Introduce first-class type-safe property path references.

We now support type-safe property paths and property references:

Java variants:

PropertyPath.from("name", Person.class) // existing String-based API
PropertyPath.of(Person::getName) // type-safe property reference expression

PropertyPath.from("address.country", Person.class) // existing nested path API
PropertyPath.of(Person::getAddress).then(Address::getCountry) // type-safe composed path expression

PropertyReference.of(Secret::getSecret)

Kotlin variants:

PropertyReference.of(Secret::secret)

PropertyPath.of(Person::address / Address::city)

allowing type-safe usage through e.g.:

Sort.by(Person::getFirstName, Person::getLastName)

Closes #3400

Author: mp911de

pom.xml

@@ -388,6 +388,28 @@
 				</resources>
 			</build>
 		</profile>
+		<profile>
+			<id>jmh</id>
+			<dependencies>
+				<dependency>
+					<groupId>org.openjdk.jmh</groupId>
+					<artifactId>jmh-core</artifactId>
+					<scope>test</scope>
+					<version>${jmh}</version>
+				</dependency>
+				<dependency>
+					<groupId>org.openjdk.jmh</groupId>
+					<artifactId>jmh-generator-annprocess</artifactId>
+					<scope>test</scope>
+				</dependency>
+			</dependencies>
+			<repositories>
+				<repository>
+					<id>jitpack.io</id>
+					<url>https://jitpack.io</url>
+				</repository>
+			</repositories>
+		</profile>
 	</profiles>
 
 	<repositories>

src/jmh/java/org/springframework/data/BenchmarkSettings.java

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2025 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.data;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.BenchmarkMode;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Fork;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Measurement;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Mode;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.OutputTimeUnit;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Warmup;
+
+/**
+ * Global benchmark settings.
+ *
+ * @author Mark Paluch
+ */
+@Warmup(iterations = 5, time = 1000, timeUnit = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+@Measurement(iterations = 5, time = 1000, timeUnit = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+@Fork(value = 1, warmups = 0)
+@BenchmarkMode(Mode.Throughput)
+@OutputTimeUnit(TimeUnit.SECONDS)
+public abstract class BenchmarkSettings {
+
+}

src/jmh/java/org/springframework/data/core/SerializableLambdaReaderBenchmarks.java

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2025 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.data.core;
+
+import org.junit.platform.commons.annotation.Testable;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Benchmark;
+
+import org.springframework.data.BenchmarkSettings;
+
+/**
+ * Benchmarks for {@link SerializableLambdaReader}.
+ *
+ * @author Mark Paluch
+ */
+@Testable
+public class SerializableLambdaReaderBenchmarks extends BenchmarkSettings {
+
+	private static final SerializableLambdaReader reader = new SerializableLambdaReader(PropertyReference.class);
+
+	@Benchmark
+	public Object benchmarkMethodReference() {
+
+		PropertyReference<Person, String> methodReference = Person::firstName;
+		return reader.read(methodReference);
+	}
+
+	@Benchmark
+	public Object benchmarkLambda() {
+
+		PropertyReference<Person, String> methodReference = person -> person.firstName();
+		return reader.read(methodReference);
+	}
+
+	record Person(String firstName, String lastName) {
+
+	}
+
+}

src/jmh/java/org/springframework/data/core/TypedPropertyPathBenchmarks.java

@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2025 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.data.core;
+
+import org.junit.platform.commons.annotation.Testable;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Benchmark;
+import org.springframework.data.BenchmarkSettings;
+
+/**
+ * Benchmarks for {@link TypedPropertyPath}.
+ *
+ * @author Mark Paluch
+ */
+@Testable
+public class TypedPropertyPathBenchmarks extends BenchmarkSettings {
+
+	@Benchmark
+	public Object benchmarkMethodReference() {
+		return TypedPropertyPath.path(Person::firstName);
+	}
+
+	@Benchmark
+	public Object benchmarkComposedMethodReference() {
+		return TypedPropertyPath.path(Person::address).then(Address::city);
+	}
+
+	@Benchmark
+	public TypedPropertyPath<Person, String> benchmarkLambda() {
+		return TypedPropertyPath.path(person -> person.firstName());
+	}
+
+	@Benchmark
+	public TypedPropertyPath<Person, String> benchmarkComposedLambda() {
+		return TypedPropertyPath.path((Person person) -> person.address()).then(address -> address.city());
+	}
+
+	@Benchmark
+	public Object dotPath() {
+		return TypedPropertyPath.path(Person::firstName).toDotPath();
+	}
+
+	@Benchmark
+	public Object composedDotPath() {
+		return TypedPropertyPath.path(Person::address).then(Address::city).toDotPath();
+	}
+
+	record Person(String firstName, String lastName, Address address) {
+
+	}
+
+	record Address(String city) {
+
+	}
+
+}

src/main/antora/modules/ROOT/nav.adoc

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 ** xref:repositories/projections.adoc[]
 * xref:query-by-example.adoc[]
 * xref:value-expressions.adoc[]
+* xref:property-paths.adoc[]
 * xref:auditing.adoc[]
 * xref:custom-conversions.adoc[]
 * xref:entity-callbacks.adoc[]