How to get row count using ResultSet in Java?

I'm trying to create a simple method that receives a ResultSet as a parameter and returns an int that contains the row count of the ResultSet. Is this a valid way of doing this or not so much?

int size = 0;
    try {
        while(rs.next()){
            size++;
        }
    }
    catch(Exception ex) {
        System.out.println("------------------Tablerize.getRowCount-----------------");
        System.out.println("Cannot get resultSet row count: " + ex);
        System.out.println("--------------------------------------------------------");
    }

I tried this:

int size = 0;
try {
    resultSet.last();
    size = resultSet.getRow();
    resultSet.beforeFirst();
}
catch(Exception ex) {
    return 0;
}
return size;

But I got an error saying com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException: The requested operation is not supported on forward only result sets.

Thanks in advance for the pointers!

If you have access to the prepared statement that results in this resultset, you can use

connection.prepareStatement(sql, 
  ResultSet.TYPE_SCROLL_INSENSITIVE, 
  ResultSet.CONCUR_READ_ONLY);

This prepares your statement in a way that you can rewind the cursor. This is also documented in the ResultSet Javadoc

In general, however, forwarding and rewinding cursors may be quite inefficient for large result sets. Another option in SQL Server would be to calculate the total number of rows directly in your SQL statement:

SELECT my_table.*, count(*) over () total_rows
FROM my_table
WHERE ...

Statement s = cd.createStatement();
ResultSet r = s.executeQuery("SELECT COUNT(*) AS recordCount FROM FieldMaster");
r.next();
int count = r.getInt("recordCount");
r.close();
System.out.println("MyTable has " + count + " row(s).");

Sometimes JDBC does not support following method gives Error like `TYPE_FORWARD_ONLY' use this solution

Sqlite does not support in JDBC.

resultSet.last();
size = resultSet.getRow();
resultSet.beforeFirst();

So at that time use this solution.

your sql Statement creating code may be like

statement = connection.createStatement();

To solve "com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException: The requested operation is not supported on forward only result sets" exception change above code with

statement = connection.createStatement(
    ResultSet.TYPE_SCROLL_INSENSITIVE, 
    ResultSet.CONCUR_READ_ONLY);

After above change you can use

int size = 0;
try {
    resultSet.last();
    size = resultSet.getRow();
    resultSet.beforeFirst();
}
catch(Exception ex) {
    return 0;
}
return size;

to get row count

I just made a getter method.

public int getNumberRows(){
    try{
       statement = connection.creatStatement();
       resultset = statement.executeQuery("your query here");
       if(resultset.last()){
          return resultset.getRow();
       } else {
           return 0; //just cus I like to always do some kinda else statement.
       }
    } catch (Exception e){
       System.out.println("Error getting row count");
       e.printStackTrace();
    }
    return 0;
}

Do a SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ... query instead.

Most drivers support forward only resultset - so method like last, beforeFirst etc are not supported.

The first approach is suitable if you are also getting the data in the same loop - otherwise the resultSet has already been iterated and can not be used again.

In most cases the requirement is to get the number of rows a query would return without fetching the rows. Iterating through the result set to find the row count is almost same as processing the data. It is better to do another count(*) query instead.

If you have table and storing the ID as primary and auto increment then this will work

Example code to get the total row count <http://www.java2s.com/Tutorial/Java/0340__Database/GettheNumberofRowsinaDatabaseTable.htm>

Below is code

import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.ResultSet;
import java.sql.ResultSetMetaData;
import java.sql.Statement;

public class Main {
  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    Connection conn = getConnection();
    Statement st = conn.createStatement(ResultSet.TYPE_SCROLL_INSENSITIVE,
        ResultSet.CONCUR_UPDATABLE);

    st.executeUpdate("create table survey (id int,name varchar(30));");
    st.executeUpdate("insert into survey (id,name ) values (1,'nameValue')");
    st.executeUpdate("insert into survey (id,name ) values (2,null)");
    st.executeUpdate("insert into survey (id,name ) values (3,'Tom')");
    st = conn.createStatement();
    ResultSet rs = st.executeQuery("SELECT * FROM survey");

    rs = st.executeQuery("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM survey");
    // get the number of rows from the result set
    rs.next();
    int rowCount = rs.getInt(1);
    System.out.println(rowCount);

    rs.close();
    st.close();
    conn.close();

  }

  private static Connection getConnection() throws Exception {
    Class.forName("org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver");
    String url = "jdbc:hsqldb:mem:data/tutorial";

    return DriverManager.getConnection(url, "sa", "");
  }
}

Your function will return the size of a ResultSet, but its cursor will be set after last record, so without rewinding it by calling beforeFirst(), first() or previous() you won't be able to read its rows, and rewinding methods won't work with forward only ResultSet (you'll get the same exception you're getting in your second code fragment).

Others have already answered how to solve your problem, so I won't repeat what has already been said, but I will says this: you should probably figure out a way to solve your problems without knowing the result set count prior to reading through the results.

There are very few circumstances where the row count is actually needed prior to reading the result set, especially in a language like Java. The only case I think of where a row count would be necessary is when the row count is the only data you need(in which case a count query would be superior). Otherwise, you are better off using a wrapper object to represent your table data, and storing these objects in a dynamic container such as an ArrayList. Then, once the result set has been iterated over, you can get the array list count. For every solution that requires knowing the row count before reading the result set, you can probably think of a solution that does so without knowing the row count before reading without much effort. By thinking of solutions that bypass the need to know the row count before processing, you save the ResultSet the trouble of scrolling to the end of the result set, then back to the beginning (which can be a VERY expensive operation for large result sets).

Now of course I'm not saying there are never situations where you may need the row count before reading a result set. I'm just saying that in most circumstances, when people think they need the result set count prior to reading it, they probably don't, and it's worth taking 5 minutes to think about whether there is another way.

Just wanted to offer my 2 cents on the topic.

Following two options worked for me:

1. A function that returns the number of rows in your ResultSet.

   private int resultSetCount(ResultSet resultSet) throws SQLException{ try{ int i = 0; while (resultSet.next()) { i++; } return i; } catch (Exception e){ System.out.println("Error getting row count"); e.printStackTrace(); } return 0; }

2. Create a second SQL statement with the COUNT option.

The ResultSet has it's methods that move the Cursor back and forth depending on the option provided. By default, it's forward moving(TYPE_FORWARD_ONLY ResultSet type). Unless CONSTANTS indicating Scrollability and Update of ResultSet properly, you might end up getting an error. E.g. beforeLast() This method has no effect if the result set contains no rows. Throws Error if it's not TYPE_FORWARD_ONLY.

The best way to check if empty rows got fetched --- Just to insert new record after checking non-existence

if( rs.next() ) {
   
   Do nothing
} else {
  No records fetched!
}

See here

Here's some code that avoids getting the count to instantiate an array, but uses an ArrayList instead and just before returning converts the ArrayList to the needed array type.

Note that Supervisor class here implements ISupervisor interface, but in Java you can't cast from object[] (that ArrayList's plain toArray() method returns) to ISupervisor[] (as I think you are able to do in C#), so you have to iterate through all list items and populate the result array.

/**
 * Get Supervisors for given program id
 * @param connection
 * @param programId
 * @return ISupervisor[]
 * @throws SQLException
 */
public static ISupervisor[] getSupervisors(Connection connection, String programId)
  throws SQLException
{
  ArrayList supervisors = new ArrayList();

  PreparedStatement statement = connection.prepareStatement(SQL.GET_SUPERVISORS);
  try {
    statement.setString(SQL.GET_SUPERVISORS_PARAM_PROGRAMID, programId);
    ResultSet resultSet = statement.executeQuery();  

    if (resultSet != null) {
      while (resultSet.next()) {
        Supervisor s = new Supervisor();
        s.setId(resultSet.getInt(SQL.GET_SUPERVISORS_RESULT_ID));
        s.setFirstName(resultSet.getString(SQL.GET_SUPERVISORS_RESULT_FIRSTNAME));
        s.setLastName(resultSet.getString(SQL.GET_SUPERVISORS_RESULT_LASTNAME));
        s.setAssignmentCount(resultSet.getInt(SQL.GET_SUPERVISORS_RESULT_ASSIGNMENT_COUNT));
        s.setAssignment2Count(resultSet.getInt(SQL.GET_SUPERVISORS_RESULT_ASSIGNMENT2_COUNT));
        supervisors.add(s);
      }
      resultSet.close();
    }
  } finally {
    statement.close();
  }

  int count = supervisors.size();
  ISupervisor[] result = new ISupervisor[count];
  for (int i=0; i<count; i++)
    result[i] = (ISupervisor)supervisors.get(i);
  return result;
}

From http://docs.oracle.com/javase/1.4.2/docs/api/java/sql/ResultSetMetaData.html

 ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery("SELECT a, b, c FROM TABLE2");
 ResultSetMetaData rsmd = rs.getMetaData();
 int numberOfColumns = rsmd.getColumnCount();

A ResultSet contains metadata which gives the number of rows.