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Document Data Format: Records

On this page

  • Overview
  • Serialize and Deserialize a Record
  • Example Record
  • Insert a Record
  • Retrieve a Record
  • Specify Component Conversion Using Annotations
  • Example Annotated Record
  • Insert an Annotated Record
  • Retrieve an Annotated Record

Overview

In this guide, you can learn how to store and retrieve data in the MongoDB Java Driver using Java records. Java records are a type of Java class often used to model data and separate business logic from data representation.

Tip

You can declare Java records in Java 16 or later. Learn more about the functionality and restrictions of records from Java 17 Language Updates: Record Classes.

If you are using an earlier version of Java, you can use plain old Java objects instead. See the Document Data Format: POJOs guide for implementation details.

Serialize and Deserialize a Record

The driver natively supports encoding and decoding Java records for MongoDB read and write operations using the default codec registry. The default codec registry is a collection of classes called codecs that define how to convert encode and decode Java types. Learn more about codecs and the default codec registry in the guide on Codecs.

Example Record

The code examples in this section reference the following sample record, which describes a data storage device:

public record DataStorageRecord(
        String productName,
        double capacity
) {}

Insert a Record

You can insert a DataStorageRecord instance as shown in the following code:

MongoCollection<DataStorageRecord> collection = database.getCollection("data_storage_devices", DataStorageRecord.class);
// insert the record
collection.insertOne(new DataStorageRecord("2TB SSD", 1.71));

Retrieve a Record

You can retrieve documents as DataStorageRecord instances and print them as shown in the following code:

MongoCollection<DataStorageRecord> collection = database.getCollection("data_storage_devices", DataStorageRecord.class);
// retrieve and print the records
List<DataStorageRecord> records = new ArrayList<DataStorageRecord>();
collection.find().into(records);
records.forEach(System.out::println);
DataStorageRecord[productName=1TB SSD, capacity=1.71]

Specify Component Conversion Using Annotations

This section describes the annotations you can use to configure the serialization behavior of record components and provides an example to demonstrate the annotation behavior.

Tip

The org.bson.codecs.records.annotations package is deprecated. Use the equivalent ones from the org.bson.codecs.pojo.annotations package instead.

You can use the following annotations on record components:

Annotation Name
Description
BsonId
Specifies the component to serialize as the _id property.
BsonProperty
Specifies a custom document field name when converting the record component to BSON. Accepts the field name as the parameter.
BsonRepresentation
Specifies a BSON type to store when different from the record component type. Accepts the BSON type as the parameter.

Example Annotated Record

The code examples in this section reference the following sample record, which describes a network device:

import org.bson.BsonType;
import org.bson.codecs.pojo.annotations.BsonProperty;
import org.bson.codecs.pojo.annotations.BsonId;
import org.bson.codecs.pojo.annotations.BsonRepresentation;
public record NetworkDeviceRecord(
        @BsonId()
        @BsonRepresentation(BsonType.OBJECT_ID)
        String deviceId,
        String name,
        @BsonProperty("type")
        String deviceType
        )
{}

Insert an Annotated Record

You can insert a DataStorageRecord instance as shown in the following code:

MongoCollection<NetworkDeviceRecord> collection = database.getCollection("network_devices", NetworkDeviceRecord.class);
// insert the record
String deviceId = new ObjectId().toHexString();
collection.insertOne(new NetworkDeviceRecord(deviceId, "Enterprise Wi-fi", "router"));

The inserted document in MongoDB should resemble the following:

{
  _id: ObjectId("fedc..."),
  name: 'Enterprise Wi-fi',
  type: 'router'
}

Retrieve an Annotated Record

You can retrieve documents as NetworkDeviceRecord instances and print them as shown in the following code:

MongoCollection<NetworkDeviceRecord> collection = database.getCollection("network_devices", NetworkDeviceRecord.class);
// return all documents in the collection as records
List<NetworkDeviceRecord> records = new ArrayList<NetworkDeviceRecord>();
collection.find().into(records);
records.forEach(System.out::println);
NetworkDeviceRecord[deviceId=fedc..., name=Enterprise Wi-fi, deviceType=router]

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