javax.persistence
Interface AttributeConverter<X,Y>

Type Parameters:

X - the type of the entity attribute

Y - the type of the database column

public interface AttributeConverter<X,Y>

A class that implements this interface can be used to convert entity attribute state into database column representation and back again. Note that the X and Y types may be the same Java type.

Method Summary

Y	convertToDatabaseColumn(X attribute) Converts the value stored in the entity attribute into the data representation to be stored in the database.
X	convertToEntityAttribute(Y dbData) Converts the data stored in the database column into the value to be stored in the entity attribute.

Method Detail

convertToDatabaseColumn

Y convertToDatabaseColumn(X attribute)

Converts the value stored in the entity attribute into the data representation to be stored in the database.

Parameters:

attribute - the entity attribute value to be converted

Returns:

the converted data to be stored in the database column

convertToEntityAttribute

X convertToEntityAttribute(Y dbData)

Converts the data stored in the database column into the value to be stored in the entity attribute. Note that it is the responsibility of the converter writer to specify the correct dbData type for the corresponding column for use by the JDBC driver: i.e., persistence providers are not expected to do such type conversion.

Parameters:

dbData - the data from the database column to be converted

Returns:

the converted value to be stored in the entity attribute