如何强制休眠搜索具有不同模式的值？

Question

First of all, question is not about ignoring white spaces at the beginning or end of the strings so it is not a duplicate.

I have a mobile field in database that its values are in different formats such as xxx xxx xxx, xxxxxxxxx, x xxx xxx xx etc, how can I make hibernate criteria to ignore the patterns of strings?

For example , lets say the number in database is 344 555 666

 344555666  is failed 
 344 555 666 is failed 
 344 is true (first three digits that do not have space in database!)

However, there is no doubt that all numbers are provided and all aforementioned values should return 344 555 666 as their results.

Another example would be as following:

Lets say a user searches for all phone numbers that includes 12345; then DB returns following results 12345678, 12345987 and 12345768 now I need to format these three numbers that are returned by DB before showing to the user.

Code

...
private String mobile;
....

Hibernate

.add(Restrictions.ilike("user.mobile", number); 

PVR's answer is useful,but how about if in future I needed to add a new format like XXX-XXX-XXX or X-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX ? Please also note there is only one field that user uses to enter the search value.

Answer 1

Try using following..

criteria.add(Restrictions.ilike(
user.mobile, number, MatchMode.ANYWHERE));

Edit :

I meant that if the format of the no. in the database can only be one amongst XXX XXX XXXX / XXXXXXXXXX then we need to write a specific logic which checks both of the formats availability in database.

number1 : in format of XXX XXX XXXX number2 : in format of XXXXXXXXXX

criteria.add(Restrictions.or(Restrictions.ilike(
    user.mobile, number1, MatchMode.ANYWHERE),(Restrictions.ilike(
    user.mobile, number2, MatchMode.ANYWHERE)));

Answer 2

Facing such problem, I usually reverse it. Currently, you have in a single column of your database ( mobile ) values in different formats ( xxx xxx xxx, xxxxxxxxx, x xxx xxx xx etc. ) and it is hard to make search on that column.

You should still allow input of mobile numbers in all those formats, but carefully rewrite them in one single format say 12345679 before writing them in database. This way that reformatting occurs only when inserting new records or on updates, and I assume you will have much more read accesses than write ones.

If you allready have records in your database, you should considere using a batch to transform them in one single operation .

Once you have only one format, you can put an index on the column as it could speed select queries by orders of magnitude as soon as you have thousands of records.

When you want to do a search, allow any format for user input of what they want, and apply same transformation that you apply on insert. For example if a user presents 123 456 789 or 123-456-789 or any of your accepted format, in your code for search transform it in 123456789 and do you query with that value (using the index ...)

From user point of view, you still allow he to present input as he wants, and simply the responses may come faster. The only drawback is that you will display not the value he entered but a standardized version of it.

From your point of view (as the programmer) you get something simpler to write and to maintain with less stress on database.

Answer 3

did you try Projections.sqlProjection

You can use replace REPLACE(mobile, ' ') inside

Answer 4

I know this is an answer that could eat up your db resources, you can test it and check if it matches your need.

I've done phone number formatting before, but, the solution you are looking for could be difficult, if you have to search using regex I'll construct a regex in the code and search in the db. (Oracle has regex_like function, you may want to use that instead of ilike of hibernate)

eg phone number from client +333 555 9999, phone number in db: +3 33 555 9999

Construct the following regex based on what client sends:

/+(\s-.)*3(\s-.)*3(\s-.)*3(\s-.)*5(\s-.)*5(\s-.)*5(\s-.)*9(\s-.)*9(\s-.)*9(\s-.)*9(\s-.\d\w)*/

What you are saying is there could be many (.) dots may (\\s) spaces many (-) hiphens in a phone number trailing with many(.\\s-\\d\\w) (eg: x234 or ext2342)

Answer 5

As per your conversation with PVR, it seems like the format of the phone number can be anything. Hibernate framework is based on patterns. It cannot handle any format on its own. Its advisable to not include the phone number based criteria in Hibernate. You must execute your entire criteria query without the phone number and thereafter you must have java logic for filtering rest of the results.

However, the best solution is make your design more solid. Adding constraint on the format of the phone is the best practice. You can consider adding a validation on format of phone.

Answer 6

You can write your own Criterion by implementing the Criterion interface. In your toSqlString method just use the replace function of your database. AFAIK replace(str, needle, replacement) is a SQL99 standard function so it should work in todays dbms.