Best way to handle when you are expecting 0 or 1 results from JPA query

Question

I have an entity which is expected to either be null or for there to be a single result. Currently I'm handling this like so:

    Entity entity = null;
    try {
        entity = query.getSingleResult();
    } catch (NoResultException ignore) {
        return null;
    }
    return entity;

But is this the "best" way of doing this? I'm not a fan of ignoring exceptions but equally not a big fan of the only alternative I can think of:

    List<Entity> entities = null;
    entities = query.getResultList();
    if (entities.size() > 0) {
        return entities.get(0);
    }
    return null;

http://sysout.be/2011/03/09/why-you-should-never-use-getsingleresult-in-jpa/ — daniu, Jan 24 '18 at 11:39
@daniu - That article is a bit narrow and assumptive. I have a complex query which will result in one or null results. I don't use a NamedQuery for other reasons (code reuse of the predicates), so this is actually a genuine dilemma. — Matt Fellows, Jan 24 '18 at 11:43

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 24 '18 at 11:37

2

You can find a discussion about this topic here: JPA getSingleResult() or null

Looks like there are no better alternatives.

answered Jan 24 '18 at 11:37

gus3001

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9
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Thanks - looks like this should be closed as a duplicate then... Curse my inability to find similar questions ;) – Matt Fellows Jan 24 '18 at 11:40

Best way to handle when you are expecting 0 or 1 results from JPA query

1 Answers1