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Apache Empire-db

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  • 4 chapters

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Compared to Object-relational mapping (ORM) or other data persistence solutions such as Hibernate, iBATIS or TopLink Empire-db does not use XML files or Java annotations to provide a mapping of plain (old) Java object (POJO's) to database tables, views and columns. Instead Empire-db uses a Java object model to describe the underlying data model and an API that works almost solely with object references rather than string literals.

Empire-db's aim is to provide better software quality and improved maintainability through increased compile-time safety and reduced redundancy of metadata. Additionally applications may benefit from better performance due to full control over SQL statements and their execution by the developer compared to most OR-mapping solutions.

Major benefits

Empire-db's key strength is its API for dynamic SQL generation for arbitrary select, update, insert or delete statements, purely by using Java methods which reference the model objects. This provides type-safety and almost entirely eliminates the use of string literals for names or expressions in code. Additionally DBMS independence is achieved through a pluggable driver model.

Using references to table and column objects significantly improves compile-time safety and thus reduces the amount of testing. As a positive side effect the IDE's code completion can be used to browse the data model, increases productivity and eliminates the need for other external tools or IDE-plugins.

Further the object model also provides safe and easy access to meta-information of the data model such as field data type, maximum field length, whether a field is mandatory and a finite choice of options for a field's values. Metadata is user-extensible and not limited to DBMS related metadata. Availability of meta-information encourages more generic code and eliminates redundancies throughout application layers.

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