Call findAll from custom repository class

[bgrommes]

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?

[bgrommes]

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

[LeeRead]

My base repo interface looks something like this:

@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:

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.

@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);
    }
}

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-

[RobertHunt]

But doesn't this introduce a circular reference?

How did you manage to get this working?

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:

@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);
    }
}

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.