicant applicant = null;

    Connection conn = null; 
    Statement statement= null;
    String query = null;
    ResultSet rs = null;

    try {
        conn = ConnectionManager.getConnection();
        statement = conn.createStatement();
        query = "select * from applicant";
        rs = statement.executeQuery(query);

        while(rs.next()){
            if(applicantList == null){
                applicantList = new ArrayList<Applicant>();
            }
            applicant = new Applicant();

            applicant.setApplicantNumber(rs.getInt("applicant_no"));
            applicant.setApplicationDate(rs.getString("applicant_date")); 
            applicant.setfName(rs.getString("first_name"));
            applicant.setlName(rs.getString("last_name"));
            applicant.setmName(rs.getString("middle_name"));
            applicant.setAge(rs.getInt("age"));
            applicant.setGender(rs.getString("gender"));
            applicant.setEmail(rs.getString("email_address"));
            applicant.setContactNumber(rs.getString("contact_no"));
            applicant.setCity(rs.getString("city"));
            applicant.setSchool(rs.getString("school"));
            applicant.setCourse(rs.getString("course"));
            applicant.setYearGraduated(rs.getInt("year_graduated"));
            applicant.setYearWorkExp(rs.getInt("year_work_exp"));
            applicant.setSourceChannel(rs.getString("source_channel"));
            applicant.setStatus_id(rs.getInt("status_id"));

            applicantList.add(applicant);
        }

    } catch (SQLException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    }finally{
         if (rs != null) try { rs.close(); } catch (SQLException logOrIgnore) {}
         if (statement != null) try { statement.close(); } catch (SQLException logOrIgnore) {}
         if (conn!= null) try { conn.close(); } catch (SQLException logOrIgnore) {}
    }
    return applicantList;
}

Answer 1

Giant, glaring issues I see:

1. The DAO is a singleton. Why?
2. You’re not using EntityManager. Also, why?

If you’re actually using Java EE (as the question is tagged) rather than J2EE (which is a miserable spec built around Java 1.4) then the DAO pattern is completely unnecessary. EntityManager is the new DAO.

Have a look at the first few sections of The Java EE 6 Tutorial – Persistence.

---

we are required to use J2ee.. 🙁

Ok, so you still need to fix the singleton implementation. There is simply no reason to only create one instance of this object, given that it does not store any internal state whatsoever. There’s an easy fix:

• Remove private static ApplicantDAO me = null; entirely

• Change the getInstance() implementation to

  public static ApplicantDAO getInstance() {
      return new ApplicantDAO();
  }
  

Other smells:

• You’ll almost always want to declare Lists rather than ArrayLists, so change declarations like

  public ArrayList<Applicant> getApplicants() throws SQLException
  // to
  public List<Applicant> getApplicants() throws SQLException
  
  // and
  
  ArrayList<Applicant> applicantList = null;
  // to
  List<Applicant> applicantList = null;