How do you implement pagination in Spring Data JPA?

Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • Steps to Implement Pagination in Spring Data JPA
    • 1. Defining the Repository with Paging Support
    • 2. Using Pageable and Page for Pagination
    • 3. Working with the Page Object
  • Practical Example: Pagination in a Real Application
    • Example 1: Paginate Products in an E-Commerce Application
    • Example 2: Paginate with Sorting
• Conclusion

Introduction

Pagination is an essential feature for applications that deal with large datasets. It allows you to break down the data into smaller chunks or pages, improving both performance and user experience. In Spring Data JPA, pagination is straightforward to implement using the Pageable and Page interfaces, which handle the slicing and retrieval of data in a more efficient way. This guide will demonstrate how to implement pagination in Spring Data JPA step-by-step.

Steps to Implement Pagination in Spring Data JPA

1. Defining the Repository with Paging Support

The first step to implementing pagination is defining a repository that extends PagingAndSortingRepository or JpaRepository. These repositories already provide built-in support for pagination. You can use methods like findAll(Pageable pageable) to retrieve paginated results.

Example:

Here, Product is the entity, and Long is its primary key type. By extending PagingAndSortingRepository, we gain access to the findAll(Pageable pageable) method that allows pagination.

2. Using Pageable and Page for Pagination

To retrieve a specific page of data, you will need to create an instance of Pageable. This can be done using PageRequest.of(pageNumber, pageSize) where pageNumber is the page you want to retrieve (0-based index), and pageSize is the number of records per page. The result is wrapped in a Page object, which contains the data and metadata about the pagination.

Example:

In the example above, the getPaginatedProducts method accepts page and size parameters from the request, with default values of 0 and 10, respectively. We then create a Pageable object using PageRequest.of(page, size) and pass it to findAll(pageable) to retrieve a paginated result.

3. Working with the Page Object

The Page object contains both the content and metadata about the pagination, such as total pages, total elements, and whether the current page is the first or last page. You can access these properties to build a paginated response.

Example:

Practical Example: Pagination in a Real Application

Example 1: Paginate Products in an E-Commerce Application

In an e-commerce platform, you might want to paginate products so that users can browse through them in smaller chunks. The following code demonstrates how to implement pagination for products:

Controller:

Response Example:

When a user requests /products?page=1&size=5, the response might look like:

In this response:

• content holds the actual paginated product data.
• totalElements gives the total number of products.
• totalPages tells you how many pages of products are available.
• number indicates the current page number.

Example 2: Paginate with Sorting

You can also combine pagination with sorting to allow users to view products ordered by price or name. You can add sorting by passing a Sort object to the PageRequest.

Conclusion

Implementing pagination in Spring Data JPA is simple and efficient using the Pageable and Page interfaces. By extending PagingAndSortingRepository or JpaRepository, Spring Data JPA provides built-in methods like findAll(Pageable pageable) to easily paginate results. You can customize pagination by specifying page size, page number, and sorting criteria. Pagination ensures your application can handle large datasets effectively, offering a smoother user experience and improved performance.