SELECT clause in JPA Query Methods

In Spring JPA's Query Methods, we can specify the WHERE clause but how can I specify the SELECT clause without using the @Query annotation? What I mean is:

I have an entity User with properties ProfilePhoto profilePhoto and String email:

@Entity
class User {
    ...

    @OneToOne
    ProfilePhoto profilePhoto;
    
    @Column(unique = true, nullable = false)
    String email;
    
    ...
}

@Entity
class ProfilePhoto {
    ...
    Integer id;
    String url;
    ...
}

So using the JPA Repository's Query Methods I can make queries like this:

User findById(Integer id);
User findByEmail(String email);
User findByProfilePhoto_Id(String profilePhotoId);

But not like this:

String findEmailById(Integer id);
ProfilePhoto findProfilePhotoById(Integer id);
String findProfilePhoto_UrlById(Integer id);

This can be done using the @Query annotation but that is not so desirable for me.

You can use something called 'Projections' which lets you do exactly this.

Create a separate interface :

public interface UserProjections {
    String getEmail();
}

Use this in your repository :

interface UserRepository extends Repository<User, UUID> {
       
    // Usual methods
    User findById(Integer id);
    User findByEmail(String email);
    User findByProfilePhoto_Id(String profilePhotoId);

    // unusual method
    Collection<UserProjections> findEmailById(String id);

}

Source : https://docs.spring.io/spring-data/jpa/reference/repositories/projections.html