Java Storing Multiple Rows From Select Queries

Question

This is actually a re-do of an older question of mine that I have completely redone because my old question seemed to confuse people.

I have written a Java program that Queries a database and is intended to retrieve several rows of data. I have previously written the program in Informix-4GL and I am using a sql cursor to loop through the database and store each row into a "dynamic row of record". I understand there are no row of records in Java so I have ended up with the following code.

public class Main {

     // DB CONNECT VARIABLE ===========================
     static Connection gv_conn = null;

     // PREPARED STATEMENT VARIABLES ==================
     static PreparedStatement users_sel = null;
     static ResultSet users_curs = null;
     static PreparedStatement uinfo_sel = null;
     static ResultSet uinfo_curs = null;

     // MAIN PROGRAM START ============================

     public static void main(String[] args) {

          try {
               // CONNECT TO DATABASE CODE
          } catch(Exception log) {
               // YOU FAILED CODE
          }

          f_prepare(); // PREPARE THE STATEMENTS

          ArrayList<Integer> list_id = new ArrayList<Integer>();
          ArrayList<String> list_name = new ArrayList<String>();
          ArrayList<Integer> list_info = new ArrayList<String>();
          ArrayList<String> list_extra = new ArrayList<String>();

          try {

               users_sel.setInt(1, 1);
               users_curs = users_sel.executeQuery();

               // RETRIEVE ROWS FROM USERS
               while (users_curs.next()) {

                    int lv_u_id = users_curs.getInt("u_id");
                    String lv_u_name = users_curs.getString("u_name");

                    uinfo_sel.setInt(1, lv_u_id);
                    uinfo_curs = uinfo_sel.executeQuery();

                    // RETRIEVE DATA FROM UINFO RELATIVE TO USER
                    String lv_ui_info = uinfo_curs.getString("ui_info");
                    String lv_ui_extra = uinfo_curs.getString("ui_extra");

                    // STORE DATA I WANT IN THESE ARRAYS
                    list_id.add(lv_u_id);
                    list_name.add(lv_u_name);
                    list_info.add(lv_ui_info);
                    list_extra.add(lv_ui_extra);

               }

          } catch(SQLException log) {
               // EVERYTHING BROKE
          }

          // MAKING SURE IT WORKED
          System.out.println(
               list_id.get(0) +
               list_name.get(0) +
               list_info.get(0) +
               list_extra.get(0)
          );

          // TESTING WITH ARBITRARY ROWS
          System.out.println(
               list_id.get(2) +
               list_name.get(5) +
               list_info.get(9) +
               list_extra.get(14)
          );

     }

     // PREPARE STATEMENTS SEPARATELY =================

     public static void f_prepare() {

          String lv_sql = null;

          try {

               lv_sql = "select * from users where u_id >= ?"
               users_sel = gv_conn.prepareStatement(lv_sql);

               lv_sql = "select * from uinfo where ui_u_id = ?"
               uinfo_sel = gv_conn.prepareStatement(lv_sql)

          } catch(SQLException log) {
               // IT WON'T FAIL COZ I BELIEEEVE
          }

     }

}

class DBConn {
   // connect to SQLite3 code
}

All in all this code works, I can hit the database once, get all the data I need, store it in variables and work with them as I please however this does not feel right and I think it's far from the most suited way to do this in Java considering I can do it with only 15 lines of code in Informix-4GL.

Can anyone give me advice on a better way to achieve a similar result?

Answer 1

In order to use Java effectively you need to use custom objects. What you have here is a lot of static methods inside a class. It seems that you are coming from a procedural background and if you try to use Java as a procedural language, you will not much value from using it. So first off create a type, you can plop it right inside your class or create it as a separate file:

class User
{
   final int id;
   final String name;
   final String info;
   final String extra;

   User(int id, String name, String info, String extra)
   {
     this.id = id;
     this.name = name;
     this.info = info;
     this.name = name;
   }

   void print()
   {
     System.out.println(id + name + info + extra);
   }
}

Then the loop becomes:

      List<User> list = new ArrayList<User>();

      try {

           users_sel.setInt(1, 1);
           users_curs = users_sel.executeQuery();

           // RETRIEVE ROWS FROM USERS
           while (users_curs.next()) {

                int lv_u_id = users_curs.getInt("u_id");
                String lv_u_name = users_curs.getString("u_name");

                uinfo_sel.setInt(1, lv_u_id);
                uinfo_curs = uinfo_sel.executeQuery();

                // RETRIEVE DATA FROM UINFO RELATIVE TO USER
                String lv_ui_info = uinfo_curs.getString("ui_info");
                String lv_ui_extra = uinfo_curs.getString("ui_extra");

                User user = new User(lv_u_id, lv_u_name, lv_ui_info, lv_ui_extra);

                // STORE DATA
                list.add(user);
        }

      } catch(SQLException log) {
           // EVERYTHING BROKE
      }

      // MAKING SURE IT WORKED
      list.get(0).print();

This doesn't necessarily address the number of lines. Most people who use Java don't interact with databases with this low-level API but in general, if you are looking to get down to the fewest number of lines (a questionable goal) Java isn't going to be your best choice.