1

Requirement Summary

View DB data (row content) and tree-navigate along references (foreign keys) while presenting their corresponding JPA (Java Persistence API) definitions / metadata

Use Cases

  • As a developer, I need to understand existing test/staging data through the lens of Java objects as mapped to the DB schema by JPA.
  • As a support person, I need to understand some specific production data quickly (navigation), with the help of any metadata I can get (Java classes/fields/enums, along with their javadocs and annotations)

Current Pain

For understanding DB data, I need to switch back and forth between DB view and Java source IDE, searching for DB-side names in Java source code's JPA annotations.

Essential Features

  • navigate / explore references via foreign keys, whether explicit or not, by the virtue of them being defined by JPA annotations
  • present Java element names, annotations, and any javadocs
    • class javadocs on tables
    • field/property javadocs on columns
  • present Enum values as text (where persisted as numbers), also along with any javadocs on the enum and its enum class

Example

  • Starting e.g. with a simple SQL/JPQL query (or some other means) to get to some rows, such as: select * from book where id=55;
  • The tool should display:
  • the row of table 'book' with id=55 along with the Java class name 'Book' that's mapped to table 'book' via JPA; include the 'Book' class javadoc as info popup or in a side panel
  • each column for that row shows the column name along with the Java field that's mapped to that column. Examples:
    • "Tom Sawyer" - book_title:varchar(255) <- bookTitle:String
    • "Mark Twain" - author_id:bigint <- author:Author
      • ^^ This is a reference; whether 'author_id' is explicitly defined in the DB schema as a foreign key or not, it should be easily possible to tree-navigate to the author of a book from this field, by the virtue of its Java type being another JPA Entity class.
    • "3" - genre:int <- genreType:GenreType, "AMERICAN_FICTION"
      • ^^ This is an enum; it should display the corresponding Java enum name

Closest Matches

  • DBeauty: lets you navigate DB data along foreign key references, but no display of JPA definitions
  • JPA plugins for IDEs such as JPA Buddy: let you view and edit JPA mapping to DB schema, but no navigation of actual data and presenting it according to Java definitions
Improve this question

0

Reset to default

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.