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Oracle® Database JDBC Developer's Guide and Reference
10g Release 2 (10.2)

Part Number B14355-02
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20 JDBC RowSets

This chapter contains the following sections:

Overview

A RowSet is an object that encapsulates a set of rows from either java Database Connectivity (JDBC) result sets or tabular data sources. RowSets support component-based development models like JavaBeans, with a standard set of properties and an event notification mechanism. The support for RowSet was introduced in JDBC 2.0 through the optional packages. However, the implementations of RowSets was standardized in the JDBC RowSet Implementations Specification (JSR-114) by Sun Microsystems, which is available in Java Development Kit (JDK) 5.0. The JDK 5.0 Javadoc provides information about the standard interfaces and base classes for JDBC RowSet implementations.

See Also:

Note:

In case of any conflict, the JSR-114 specification takes precedence over the JDK 5.0 Javadoc.

The JSR-114 specification includes implementation details for five types of RowSet:

Oracle Database 10g release 2 (10.2) provides support for implementation of all five types of RowSets through the interfaces and classes packaged in the javax.sql.rowset package. In Oracle Database 10g release 2 (10.2), this package is included in the standard Oracle JDBC JAR files, classes12.jar and ojdbc14.jar.

Note:

Prior to Oracle Database 10g release 2 (10.2), the row set implementation classes were packaged in the ocrs12.jar file.

To use the Oracle RowSet implementations, you need to include the standard Oracle JDBC Java Archive (JAR) files in the CLASSPATH environment variable and import the oracle.jdbc.rowset package or specific classes and interfaces from the package for the required row set type.

See Also:

"Checking the Environment Variables" for information about setting the CLASSPATH environment variable.

This section covers the following topics:

RowSet Properties

The javax.sql.RowSet interface provides a set of JavaBeans properties that can be altered to access the data in the data source through a single interface. Example of properties are connect string, user name, password, type of connection, and the query string.

For a complete list of properties and property descriptions, refer to the Java2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) Javadoc for javax.sql.RowSet at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/javax/sql/RowSet.html

The interface provides standard accessor methods for setting and retrieving the property values. The following code illustrates setting some of the RowSet properties:

...
rowset.setUrl("jdbc:oracle:oci:@");
rowset.setUsername("SCOTT");
rowset.setPassword("TIGER");
rowset.setCommand("SELECT empno, ename, sal FROM emp");
...

In this example, the URL, user name, password, and SQL query are set as the RowSet properties to retrieve the employee number, employee name, and salary of all the employees into the RowSet object.

Events and Event Listeners

RowSets support JavaBeans events. The following types of events are supported by the RowSet interface:

  • cursorMoved

    This event is generated whenever there is a cursor movement. For example, when the next or previous method is called.

  • rowChanged

    This event is generated when a row is inserted, updated, or deleted from the RowSet.

  • rowSetChanged

    This event is generated when the whole RowSet is created or changed. For example, when the execute method is called.

An application component can implement a RowSet listener to listen to these RowSet events and perform desired operations when the event occurs. Application components, which are interested in these events, must implement the standard javax.sql.RowSetListener interface and register such listener objects with a RowSet object. A listener can be registered using the RowSet.addRowSetListener method and unregistered using the RowSet.removeRowSetListener method. Multiple listeners can be registered with the same RowSet object.

The following code illustrates the registration of a RowSet listener:

...
 MyRowSetListener rowsetListener = new MyRowSetListener ();
 // adding a rowset listener
 rowset.addRowSetListener (rowsetListener);
 ...

The following code illustrates a listener implementation:

public class MyRowSetListener implements RowSetListener
  {
    public void cursorMoved(RowSetEvent event)
    {
      // action on cursor movement
    }
 
    public void rowChanged(RowSetEvent event)
    {
      // action on change of row
    }
 
    public void rowSetChanged(RowSetEvent event)
    {
      // action on changing of rowset
    }
  }// end of class MyRowSetListener

Applications that need to handle only selected events can implement only the required event handling methods by using the oracle.jdbc.rowset.OracleRowSetListenerAdapter class, which is an abstract class with empty implementation for all the event handling methods. In the following code, only the rowSetChanged event is handled, while the remaining events are not handled by the application:

...
 rowset.addRowSetListener(new oracle.jdbc.rowset.OracleRowSetListenerAdapter ()
    {
      public void rowSetChanged(RowSetEvent event)
      {
        // your action for rowSetChanged
      }
    }
  );
 ...

Command Parameters and Command Execution

The command property of a RowSet object typically represents a SQL query string, which when processed would populate the RowSet object with actual data. Like in regular JDBC processing, this query string can take input or bind parameters. The javax.sql.RowSet interface also provides methods for setting input parameters to this SQL query. After the required input parameters are set, the SQL query can be processed to populate the RowSet object with data from the underlying data source. The following code illustrates this simple sequence:

...
  rowset.setCommand("SELECT ename, sal FROM emp WHERE empno = ?");
  // setting the employee number input parameter for employee named "KING"
  rowset.setInt(1, 7839);
  rowset.execute();
  ...

In the preceding example, the employee number 7839 is set as the input or bind parameter for the SQL query specified in the command property of the RowSet object. When the SQL query is processed, the RowSet object is filled with the employee name and salary information of the employee whose employee number is 7839.

Traversing RowSets

The javax.sql.RowSet interface extends the java.sql.ResultSet interface. The RowSet interface, therefore, provides cursor movement and positioning methods, which are inherited from the ResulSet interface, for traversing through data in a RowSet object. Some of the inherited methods are absolute, beforeFirst, afterLast, next, and previous.

The RowSet interface can be used just like a ResultSet interface for retrieving and updating data. The RowSet interface provides an optional way to implement a scrollable and updatable result set. All the fields and methods provided by the ResultSet interface are implemented in RowSet.

Note:

The Oracle implementation of ResultSet provides the scrollable and updatable properties of the java.sql.ResultSet interface.

The following code illustrates how to scroll through a RowSet:

/**
 *  Scrolling forward, and printing the empno in 
 *  the order in which it was fetched.
 */
...
rowset.setCommand("SELECT empno, ename, sal FROM emp");
rowset.execute();
...
// going to the first row of the rowset
rowset.beforeFirst ();
while (rowset.next ())
  System.out.println ("empno: " +rowset.getInt (1));

In the preceding code, the cursor position is initialized to the position before the first row of the RowSet by the beforeFirst method. The rows are retrieved in forward direction using the next method.

The following code illustrates how to scroll through a RowSet in the reverse direction:

/**
 *  Scrolling backward, and printing the empno in 
 *  the reverse order as it was fetched.
 */
//going to the last row of the rowset
rowset.afterLast ();
while (rowset.previous ())
  System.out.println ("empno: " +rowset.getInt (1));

In the preceding code, the cursor position is initialized to the position after the last row of the RowSet. The rows are retrieved in reverse direction using the previous method of RowSet.

Inserting, updating, and deleting rows are supported by the RowSet feature as they are in the ResultSet feature. In order to make the RowSet updatable, you must call the setReadOnly(false) and acceptChanges methods.

The following code illustrates the insertion of a row at the fifth position of a RowSet:

...
/**
  * Make rowset updatable
  */
rowset.setReadOnly (false); 
/**
 * Inserting a row in the 5th position of the rowset.
 */
// moving the cursor to the 5th position in the rowset
if (rowset.absolute(5))
{
  rowset.moveToInsertRow ();
  rowset.updateInt (1, 193);
  rowset.updateString (2, "Ashok");
  rowset.updateInt (3, 7200);

  // inserting a row in the rowset
  rowset.insertRow ();

  // Synchronizing the data in RowSet with that in the database.
  rowset.acceptChanges ();
}
...

In the preceding code, a call to the absolute method with a parameter 5 takes the cursor to the fifth position of the RowSet and a call to the moveToInsertRow method creates a place for the insertion of a new row into the RowSet. The updateXXX methods are used to update the newly created row. When all the columns of the row are updated, the insertRow is called to update the RowSet. The changes are committed through acceptChanges method.

CachedRowSet

A CachedRowSet is a RowSet in which the rows are cached and the RowSet is disconnected, that is, it does not maintain an active connection to the database. The oracle.jdbc.rowset.OracleCachedRowSet class is the Oracle implementation of CachedRowSet. It can interoperate with the reference implementation of Sun Microsystems. The OracleCachedRowSet class in the ojdbc14.jar file implements the standard JSR-114 interface javax.sql.rowset.CachedRowSet.

In the following code, an OracleCachedRowSet object is created and the connection URL, user name, password, and the SQL query for the RowSet object is set as properties. The RowSet object is populated using the execute method. After the execute method has been processed, the RowSet object can be used as a java.sql.ResultSet object to retrieve, scroll, insert, delete, or update data.

...
RowSet rowset = new OracleCachedRowSet();
rowset.setUrl("jdbc:oracle:oci:@");
rowset.setUsername("SCOTT");
rowset.setPassword("TIGER");
rowset.setCommand("SELECT empno, ename, sal FROM emp");
rowset.execute();
while (rowset.next ())
{
  System.out.println("empno: " +rowset.getInt (1));
  System.out.println("ename: " +rowset.getString (2));
  System.out.println("sal: "   +rowset.getInt (3));
}
...

To populate a CachedRowSet object with a query, complete the following steps:

  1. Instantiate OracleCachedRowSet.

  2. Set the Url, which is the connection URL, Username, Password, and Command, which is the query string, properties for the RowSet object. You can also set the connection type, but it is optional.

  3. Call the execute method to populate the CachedRowSet object. Calling execute runs the query set as a property on this RowSet.

OracleCachedRowSet rowset = new OracleCachedRowSet ();
    rowset.setUrl ("jdbc:oracle:oci:@");
    rowset.setUsername ("SCOTT");
    rowset.setPassword ("TIGER");
    rowset.setCommand ("SELECT empno, ename, sal FROM emp");
    rowset.execute ();
    

A CachedRowSet object can be populated with an existing ResultSet object, using the populate method. To do so, complete the following steps:

  1. Instantiate OracleCachedRowSet.

  2. Pass the already available ResultSet object to the populate method to populate the RowSet object.

// Executing a query to get the ResultSet object.
    ResultSet rset = pstmt.executeQuery ();
    
    OracleCachedRowSet rowset = new OracleCachedRowSet ();
    // the obtained ResultSet object is passed to the populate method
    // to populate the data in the rowset object.
    rowset.populate (rset);
    

In the preceding example, a ResultSet object is obtained by running a query and the retrieved ResultSet object is passed to the populate method of the CachedRowSet object to populate the contents of the result set into the CachedRowSet.

Note:

Connection properties, like transaction isolation or the concurrency mode of the result set, and the bind properties cannot be set in the case where a pre-existent ResultSet object is used to populate the CachedRowSet object, because the connection or result set on which the property applies would have already been created.

The following code illustrates how an OracleCachedRowSet object is serialized to a file and then retrieved:

// writing the serialized OracleCachedRowSet object
{
  FileOutputStream fileOutputStream = new FileOutputStream("emp_tab.dmp");
  ObjectOutputStream ostream = new ObjectOutputStream(fileOutputStream);
  ostream.writeObject(rowset);
  ostream.close();
  fileOutputStream.close();
}

// reading the serialized OracleCachedRowSet object
{
  FileInputStream fileInputStream = new FileInputStream("emp_tab.dmp");
  ObjectInputStream istream = new ObjectInputStream(fileInputStream);
  RowSet rowset1 = (RowSet) istream.readObject();
  istream.close();
  fileInputStream.close();
}

In the preceding code, a FileOutputStream object is opened for an emp_tab.dmp file, and the populated OracleCachedRowSet object is written to the file using ObjectOutputStream. The serialized OracleCachedRowSet object is retrieved using the FileInputStream and ObjectInputStream objects.

OracleCachedRowSet takes care of the serialization of non-serializable form of data like InputStream, OutputStream, binary large objects (BLOBs), and character large objects (CLOBs). OracleCachedRowSets also implements metadata of its own, which could be obtained without any extra server round-trip. The following code illustrates how you can obtain metadata for the RowSet:

...
ResultSetMetaData metaData = rowset.getMetaData();
int maxCol = metaData.getColumnCount();
for (int i = 1; i <= maxCol; ++i)
   System.out.println("Column (" + i +") " + metaData.getColumnName(i));
...

Because the OracleCachedRowSet class is serializable, it can be passed across a network or between Java virtual machines (JVMs), as done in Remote Method Invocation (RMI). Once the OracleCachedRowSet class is populated, it can move around any JVM, or any environment that does not have JDBC drivers. Committing the data in the RowSet requires the presence of JDBC drivers.

The complete process of retrieving the data and populating it in the OracleCachedRowSet class is performed on the server and the populated RowSet is passed on to the client using suitable architectures like RMI or Enterprise Java Beans (EJB). The client would be able to perform all the operations like retrieving, scrolling, inserting, updating, and deleting on the RowSet without any connection to the database. Whenever data is committed to the database, the acceptChanges method is called, which synchronizes the data in the RowSet to that in the database. This method makes use of JDBC drivers, which require the JVM environment to contain JDBC implementation. This architecture would be suitable for systems involving a Thin client like a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).

After populating the CachedRowSet object, it can be used as a ResultSet object or any other object, which can be passed over the network using RMI or any other suitable architecture.

Some of the other key-features of CachedRowSet are the following:

CachedRowSet Constraints

All the constraints that apply to an updatable result set are applicable here, except serialization, because OracleCachedRowSet is serializable. The SQL query has the following constraints:

In addition, a SQL query should also satisfy the following conditions, if new rows are to be inserted:

Connection properties like, transaction isolation and concurrency mode of the result set, cannot be set after populating the RowSet, because the properties cannot be applied to the connection after retrieving the data from the same.

JDBCRowSet

A JDBCRowSet is a RowSet that wraps around a ResultSet object. It is a connected RowSet that provides JDBC interfaces in the form of a JavaBean interface. The Oracle implementation of JDBCRowSet is oracle.jdbc.rowset.OracleJDBCRowSet. The OracleJDBCRowSet class in ojdbc14.jar implements the standard JSR-114 interface javax.sql.rowset.JdbcRowSet.

Table 20-1 shows how the JDBCRowSet interface differs from CachedRowSet interface.

Table 20-1 The JDBC and Cached Row Sets Compared

RowSet Type Serializable Connected to Database Movable Across JVMs Synchronization of data to database Presence of JDBC Drivers

JDBC

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Cached

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No


JDBCRowSet is a connected RowSet, which has a live connection to the database and all the calls on the JDBCRowSet are percolated to the mapping call in the JDBC connection, statement, or result set. A CachedRowSet does not have any connection to the database open.

JDBCRowSet requires the presence of JDBC drivers unlike a CachedRowSet, which does not require JDBC drivers during manipulation. However, both JDBCRowSet and CachedRowSet require JDBC drivers during population of the RowSet and while committing the changes of the RowSet.

The following code illustrates how a JDBCRowSet is used:

...
RowSet rowset = new OracleJDBCRowSet();
rowset.setUrl("java:oracle:oci:@");
rowset.setUsername("SCOTT");
rowset.setPassword("TIGER");
rowset.setCommand("SELECT empno, ename, sal FROM emp");
rowset.execute();
while (rowset.next())
{
  System.out.println("empno: " + rowset.getInt(1));
  System.out.println("ename: " + rowset.getString(2));
  System.out.println("sal: " + rowset.getInt(3));
}
...

In the preceding example, the connection URL, user name, password, and SQL query are set as properties of the RowSet object, the SQL query is processed using the execute method, and the rows are retrieved and printed by traversing through the data populated in the RowSet object.

WebRowSet

A WebRowSet is an extension to CachedRowSet. It represents a set of fetched rows or tabular data that can be passed between tiers and components in a way such that no active connections with the data source need to be maintained. The WebRowSet interface provides support for the production and consumption of result sets and their synchronization with the data source, both in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format and in disconnected fashion. This allows result sets to be shipped across tiers and over Internet protocols.

The Oracle implementation of WebRowSet is oracle.jdbc.rowset.OracleWebRowSet. This class, which is in the ojdbc14.jar file, implements the standard JSR-114 interface javax.sql.rowset.WebRowSet. This class also extends the oracle.jdbc.rowset.OracleCachedRowSet class. Besides the methods available in OracleCachedRowSet, the OracleWebRowSet class provides the following methods:

The Oracle WebRowSet implementation supports Java API for XML Processing (JAXP) 1.2. Both Simple API for XML (SAX) 2.0 and Document Object Model (DOM) JAXP-conforming XML parsers are supported. It follows the current JSR-114 W3C XML schema for WebRowSet from Sun Microsystems, which is at: http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/jdbc/webrowset.xsd

Validation against the schema is enforced, if supported by the specified parser.

See Also:

Applications that use the readXml(...) methods should set one of the following two standard JAXP system properties before calling the methods:

The following code illustrates the use of OracleWebRowSet for both writing and reading in XML format:

import java.sql.*;
import java.io.*;
import oracle.jdbc.rowset.*;

...
String url = "jdbc:oracle:oci8:@";

Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection(url,"scott","tiger");
Statement stmt = conn.createStatement();
ResultSet rset = stmt.executeQuery("select * from emp");

// Create an OracleWebRowSet object and populate it with the ResultSet object
OracleWebRowSet wset = new OracleWebRowSet();
wset.populate(rset);

try
{
  // Create a java.io.Writer object
  FileWriter out = new FileWriter("xml.out");
  
  // Now generate the XML and write it out
  wset.writeXml(out);
}
catch (IOException exc)
{
  System.out.println("Couldn't construct a FileWriter");
}
System.out.println("XML output file generated.");

// Create a new OracleWebRowSet for reading from XML input
OracleWebRowSet wset2 = new OracleWebRowSet();

// Use Oracle JAXP SAX parser
System.setProperty("javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory","oracle.xml.jaxp.JXSAXParserFactory");

try
{
  // Use the preceding output file as input
  FileReader fr = new FileReader("xml.out");
  
  // Now read XML stream from the FileReader
  wset2.readXml(fr);
}
catch (IOException exc)
{
  System.out.println("Couldn't construct a FileReader");
}
...

Note:

The preceding code uses the Oracle SAX XML parser, which supports schema validation.

FilteredRowSet

A FilteredRowSet is an extension to WebRowSet that provides programmatic support for filtering its content. This enables you to avoid the overhead of supplying a query and the processing involved. The Oracle implementation of FilteredRowSet is oracle.jdbc.rowset.OracleFilteredRowSet. The OracleFilteredRowSet class in the ojdbc14.jar file implements the standard JSR-114 interface javax.sql.rowset.FilteredRowSet.

The OracleFilteredRowSet class defines the following new methods:

Note:

If you are using classes12.jar instead of ojdbc14.jar for FilteredRowSet features, then use OraclePredicate instead of Predicate. The oracle.jdbc.rowset.OraclePredicate interface is Oracle specific and is equivalent to Predicate. This interface is used when the JSR-114 packages are not available.

The predicate set on an OracleFilteredRowSet object defines a filtering criteria that is applied to all the rows in the object to obtain the set of visible rows. The predicate also defines the criteria for inserting, deleting, and modifying rows. The set filtering criteria acts as a gating mechanism for all views and updates to the OracleFilteredRowSet object. Any attempt to update the OracleFilteredRowSet object, which violates the filtering criteria, results in an SQLException being thrown.

The filtering criteria set on an OracleFilteredRowSet object can be modified by applying a new Predicate object. The new criteria is immediately applied on the object, and all further views and updates must adhere to this new criteria. A new filtering criteria can be applied only if there are no reference to the OracleFilteredRowSet object.

Rows that fall outside of the filtering criteria set on the object cannot be modified until the filtering criteria is removed or a new filtering criteria is applied. Also, only the rows that fall within the bounds of the filtering criteria will be synchronized with the data source, if an attempt is made to persist the object.

The following code example illustrates the use of OracleFilteredRowSet. Assume a table, test_table, with two NUMBER columns, col1 and col2. The code retrieves those rows from the table that have value of col1 between 50 and 100 and value of col2 between 100 and 200.

The predicate defining the filtering criteria is as follows:

public class PredicateImpl implements Predicate
{
  private int low[];
  private int high[];
  private int columnIndexes[];
  
  public PredicateImpl(int[] lo, int[] hi, int[] indexes)
  {
    low = lo;
    high = hi;
    columnIndexes = indexes;
  }
  
  public boolean evaluate(RowSet rs)
  {
    boolean result = true;
    for (int i = 0; i < columnIndexes.length; i++)
    {
      int columnValue = rs.getInt(columnIndexes[i]);
      if (columnValue < low[i] || columnValue > high[i])
        result = false;
    }
    return result;
  }

// the other two evaluate(...) methods simply return true

}

The predicate defined in the preceding code is used for filtering content in an OracleFilteredRowSet object, as follows:

...
OracleFilteredRowSet ofrs = new OracleFilteredRowSet();
int low[] = {50, 100};
int high[] = {100, 200};
int indexes[] = {1, 2};
ofrs.setCommand("select col1, col2 from test_table");

// set other properties on ofrs like usr/pwd ...
...
ofrs.execute();
ofrs.setPredicate(new PredicateImpl(low, high, indexes));

// this will only get rows with col1 in (50,100) and col2 in (100,200)
while (ofrs.next()) {...}
...

JoinRowSet

A JoinRowSet is an extension to WebRowSet that consists of related data from different RowSets. There is no standard way to establish a SQL JOIN between disconnected RowSets without connecting to the data source. A JoinRowSet addresses this issue. The Oracle implementation of JoinRowSet is the oracle.jdbc.rowset.OracleJoinRowSet class. This class, which is in the ojdbc14.jar file, implements the standard JSR-114 interface javax.sql.rowset.JoinRowSet.

Any number of RowSet objects, which implement the Joinable interface, can be added to a JoinRowSet object, provided they can be related in a SQL JOIN. All five types of RowSet support the Joinable interface. The Joinable interface provides methods for specifying the columns based on which the JOIN will be performed, that is, the match columns.

Note:

If you are using classes12.jar instead of ojdbc14.jar for JoinRowSet features, then use OracleJoinable instead of Joinable. The oracle.jdbc.rowset.OracleJoinable interface is Oracle specific and is equivalent to Joinable. This interface is used when the JSR-114 packages are not available.

A match column can be specified in the following ways:

In addition to the inherited methods, OracleJoinRowSet provides the following methods:

The following code illustrates how OracleJoinRowSet is used to perform an inner join on two RowSets, whose data come from two different tables. The resulting RowSet contains data as if they were the result of an inner join on these two tables. Assume that there are two tables, an Order table with two NUMBER columns Order_id and Person_id, and a Person table with a NUMBER column Person_id and a VARCHAR2 column Name.

...
// RowSet holding data from table Order
OracleCachedRowSet ocrsOrder = new OracleCachedRowSet();
...
ocrsOrder.setCommand("select order_id, person_id from order");
...
// Join on person_id column
ocrsOrder.setMatchColumn(2);
ocrsOrder.execute();

// Creating the JoinRowSet
OracleJoinRowSet ojrs = new OracleJoinRowSet();
ojrs.addRowSet(ocrsOrder);

// RowSet holding data from table Person
OracleCachedRowSet ocrsPerson = new OracleCachedRowSet();
...
ocrsPerson.setCommand("select person_id, name from person");
...
// do not set match column on this RowSet using setMatchColumn().
//use addRowSet() to set match column
ocrsPerson.execute();

// Join on person_id column, in another way
ojrs.addRowSet(ocrsPerson, 1);

// now we can traverse the JoinRowSet as usual
ojrs.beforeFirst();
while (ojrs.next())
System.out.println("order id = " + ojrs.getInt(1) + ", " + "person id = " + ojrs.getInt(2) + ", " + "person's name = " + ojrs.getString(3));
...