Using custom JPA

If all else fails and we can’t seem to bend Spring Data’s query derivation tactics to meet our needs, it’s possible to write the JPQL ourselves.

In our repository interface, we can create a query method as follows:

@Query("select v from VideoEntity v where v.name = ?1")
List<VideoEntity> findCustomerReport(String name);

The preceding method can be explained as follows:

• @Query is Spring Data JPA’s way to supply a custom JPQL statement.
• It’s possible to include positional binding parameters using ?1 to tie it to the name argument.
• Since we are providing the JPQL, the name of the method no longer matters. This is our opportunity to pick a better name than what custom finders constrained us to.
• Because the return type is List<VideoEntity>, Spring Data will form a collection.

Using @Query essentially sidesteps any query writing done by Spring Data and uses the user’s supplied...