spring-data-jpa-datatables

This project is an extension of the Spring Data JPA project to ease its use with jQuery plugin DataTables with server-side processing enabled.

This will allow you to handle the Ajax requests sent by DataTables for each draw of the information on the page (i.e. when paging, ordering, searching, etc.) from Spring @RestController.

For a MongoDB counterpart, please see spring-data-mongodb-datatables.

Example:

@RestController
public class UserRestController {

  @Autowired
  private UserRepository userRepository;

  @RequestMapping(value = "/data/users", method = RequestMethod.GET)
  public DataTablesOutput<User> getUsers(@Valid DataTablesInput input) {
    return userRepository.findAll(input);
  }
}

Contents

• Maven dependency
• Getting started
  • Step 1 - Enable the use of the DataTablesRepository factory
  • Step 2 - Create a new entity
  • Step 3 - Extend the DataTablesRepository interface
  • Step 4 - Use the repository in your controllers
  • Step 5 - On the client-side, create a new DataTable object
  • Step 6 - Fix the serialization / deserialization of the query parameters
• API
• How to
  • Apply filters
  • Manage non-searchable fields
  • Limit the exposed attributes of the entities
  • Search on a rendered column
  • Use with the SearchPanes extension
  • Handle @OneToMany and @ManyToMany relationships
  • Search for a specific value in a column
• Examples of additional specification
  • Specific date
  • Range of integers
  • Range of dates
• Troubleshooting

Maven dependency

<dependency>
  <groupId>com.github.darrachequesne</groupId>
  <artifactId>spring-data-jpa-datatables</artifactId>
  <version>6.0.4</version>
</dependency>

Compatibility with Spring Boot:

Version	Spring Boot version
4.x and below	1
5.x	2
6.x	3

Back to top.

Getting started

Please see the sample project for a complete example.

Step 1 - Enable the use of the DataTablesRepository factory

With either

@Configuration
@EnableJpaRepositories(repositoryFactoryBeanClass = DataTablesRepositoryFactoryBean.class)
public class DataTablesConfiguration {}

or its XML counterpart

<jpa:repositories factory-class="org.springframework.data.jpa.datatables.repository.DataTablesRepositoryFactoryBean" />

You can restrict the scope of the factory with @EnableJpaRepositories(repositoryFactoryBeanClass = DataTablesRepositoryFactoryBean.class, basePackages = "my.package.for.datatables.repositories"). In that case, only the repositories in the given package will be instantiated as DataTablesRepositoryImpl on run.

@Configuration
@EnableJpaRepositories(basePackages = "my.default.package")
public class DefaultJpaConfiguration {}

@Configuration
@EnableJpaRepositories(repositoryFactoryBeanClass = DataTablesRepositoryFactoryBean.class, basePackages = "my.package.for.datatables.repositories")
public class DataTablesConfiguration {}

Step 2 - Create a new entity

@Entity
public class User {

  private Integer id;

  private String mail;

  @ManyToOne
  @JoinColumn(name = "id_address")
  private Address address;

}

Step 3 - Extend the DataTablesRepository interface

public interface UserRepository extends DataTablesRepository<User, Integer> {}

The DataTablesRepository interface extends both PagingAndSortingRepository and JpaSpecificationExecutor.

Step 4 - Use the repository in your controllers

@RestController
@RequiredArgsConstructor
public class MyController {
  private final UserRepository userRepository;

  @RequestMapping(value = "/data/users", method = RequestMethod.GET)
  public DataTablesOutput<User> getUsers(@Valid DataTablesInput input) {
    return userRepository.findAll(input);
  }
}

Step 5 - On the client-side, create a new DataTable object

$(document).ready(function() {
  var table = $('table#sample').DataTable({
    ajax : '/data/users',
    serverSide : true,
    columns : [{
      data : 'id'
    }, {
      data : 'mail'
    }, {
      data : 'address.town',
      render: function (data, type, row) {
        return data || '';
      }
    }]
  });
}

Step 6 - Fix the serialization / deserialization of the query parameters

By default, the parameters sent by the plugin cannot be deserialized by Spring MVC and will throw the following exception: InvalidPropertyException: Invalid property 'columns[0][data]' of bean class [org.springframework.data.jpa.datatables.mapping.DataTablesInput].

There are multiple solutions to this issue:

• Solution n°1 - custom serialization
• Solution n°2 - POST requests
• Solution n°3 - manual serialization

Solution n°1 - custom serialization

You need to include the jquery.spring-friendly.js file found at the root of the repository.

<script src="jquery.spring-friendly.js" />

It overrides the default serialization of the HTTP request parameters to allow Spring MVC to correctly map them, by changing column[0][data] into column[0].data in the request payload.

Solution n°2 - POST requests

Client-side:

$('table#sample').DataTable({
  ajax: {
    contentType: 'application/json',
    url: '/data/users',
    type: 'POST',
    data: function(d) {
      return JSON.stringify(d);
    }
  }
})

Server-side:

@RestController
public class MyController {
  @RequestMapping(value = '/data/users', method = RequestMethod.POST)
  public DataTablesOutput<User> getUsers(@Valid @RequestBody DataTablesInput input) {
    return userRepository.findAll(input);
  }
}

Solution n°3 - manual serialization

function flatten(params) {
  params.columns.forEach(function (column, index) {
    params['columns[' + index + '].data'] = column.data;
    params['columns[' + index + '].name'] = column.name;
    params['columns[' + index + '].searchable'] = column.searchable;
    params['columns[' + index + '].orderable'] = column.orderable;
    params['columns[' + index + '].search.regex'] = column.search.regex;
    params['columns[' + index + '].search.value'] = column.search.value;
  });
  delete params.columns;

  params.order.forEach(function (order, index) {
    params['order[' + index + '].column'] = order.column;
    params['order[' + index + '].dir'] = order.dir;
  });
  delete params.order;

  params['search.regex'] = params.search.regex;
  params['search.value'] = params.search.value;
  delete params.search;

  return params;
}

$('table#sample').DataTable({
  'ajax': {
    'url': '/data/users',
    'type': 'GET',
    'data': flatten
  }
})

Back to top.

API

The repositories now expose the following methods:

public interface DataTablesRepository<T, ID extends Serializable> {

    DataTablesOutput<T> findAll(
        DataTablesInput input
    );

    DataTablesOutput<R> findAll(
        DataTablesInput input,
        Function<T, R> converter
    );

    DataTablesOutput<T> findAll(
        DataTablesInput input,
        Specification<T> additionalSpecification
    );

    DataTablesOutput<T> findAll(
        DataTablesInput input,
        Specification<T> additionalSpecification,
        Specification<T> preFilteringSpecification
    );

    DataTablesOutput<R> findAll(
        DataTablesInput input,
        Specification<T> additionalSpecification,
        Specification<T> preFilteringSpecification,
        Function<T, R> converter
    );
}

Note: since version 2.0, QueryDSL is also supported:

• replace DataTablesRepositoryFactoryBean with QDataTablesRepositoryFactoryBean
• replace DataTablesRepository with QDataTablesRepository

and your repositories will now expose:

public interface QDataTablesRepository<T, ID extends Serializable> {

    DataTablesOutput<T> findAll(
        DataTablesInput input
    );

    DataTablesOutput<R> findAll(
        DataTablesInput input,
        Function<T, R> converter
    );

    DataTablesOutput<T> findAll(
        DataTablesInput input,
        Predicate additionalPredicate
    );

    DataTablesOutput<T> findAll(
        DataTablesInput input,
        Predicate additionalPredicate,
        Predicate preFilteringPredicate
    );

    DataTablesOutput<R> findAll(
        DataTablesInput input,
        Predicate additionalPredicate,
        Predicate preFilteringPredicate,
        Function<T, R> converter
    );
}

Your controllers should be able to handle the parameters sent by DataTables:

@RestController
public class UserRestController {

  @Autowired
  private UserRepository userRepository;

  @RequestMapping(value = "/data/users", method = RequestMethod.GET)
  public DataTablesOutput<User> getUsers(@Valid DataTablesInput input) {
    return userRepository.findAll(input);
  }

  // or with some preprocessing
  @RequestMapping(value = "/data/users", method = RequestMethod.GET)
  public DataTablesOutput<User> getUsers(@Valid DataTablesInput input) {
    ColumnParameter parameter0 = input.getColumns().get(0);
    Specification additionalSpecification = getAdditionalSpecification(parameter0.getSearch().getValue());
    parameter0.getSearch().setValue("");
    return userRepository.findAll(input, additionalSpecification);
  }

  // or with an additional filter allowing to 'hide' data from the client (the filter will be applied on both the count and the data queries, and may impact the recordsTotal in the output)
  @RequestMapping(value = "/data/users", method = RequestMethod.GET)
  public DataTablesOutput<User> getUsers(@Valid DataTablesInput input) {
    return userRepository.findAll(input, null, removeHiddenEntitiesSpecification);
  }
}

The DataTablesInput class maps the fields sent by the client (listed there).

Spring documentation for Specification

How to

Apply filters

By default, the main search field is applied to all columns.

You can apply specific filter on a column with table.columns(<your column id>).search(<your filter>).draw(); (or table.columns(<your column name>:name)...) (see documentation).

Supported filters:

• Strings (WHERE <column> LIKE %<input>%)
• Booleans
• Array of values (WHERE <column> IN (<input>) where input is something like 'PARAM1+PARAM2+PARAM4')
• NULL values are also supported: 'PARAM1+PARAM3+NULL' becomes WHERE (<column> IN ('PARAM1', 'PARAM3') OR <column> IS NULL) (to actually search for 'NULL' string, please use \NULL)

Also supports paging and sorting.

Example:

{
  "draw": 1,
  "columns": [
    {
      "data": "id",
      "name": "",
      "searchable": true,
      "orderable": true,
      "search": {
        "value": "",
        "regex": false
      }
    },
    {
      "data": "firstName",
      "name": "",
      "searchable": true,
      "orderable": true,
      "search": {
        "value": "",
        "regex": false
      }
    },
    {
      "data": "lastName",
      "name": "",
      "searchable": true,
      "orderable": true,
      "search": {
        "value": "",
        "regex": false
      }
    }
  ],
  "order": [
    {
      "column": 0,
      "dir": "asc"
    }
  ],
  "start": 0,
  "length": 10,
  "search": {
    "value": "john",
    "regex": false
  }
}

is converted into the following SQL (through the Criteria API):

SELECT
    user0_.id AS id1_0_0_,
    user0_.first_name AS first_na3_0_0_,
    user0_.last_name AS last_nam4_0_0_
FROM
    users user0_
WHERE
    user0_.id LIKE "%john%"
    OR user0_.first_name LIKE "%john%"
    OR user0_.last_name LIKE "%john%"
ORDER BY user0_.id ASC
LIMIT 10

Note: the regex flag is currently ignored because JPQL only supports LIKE expressions (with % and _ tokens).

Yet you should be able to use the DBMS-specific regex operator with the CriteriaBuilder.function() method.

Example with H2 REGEXP_LIKE:

Column column = input.getColumn("my_column");
column.setSearchable(false); // so the default filter will not be applied
String regexValue = column.getSearch().getValue();
DataTablesOutput<...> output = repository.findAll(input, (root, query, builder) -> {
  Expression<String> regex = builder.function("REGEXP_LIKE", String.class, root.get("my_column"), builder.literal(regexValue));
  return builder.equal(regex, builder.literal(1));
});

Manage non-searchable fields

If you have a column that does not match an attribute on the server-side (for example, an 'Edit' button), you'll have to set the searchable and orderable attributes to false.

$(document).ready(function() {
  var table = $('table#sample').DataTable({
    'ajax' : '/data/users',
    'serverSide' : true,
    columns : [{
      data: 'id'
    }, {
      data: 'mail'
    }, {
      searchable: false,
      orderable: false
    }]
  });
});

Limit the exposed attributes of the entities

There are several ways to restrict the attributes of an entity on the server-side:

• with a DTO
• with @JsonView
• with @JsonIgnore

With a DTO

@RestController
public class UserRestController {

  @Autowired
  private UserRepository userRepository;

  @RequestMapping(value = "/data/users", method = RequestMethod.GET)
  public DataTablesOutput<UserDTO> getUsers(@Valid DataTablesInput input) {
    return userRepository.findAll(input, toUserDTO);
  }
}

The toUserDTO() method converts the User entity into a UserDTO object. You can also use a mapping framework such as Orika or MapStruct.

With @JsonView

@Entity
public class User {

  @JsonView(DataTablesOutput.View.class)
  private Integer id;

  // ignored
  private String mail;

}

@RestController
public class UserRestController {

  @Autowired
  private UserRepository userRepository;

  @JsonView(DataTablesOutput.View.class)
  @RequestMapping(value = "/data/users", method = RequestMethod.GET)
  public DataTablesOutput<User> getUsers(@Valid DataTablesInput input) {
    return userRepository.findAll(input);
  }
}

With @JsonIgnore

@Entity
public class User {

  private Integer id;

  @JsonIgnore
  private String mail;

}

Search on a rendered column

Let's say you have an User entity with two attributes, firstName and lastName.

To display the rendered column on the client-side:

$('table#sample').DataTable({
  ajax: '/data/users',
  serverSide: true,
  columns : [
    {
      data: 'fullName',
      render: (_, __, row) => `${row.firstName} ${row.lastName}`,
      searchable: false,
      orderable: false
    }
  ]
});

Both searchable and orderable option are necessary, because the User entity has nofullName attribute.

To filter on the server-side, you'll have to manually create the matching specification:

@RequestMapping(value = "/data/users", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public DataTablesOutput<User> list(@Valid DataTablesInput input) {
    String searchValue = escapeContent(input.getSearch().getValue());
    input.getSearch().setValue(""); // prevent search on other fields

    Specification<User> fullNameSpecification = (Specification<User>) (root, query, criteriaBuilder) -> {
        if (!hasText(searchValue)) {
            return null;
        }
        String[] parts = searchValue.split(" ");
        Expression<String> firstNameExpression = criteriaBuilder.lower(root.get("firstName"));
        Expression<String> lastNameExpression = criteriaBuilder.lower(root.get("lastName"));
        if (parts.length == 2 && hasText(parts[0]) && hasText(parts[1])) {
            return criteriaBuilder.or(
                    criteriaBuilder.and(
                            criteriaBuilder.equal(firstNameExpression, parts[0]),
                            criteriaBuilder.like(lastNameExpression, parts[1] + "%", '~')
                    ),
                    criteriaBuilder.and(
                            criteriaBuilder.equal(lastNameExpression, parts[0]),
                            criteriaBuilder.like(firstNameExpression, parts[1] + "%", '~')
                    )
            );
        } else {
            return criteriaBuilder.or(
                    criteriaBuilder.like(firstNameExpression, searchValue + "%", '~'),
                    criteriaBuilder.like(lastNameExpression, searchValue + "%", '~')
            );
        }
    };
    return userRepository.findAll(input, fullNameSpecification);
}

private String escapeContent(String content) {
    return content
            .replaceAll("~", "~~")
            .replaceAll("%", "~%")
            .replaceAll("_", "~_")
            .trim()
            .toLowerCase();
}

You can find a complete example here.

Back to top.

Use with the SearchPanes extension

Server-side:

@RestController
@RequiredArgsConstructor
public class UserRestController {
  private final UserRepository userRepository;

  @RequestMapping(value = "/data/users", method = RequestMethod.GET)
  public DataTablesOutput<User> getUsers(@Valid DataTablesInput input, @RequestParam Map<String, String> queryParams) {
    input.parseSearchPanesFromQueryParams(queryParams, Arrays.asList("position", "status"));
    return userRepository.findAll(input);
  }
}

Client-side:

$(document).ready(function() {
  var table = $('table#sample').DataTable({
    ajax : '/data/users',
    serverSide: true,
    dom: 'Pfrtip',
    columns : [{
      data : 'id'
    }, {
      data : 'mail'
    }, {
      data : 'position'
    }, {
      data : 'status'
    }]
  });
});

With the searchPanes.cascadePanes feature:

$(document).ready(function() {
  var table = $('table#sample').DataTable({
    ajax : '/data/users',
    serverSide: true,
    dom: 'Pfrtip',
    columns : [{
      data : 'id'
    }, {
      data : 'mail'
    }, {
      data : 'position',
      searchPanes: {
        show: true,
      }
    }, {
      data : 'status',
      searchPanes: {
        show: true,
      }
    }],
    searchPanes: {
      cascadePanes: true,
    },
  });
});

Regarding the deserialization issue detailed above, here is the compatibility matrix:

Solution	Compatibility with the SearchPanes extension
Custom serialization	YES
POST requests	NO
Manual serialization	NO

Handle @OneToMany and @ManyToMany relationships

For performance reasons, the library will not fetch @OneToMany and @ManyToMany relationships. This means that you may encounter the following errors:

• when accessing a related entity in your code:

org.hibernate.LazyInitializationException: failed to lazily initialize a collection of role: xxxx: could not initialize proxy - no Session

• or during the serialization to JSON:

org.springframework.http.converter.HttpMessageNotWritableException: Could not write JSON: failed to lazily initialize a collection of role [...]

There are several possible solutions to this problem:

Method	Total number of queries
With FetchType.EAGER	3 + 1 per entity
With spring.jpa.open-in-view to true	3 + 1 per entity
With Hibernate.initialize()	3 + 1 per entity
With a FETCH JOIN query (recommended)	4

With FetchType.EAGER

By using FetchType.EAGER, the related entities will automatically be loaded by the persistence provider.

@Entity
public class User {
  @Id private long id;

  @ManyToMany(fetch = FetchType.EAGER)
  @JoinTable(
    name = "users_groups",
    joinColumns = { @JoinColumn(name = "user_id") },
    inverseJoinColumns = { @JoinColumn(name = "group_id") }
  )
  private List<Group> groups = new ArrayList<>();

  // ...
}

Downside: the Group entities will be loaded whenever you load an User entity, which may not always be necessary.

Note: you can log the SQL queries by setting spring.jpa.show-sql to true in your configuration:

Hibernate: select count(*) from users u1_0
Hibernate: select u1_0.id,u1_0.name from users u1_0 where 1=1 order by u1_0.id asc offset ? rows fetch first ? rows only
Hibernate: select g1_0.user_id,g1_1.id,g1_1.name from user_groups g1_0 join groups g1_1 on g1_1.id=g1_0.group_id where g1_0.user_id=?
Hibernate: select g1_0.user_id,g1_1.id,g1_1.name from user_groups g1_0 join groups g1_1 on g1_1.id=g1_0.group_id where g1_0.user_id=?
[...] (one per user entity in the output)
Hibernate: select count(u1_0.id) from users u1_0 where 1=1

With spring.jpa.open-in-view to true

With spring.jpa.open-in-view: true in your configuration, Spring will create a new Hibernate Session available during the whole HTTP request, so the related entities will automatically be loaded when needed.

Downside: this option might lead to performance issues and is generally not recommended, so please use with caution.

See also: https://www.baeldung.com/spring-open-session-in-view

With Hibernate.initialize()

@Repository
public class CustomUserRepository {
  private final UserRepository userRepository;

  @Transactional(readOnly = true)
  public DataTablesOutput<User> findAll(DataTablesInput input) {
    DataTablesOutput<User> output = userRepository.findAll(input);

    output.getData().forEach(user -> Hibernate.initialize(user.getGroups()));

    return output;
  }
}

Downside: like the previous solutions, this method will generate one additional SQL query per user entity.

With a FETCH JOIN query

@Repository
public class CustomUserRepository {
  private final UserRepository userRepository;
  private final EntityManager entityManager;

  @Transactional(readOnly = true)
  public DataTablesOutput<User> findAll(DataTablesInput input) {
    DataTablesOutput<User> output = userRepository.findAll(input);

    List<Long> ids = output.getData().stream().map(User::getId).collect(Collectors.toList());

    Map<Long, List<Group>> userGroups = entityManager
      .createQuery("SELECT u FROM User u LEFT JOIN FETCH u.groups WHERE u.id IN :ids", User.class)
      .setParameter("ids", ids)
      .getResultList()
      .stream()
      .collect(Collectors.toMap(User::getId, User::getGroups));

    output.getData().forEach(user -> user.setGroups(userGroups.get(user.getId())));

    return output;
  }
}

While a bit harder to read, this method only triggers one additional SQL query to fetch all the Group entities.

Search for a specific value in a column

By default, adding a search value will be converted to a WHERE <column> LIKE %<value>% clause.

You can have an exact match (WHERE <column> IN (<values>)) with:

// single value
myTable.column($columnIndex).search("value1+").draw();

// multiple values
myTable.column($columnIndex).search("value1+value2+value3").draw();

Note: the column in the database will be inferred as a string. For more complex use cases, you will need a proper specification.

Examples of additional specification

• Specific date
• Range of integers
• Range of dates

Specific date

class DateSpecification implements Specification<MyEntity> {
  private final LocalDate value;

  DateSpecification(Column column) {
    String value = column.getSearch().getValue();
    column.setSearchable(false); // either here or in the table definition
    this.value = parseValue(value);
  }

  private LocalDate parseValue(String value) {
    if (hasText(value)) {
      try {
        return LocalDate.parse(value);
      } catch (DateTimeParseException e) {
        return null;
      }
    }
    return null;
  }

  @Override
  public Predicate toPredicate(Root<MyEntity> root, CriteriaQuery<?> query, CriteriaBuilder criteriaBuilder) {
    Expression<LocalDate> expr = root.get("myColumn").as(LocalDate.class);
    if (this.value != null) {
      return criteriaBuilder.equal(expr, this.value);
    } else {
      return criteriaBuilder.conjunction();
    }
  }
}

And then:

@RestController
public class MyController {

  @RequestMapping(value = "/entities", method = RequestMethod.GET)
  public DataTablesOutput<MyEntity> list(@Valid DataTablesInput input) {
    return myRepository.findAll(input, new DateSpecification(input.getColumn("myField")));
  }
}

Range of integers

class IntegerRangeSpecification implements Specification<MyEntity> {
  private final Integer minValue;
  private final Integer maxValue;

  IntegerRangeSpecification(Column column) {
    String value = column.getSearch().getValue();
    column.setSearchable(false); // either here or in the table definition
    if (!hasText(value)) {
      minValue = maxValue = null;
      return;
    }
    String[] bounds = value.split(";");
    minValue = parseValue(bounds, 0);
    maxValue = parseValue(bounds, 1);
  }

  private Integer parseValue(String[] bounds, int index) {
    if (bounds.length > index && hasText(bounds[index])) {
      try {
        return Integer.valueOf(bounds[index]);
      } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
        return null;
      }
    }
    return null;
  }

  @Override
  public Predicate toPredicate(Root<MyEntity> root, CriteriaQuery<?> query, CriteriaBuilder criteriaBuilder) {
    Expression<Integer> expr = root.get("myColumn").as(Integer.class);
    if (this.minValue != null && this.maxValue != null) {
      return criteriaBuilder.between(expr, this.minValue, this.maxValue);
    } else if (this.minValue != null) {
      return criteriaBuilder.greaterThanOrEqualTo(expr, this.minValue);
    } else if (this.maxValue != null) {
      return criteriaBuilder.lessThanOrEqualTo(expr, this.maxValue);
    } else {
      return criteriaBuilder.conjunction();
    }
  }
}

And then:

@RestController
public class MyController {

  @RequestMapping(value = "/entities", method = RequestMethod.GET)
  public DataTablesOutput<MyEntity> list(@Valid DataTablesInput input) {
    return myRepository.findAll(input, new IntegerRangeSpecification(input.getColumn("myField")));
  }
}

With two text inputs on the client side:

const minValueInput = $("input#minValue");
const maxValueInput = $("input#maxValue");

const onBoundChange = () => {
  table.column($columnIndex).search(minValueInput.val() + ';' + maxValueInput.val()).draw();
};

minValueInput.on("input", onBoundChange);
maxValueInput.on("input", onBoundChange);

Range of dates

class DateRangeSpecification implements Specification<MyEntity> {
  private final LocalDate minValue;
  private final LocalDate maxValue;

  DateRangeSpecification(Column column) {
    String value = column.getSearch().getValue();
    column.setSearchable(false); // either here or in the table definition
    if (!hasText(value)) {
      minValue = maxValue = null;
      return;
    }
    String[] bounds = value.split(";");
    minValue = parseValue(bounds, 0);
    maxValue = parseValue(bounds, 1);
  }

  private LocalDate parseValue(String[] bounds, int index) {
    if (bounds.length > index && hasText(bounds[index])) {
      try {
        return LocalDate.parse(bounds[index]);
      } catch (DateTimeParseException e) {
        return null;
      }
    }
    return null;
  }

  @Override
  public Predicate toPredicate(Root<MyEntity> root, CriteriaQuery<?> query, CriteriaBuilder criteriaBuilder) {
    Expression<LocalDate> expr = root.get("myColumn").as(LocalDate.class);
    if (this.minValue != null && this.maxValue != null) {
      return criteriaBuilder.between(expr, this.minValue, this.maxValue);
    } else if (minValue != null) {
      return criteriaBuilder.greaterThanOrEqualTo(expr, this.minValue);
    } else if (maxValue != null) {
      return criteriaBuilder.lessThanOrEqualTo(expr, this.maxValue);
    } else {
      return criteriaBuilder.conjunction();
    }
  }
}

And then:

@RestController
public class MyController {

  @RequestMapping(value = "/entities", method = RequestMethod.GET)
  public DataTablesOutput<MyEntity> list(@Valid DataTablesInput input) {
    return myRepository.findAll(input, new DateRangeSpecification(input.getColumn("myField")));
  }
}

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Troubleshooting

• Invalid property 'columns[0][data]' of bean class [org.springframework.data.jpa.datatables.mapping.DataTablesInput]

Please see here.

• java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unable to locate Attribute with the the given name ...

It seems you have a column with a data attribute that does not match the attribute of the @Entity on the server-side.

Please see here.

• java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/hibernate/jpa/criteria/path/AbstractPathImpl

The versions >= 5.0.0 of the library are not compatible with Spring 4 (Spring Boot 1.x), please use the previous versions.

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