As an alternative to projection interface having methods with SpEL, we can use Java 8 default methods for custom logic.

Quick Example

public interface EmployeeInfo {
  String getName();
  Department getDepartment();
  default String getDisplayString() { //custom logic
      return String.format("Name: %s, Dept: %s", getName(),
              getDepartment().getDeptName());
  }
}

Complete Example

Entities

@Entity
public class Employee {
  @Id
  @GeneratedValue
  private Integer id;
  private String name;
  @ManyToOne(cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
  private Department department;
  private int salary;
    .............
}

@Entity
public class Department {
  @Id
  @GeneratedValue
  private Integer id;
  private String deptName;
  private String location;
    .............
}

Projection interface using default method

public interface EmployeeInfo {
  String getName();
  Department getDepartment();
  default String getDisplayString() {
      return String.format("Name: %s, Dept: %s", getName(),
              getDepartment().getDeptName());
  }
}

Repository

public interface EmployeeRepository extends CrudRepository<Employee, Long> {
  List<EmployeeInfo> findBy();
}

Example Client

@Component
public class ExampleClient {

  @Autowired
  private EmployeeRepository repo;

  public void run() {
      List<Employee> employees = createEmployees();
      repo.saveAll(employees);

      System.out.println("-- finding all employees --");
      Iterable<Employee> all = repo.findAll();
      all.forEach(System.out::println);

      System.out.println("-- All EmployeeInfo --");
      List<EmployeeInfo> list = repo.findBy();
      System.out.println("-- display strings --");
      list.forEach(employeeInfo -> System.out.println(employeeInfo.getDisplayString()));
  }

  private List<Employee> createEmployees() {
      return Arrays.asList(
              Employee.of("Diana", Department.of("Admin", "NY"), 3000),
              Employee.of("Mike", Department.of("IT", "TX"), 35000),
              Employee.of("Rose", Department.of("Sales", "NC"), 4000),
              Employee.of("Sara", Department.of("Admin", "TX"), 3500),
              Employee.of("Joe", Department.of("IT", "TX"), 3000),
              Employee.of("Charlie", Department.of("IT", "NY"), 4500)
      );
  }
}

Main method

public class ExampleMain {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
      AnnotationConfigApplicationContext context =
              new AnnotationConfigApplicationContext(AppConfig.class);
      ExampleClient exampleClient = context.getBean(ExampleClient.class);
      exampleClient.run();
      EntityManagerFactory emf = context.getBean(EntityManagerFactory.class);
      emf.close();
  }
}

-- finding all employees --
Employee{id=1, name='Diana', department=Department{id=2, deptName='Admin', location='NY'}}
Employee{id=3, name='Mike', department=Department{id=4, deptName='IT', location='TX'}}
Employee{id=5, name='Rose', department=Department{id=6, deptName='Sales', location='NC'}}
Employee{id=7, name='Sara', department=Department{id=8, deptName='Admin', location='TX'}}
Employee{id=9, name='Joe', department=Department{id=10, deptName='IT', location='TX'}}
Employee{id=11, name='Charlie', department=Department{id=12, deptName='IT', location='NY'}}
-- All EmployeeInfo --
-- display strings --
Name: Diana, Dept: Admin
Name: Mike, Dept: IT
Name: Rose, Dept: Sales
Name: Sara, Dept: Admin
Name: Joe, Dept: IT
Name: Charlie, Dept: IT

Example Project

Dependencies and Technologies Used:

• spring-data-jpa 2.0.9.RELEASE: Spring Data module for JPA repositories.
  Uses org.springframework:spring-context version 5.0.8.RELEASE
• hibernate-core 5.3.5.Final: Hibernate's core ORM functionality.
  Implements javax.persistence:javax.persistence-api version 2.2
• h2 1.4.197: H2 Database Engine.
• JDK 1.8
• Maven 3.5.4