Spring JPA repository method to get sorted distinct and non-null values - spring-boot

Question

To get distinct data based on multiple columns and exclude NULL values on a column and sort the result in SQL, I would write query like:
SELECT DISTINCT CAR_NUMBER, CAR_NAME
FROM CAR
WHERE CAR_NUMBER IS NOT NULL
ORDER BY CAR_NUMBER
This would return me rows with distinct values for CAR_NUMBER and CAR_NAME and it would exclude any rows having CAR_NUMBER = NULL and finally, it would sort the result by CAR_NUMBER.
However, In Spring JPA, I gather you can use either methods named based on your entity fields or using #Query annotation.
I am trying to do this:
List<Car> findDistinctByCarNumberAndCarNameAndCarNumberIsNotNull(Sort sort);
, and to call this method like:
myRepo.findDistinctByCarNumberAndCarNameAndCarNumberIsNotNull(Sort.by("carNumber"));
but this is failing on Maven > Install with error like "findDistinctByCarNumberAndCarNameAndCarNumberIsNotNull(Sort sort) expects at least 1 arguments but only found 0".
Similarly, I tried using #Query like below but with same effect:
#Query(SELECT DISTINCT c.carNumber, c.carName FROM carEntity c WHERE c.carNumber IS NOT NULL ORDER BY c.carNumber)
List<Car> findAllCars();

Answer 1

I figured out the problem. Following is how I solved it:
In my repository:
#Query("select distinct c.carNumber, c.carName from CarEntity c where c.carNumber is not null")
List<Object> findAllDistinctRegions(Sort sort);
Important here to realize is that #Query returns List<Object>, not List<Car>.
Next, in my service, call this method:
List<Object> carData = carRepository.findAllDistinctCars(Sort.by("carNumber"));
That worked finally fine; however, I run into another problem where I had to do necessary conversion from List to List.
// This is bit tricky as the returned List<Object> is actually
// List<Object[]>. Basically, each field returned by the #Query
// is placed into an array element.
//To solve it, I had to do following:
List<Car> cars = new ArrayList<Car>();
for(Object data: carsData) {
Object[] obj = (Object[]) data;
cars.add(new CarDto((Short) obj[0], ((String) obj[1]));
}

Answer 2

I just remembered there is a better way to solve this than that helper function that you described in your answer and thought I would share it.
Projection in JPQL would be a cleaner way to create your DTO:
#Query("SELECT DISTINCT new com.yourdomain.example.models.MyDto(c.carNumber, c.carName)
FROM CarEntity c WHERE c.carNumber is not null")
List<CarDto> findAllDistinctRegions(Sort sort);