Call findAll from custom repository class

Is there any way to call a method on the standard repository interface such as findAll from a custom repository class. It seems like composing methods from the standard repository with ones from your custom repository would be a common use case?

To answer my own question, it works to inject the standard repository object with an Autowired field in the custom repository class.

My base repo interface looks something like this:

Code:

---

@Repository
public interface EmployeeRepository extends JpaRepository<Employee, String>,
        QueryDslPredicateExecutor<Employee>,
        EmployeeRepositoryCustom {
    Page <Employee> findByOrgId(String orgId, Pageable pageable);
}

---

My custom extension to the base looks something like so:

Code:

---

public interface EmployeeRepositoryCustom  {
    Page<Employee> findByGroupId(EmployeeGroup employeeGroup, Pageable pageable);
}

---

Like you, in my implementation of EmployeeRepositoryCustom, I'd like to use support from EmployeeRepository.

Code:

---

@Repository
public class EmployeeRepositoryImpl implements EmployeeRepositoryCustom {
    @PersistenceContext private EntityManager em;  // I get that I can easily use the lower level entity manager
    @Autowired private EmployeeRepository employeeRepository; // but I'd also like to use this

    @Override
    public Page<Employee> findByGroupId(EmployeeGroup employeeGroup, Pageable pageable) {
        Predicate predicate = QEmployee.employee.employeeGroups.contains(employeeGroup);
        return employeeRepository.findAll(predicate, pageable);
    }
}

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But doesn't this introduce a circular reference? Depending on how I fiddle things results in a NullPointerException (happens when I annotate EmployeeRepositoryImpl with @Service) or a BeanCurrentlyInCreationException (happens when I annotate EmployeeRepositoryImpl with @Repository).

How did you manage to get this working?

I've had a look at the docs and samples which are very good but don't seem to go over this particular usage. Although... this sample does say if I need to inject something in my custom repo implementation, I'll need to manually do so.

Thanks,

-Lee-

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LeeRead

But doesn't this introduce a circular reference?

How did you manage to get this working?

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Yes, it does introduce a circular reference, I have struggled with this issue as well. It does seem like something quite common that you'd want to be able to do but I couldn't find any solution when searching, I have made use of this slightly messy solution that does work:

Code:

---

@Repository
public class EmployeeRepositoryImpl implements EmployeeRepositoryCustom {

    @Autowired
    private ApplicationContext applicationContext;

    @Override
    public Page<Employee> findByGroupId(EmployeeGroup employeeGroup, Pageable pageable) {
        Predicate predicate = QEmployee.employee.employeeGroups.contains(employeeGroup);
        return applicationContext.getBean(EmployeeRepository.class).findAll(predicate, pageable);
    }
}

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By injecting the Spring application context you can get a reference to the repository at runtime, which is essentially a reference to itself.

I'd love to know if there is a better solution.