Spring data JPA and parameters that can be null

It seems Query by Example might be what you need.

Query by Example is a new feature in Spring Data (since version Hopper, out April 2016), which allows one to create simple dynamic queries with a code like this

Person person = new Person();                          
person.setFirstname("Dave");                           

ExampleMatcher matcher = ExampleMatcher.matching()     
  .withIncludeNullValues();                        

Example<Person> example = Example.of(person, matcher);

personRepository.count(example);
personRepository.findOne(example);
personRepository.findAll(example);

Methods count/findOne/findAll that take an instance of org.springframework.data.domain.Example as a parameter (and some of them also take sorting/pagination parameters) are coming from org.springframework.data.repository.query.QueryByExampleExecutor<T> interface, which is extended by org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.JpaRepository<T, ID extends Serializable> interface.

In short, all JpaRepository instances now have these methods.

You are right.

A request has been made to support better handling of null parameters. https://jira.spring.io/browse/DATAJPA-121

In your case, i would advise you to write your repository implementation and to use a custom CriteriaQuery to handle your case.

Also you can use the @Query annotation with the is null syntax :

@Query("[...] where :parameter is null"
public List<Something> getSomethingWithNullParameter();

EDIT

Since Spring data jpa 2.0, spring now supports @Nullable annotation. This can be helpful to handle null parameters passed.

From the documentation :

@Nullable – to be used on a parameter or return value that can be null.