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JPA Criteria API - Delete Operations

[Last Updated: Aug 11, 2020]

In Criteria API, the javax.persistence.criteriaDelete interface defines functionality for performing bulk delete operations.

Following method of CriteriaBuilder can be used to obtain CriteriaDelete instance.

CriteriaDelete<T> createCriteriaDelete(Class<T> targetEntity);

Following is the CriteriaDelete snippet:

package javax.persistence.criteria;
 .....
public interface CriteriaDelete<T> extends CommonAbstractCriteria {
   Root<T> from(Class<T> entityClass);
   Root<T> from(EntityType<T> entity);
   Root<T> getRoot();
   CriteriaDelete<T> where(Expression<Boolean> restriction);
   CriteriaDelete<T> where(Predicate... restrictions);
}

Quick Example

   ........
   CriteriaDelete<Employee> criteriaDelete = criteriaBuilder.createCriteriaDelete(Employee.class);
   Root<Employee> root = criteriaDelete.from(Employee.class);
   criteriaDelete.where(criteriaBuilder.equal(root.get(Employee_.name), "Mike"));
   //The equivalent JPQL: DELETE FROM Employee e WHERE e.name = 'Mike'
   entityManager.getTransaction().begin();
   int rowsDeleted = entityManager.createQuery(criteriaDelete).executeUpdate();
   System.out.println("entities deleted: " + rowsDeleted);
   entityManager.getTransaction().commit();

Complete Example

Entity

@Entity
public class Employee {
  @Id
  @GeneratedValue
  private long id;
  private String name;
  private double salary;
  private String dept;
    .............
}

Using CriteriaDelete

public class ExampleMain {
  private static EntityManagerFactory entityManagerFactory =
          Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory("example-unit");

  public static void main(String[] args) {
      try {
          persistEmployees();
          findAllEmployees();
          deleteEmployeeByName();
          findAllEmployees();
          deleteAllEmployees();
          findAllEmployees();
      } finally {
          entityManagerFactory.close();
      }
  }

  private static void deleteEmployeeByName() {
      System.out.println("-- delete employee by name 'Mike' --");
      EntityManager entityManager = entityManagerFactory.createEntityManager();
      CriteriaBuilder criteriaBuilder = entityManager.getCriteriaBuilder();
      CriteriaDelete<Employee> criteriaDelete = criteriaBuilder.createCriteriaDelete(Employee.class);
      Root<Employee> root = criteriaDelete.from(Employee.class);
      criteriaDelete.where(criteriaBuilder.equal(root.get(Employee_.name), "Mike"));
      //The equivalent JPQL: DELETE FROM Employee e WHERE e.name = 'Mike'
      entityManager.getTransaction().begin();
      int rowsDeleted = entityManager.createQuery(criteriaDelete).executeUpdate();
      System.out.println("entities deleted: " + rowsDeleted);
      entityManager.getTransaction().commit();
      entityManager.close();
  }

  private static void deleteAllEmployees() {
      System.out.println("-- delete all employees --");
      EntityManager entityManager = entityManagerFactory.createEntityManager();
      CriteriaBuilder criteriaBuilder = entityManager.getCriteriaBuilder();
      CriteriaDelete<Employee> criteriaDelete = criteriaBuilder.createCriteriaDelete(Employee.class);
      criteriaDelete.from(Employee.class);
      //The equivalent JPQL: DELETE FROM Employee e
      entityManager.getTransaction().begin();
      int rowsDeleted = entityManager.createQuery(criteriaDelete).executeUpdate();
      System.out.println("entities deleted: " + rowsDeleted);
      entityManager.getTransaction().commit();
      entityManager.close();
  }

  public static void persistEmployees() {
      Employee employee1 = Employee.create("Diana", 2000, "IT");
      Employee employee2 = Employee.create("Rose", 3500, "Admin");
      Employee employee3 = Employee.create("Denise", 2500, "Admin");
      Employee employee4 = Employee.create("Mike", 4000, "IT");
      Employee employee5 = Employee.create("Linda", 4500, "Sales");
      EntityManager em = entityManagerFactory.createEntityManager();
      em.getTransaction().begin();
      em.persist(employee1);
      em.persist(employee2);
      em.persist(employee3);
      em.persist(employee4);
      em.persist(employee5);
      em.getTransaction().commit();
      em.close();
  }

  private static void findAllEmployees() {
      System.out.println("-- All employees --");
      EntityManager entityManager = entityManagerFactory.createEntityManager();
      CriteriaBuilder criteriaBuilder = entityManager.getCriteriaBuilder();
      CriteriaQuery<Employee> criteriaQuery = criteriaBuilder.createQuery(Employee.class);
      criteriaQuery.from(Employee.class);
      List<Employee> resultList = entityManager.createQuery(criteriaQuery).getResultList();
      System.out.println("Employees count: " + resultList.size());
      resultList.forEach(System.out::println);
      entityManager.close();
  }
}
-- All employees --
Employees count: 5
Employee{id=1, name='Diana', salary=2000.0, dept='IT'}
Employee{id=2, name='Rose', salary=3500.0, dept='Admin'}
Employee{id=3, name='Denise', salary=2500.0, dept='Admin'}
Employee{id=4, name='Mike', salary=4000.0, dept='IT'}
Employee{id=5, name='Linda', salary=4500.0, dept='Sales'}
-- delete employee by name 'Mike' --
entities deleted: 1
-- All employees --
Employees count: 4
Employee{id=1, name='Diana', salary=2000.0, dept='IT'}
Employee{id=2, name='Rose', salary=3500.0, dept='Admin'}
Employee{id=3, name='Denise', salary=2500.0, dept='Admin'}
Employee{id=5, name='Linda', salary=4500.0, dept='Sales'}
-- delete all employees --
entities deleted: 4
-- All employees --
Employees count: 0

Example Project

Dependencies and Technologies Used:

  • h2 1.4.199: H2 Database Engine.
  • hibernate-core 5.4.2.Final: Hibernate's core ORM functionality.
    Implements javax.persistence:javax.persistence-api version 2.2
  • hibernate-jpamodelgen 5.4.2.Final: Annotation Processor to generate JPA 2 static metamodel classes.
  • JDK 1.8
  • Maven 3.5.4

Delete Operations in Criteria API Select All Download
  • criteria-api-delete-statement
    • src
      • main
        • java
          • com
            • logicbig
              • example
                • ExampleMain.java
          • resources
            • META-INF

    See Also