# How To Update Or Insert A Record In Spring Data JPA

Do you want to know how to update or insert a new record using Spring Boot?

This article is for you.

Let's imagine the following scenarios:

1. We have an existing customer who wants to amend his phone number because it was wrong.
    
2. We have an entirely new customer who wants to register his details.
    

In one of my previous articles on [How To Create A Spring Boot REST API](https://techwithmaddy.com/how-to-create-a-spring-boot-rest-api), we have the following method:

```java
    public Customer saveCustomer(Customer savedCustomer) {
        Customer customer = new Customer();
        customer.setFirstName(savedCustomer.getFirstName());
        customer.setLastName(savedCustomer.getLastName());
        customer.setEmail(savedCustomer.getEmail());
        customer.setPhoneNumber(savedCustomer.getPhoneNumber());
        return customerRepository.save(savedCustomer);
    }
```

The method above only covers scenario number 2.

We can refactor this method to perform an upsert operation.

## 1\. What is an upsert operation?

An upsert operation is a database operation where you update an existing row if the value is already present. Otherwise, you save the new value into a new row.

## 2\. How do you do an upsert?

To do this, you have to:

1. Delete any duplicate entry from the Customer table to avoid the `1062 - Duplicate Entry error`.
    
2. Use the email to identify a customer uniquely. Therefore, make the `email` column unique.
    

```sql
ALTER TABLE customer ADD UNIQUE (email);
```

1. Refactor `save()` method logic so that it checks if an entry exists in the database. If it does, update the existing entry. Otherwise, create a new one and insert it into the database.
    

```java
    public Customer saveCustomer(Customer savedCustomer) {
        Customer customer =    customerRepository
                .findCustomerByEmail(savedCustomer.getEmail());

        if(customer != null) {
            customer.setFirstName(savedCustomer.getFirstName());
            customer.setLastName(savedCustomer.getLastName());
            customer.setPhoneNumber(savedCustomer.getPhoneNumber());
        } else {
            customer = new Customer();
            customer.setFirstName(savedCustomer.getFirstName());
            customer.setLastName(savedCustomer.getLastName());
            customer.setEmail(savedCustomer.getEmail());
            customer.setPhoneNumber(savedCustomer.getPhoneNumber());
        }
        return customerRepository.save(customer);
    }

    public Optional<Customer> getCustomerByEmail(String email){
        Customer customer = customerRepository.findCustomerByEmail(email);

        return Optional.ofNullable(customer);
    }
```

## 3\. Testing on Postman

Let's test this logic via Postman:

![upsert-post-request.jpg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1655647138365/QkLB2v4o3.jpg align="center")

The record gets updated in the database too.

![helena-costa-saved.jpg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1655647231676/SifMGoOiu.jpg align="center")

Now, let's try to update Helena's phone number with a different one.

![helena-phone-number-updated.jpg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1655647386893/N2nTi39FO.jpg align="center")

In the database, Helena's phone number should be updated (no new row should be created).

![helena-costa-phone-number-saved-db.jpg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1655647481194/679374ke3.jpg align="center")

## Key Takeaways

After reading this article, you know what an upsert operation is, how to do an upsert and how to test an upsert using Postman.

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Until next time!

🙋🏾‍♀️