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Spring Hibernate: EntityExistsException when storing n:m table value with combiend Priamry Key

So my second post. This time i worked on a passion project of mine, which turned out to be far more complicated than I expected and again I need some help.
I have two enitites: Gamestate and User.
Users are supposed to be able to join multiple Games(/gamestates). Games(/gamestates) are supposed to have muliple people join them. So therefore it is represented as a N:M Relation.
Depending on who joins and when they join they are supposed to have different roles, giving them different rights in the app. Which means I needed an N:M Relation with custom fields and therefore I had to model the relation table myself. That's as far as I have come.
Abstract Model:
#EqualsAndHashCode
#Getter
#Setter
#ToString
public abstract class AbstractModel {
#Id
#GeneratedValue
protected Long id;
#NotNull
protected String identifier;
}
User
#Getter
#Setter
#Entity
#Builder
#NoArgsConstructor
#AllArgsConstructor
#ToString(callSuper = true)
#EqualsAndHashCode(callSuper = true)
public class User extends AbstractModel{
private String nickName;
private UserRole role;
#ToString.Exclude
#EqualsAndHashCode.Exclude
#OneToOne(cascade = CascadeType.ALL, fetch = FetchType.LAZY, mappedBy = "user", orphanRemoval = true)
private LoginInformation loginInformation;
#ToString.Exclude
#EqualsAndHashCode.Exclude
#OneToMany(cascade = {CascadeType.PERSIST}, fetch = FetchType.LAZY, mappedBy = "gameState")
private List<UserGameState> userGameStates = new ArrayList<>();
//DTO Constructor
public User(UserDTO userDTO){
this.identifier = Optional.ofNullable(userDTO.getIdentifier())
.orElse(UUID.randomUUID().toString());
this.nickName = userDTO.getNickName() == null ? "": userDTO.getNickName();
this.role = UserRole.valueOf(userDTO.getRole());
this.loginInformation = null;
if(userDTO.getLoginInformation() != null) {
setLoginInformation(new LoginInformation(userDTO.getLoginInformation()));
} else {
setLoginInformation(new LoginInformation());
}
(userDTO.getUserGameStates() == null ? new ArrayList<GameStateDTO>() : userDTO.getUserGameStates())
.stream()
.map(x -> new UserGameState((UserGameStateDTO) x))
.forEach(this::addUserGameState);
}
GameState
#Getter
#Setter
#Entity
#Builder
#NoArgsConstructor
#AllArgsConstructor
#ToString(callSuper = true)
#EqualsAndHashCode(callSuper = true)
public class GameState extends AbstractModel{
private String name;
private String description;
private String image;
#ToString.Exclude
#EqualsAndHashCode.Exclude
#OneToMany(cascade = {CascadeType.PERSIST}, fetch = FetchType.LAZY, mappedBy = "user")
private List<UserGameState> userGameStates = new ArrayList<>();
//DTO Constructor
public GameState(GameStateDTO gameStateDTO){
this.identifier = Optional.ofNullable(gameStateDTO.getIdentifier())
.orElse(UUID.randomUUID().toString());
this.name = gameStateDTO.getName() == null ? "": gameStateDTO.getName();
this.description = gameStateDTO.getDescription() == null ? "": gameStateDTO.getDescription();
this.image = gameStateDTO.getImage() == null ? "": gameStateDTO.getImage();
(gameStateDTO.getUserGameStates() == null ? new ArrayList<UserDTO>() : gameStateDTO.getUserGameStates())
.stream()
.map(x -> new UserGameState((UserGameStateDTO) x))
.forEach(this::addUserGameState);
}
//----------------------1:1 Relationship Methods----------------------
//----------------------1:N Relationship Methods----------------------
public void addUserGameState(UserGameState userGameState) {
if (userGameStates.contains(userGameState)) {
return;
}
userGameStates.add(userGameState);
userGameState.setGameState(this);
}
public void removeUserGameState(UserGameState userGameState) {
if (!userGameStates.contains(userGameState)) {
return;
}
userGameState.setGameState(null);
userGameStates.remove(userGameState);
}
//----------------------N:1 Relationship Methods----------------------
//----------------------N:M Relationship Methods----------------------
}
UserGameSatet (Custom N:M Table)
#Getter
#Setter
#Entity
#Builder
#ToString
#NoArgsConstructor
#AllArgsConstructor
#EqualsAndHashCode
public class UserGameState{
#EmbeddedId
private User_GameState_PK id;
#ManyToOne(cascade = {CascadeType.PERSIST}, fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
#MapsId("user_id")
#JoinColumn(name = "USER_ID", insertable = false, updatable = false)
private User user;
#ManyToOne(cascade = {CascadeType.PERSIST}, fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
#MapsId("gameState_id")
#JoinColumn(name = "GAMESTATE_ID", insertable = false, updatable = false)
private GameState gameState;
//add Role later
public UserGameState(User u, GameState gs) {
// create primary key
this.id = new User_GameState_PK(u.getId(), gs.getId());
// initialize attributes
setUser(u);
setGameState(gs);
}
public UserGameState(UserGameStateDTO userGameStateDTO){
//this.id =
this.user = null;
this.gameState = null;
}
//----------------------1:1 Relationship Methods----------------------
//----------------------1:N Relationship Methods----------------------
//----------------------N:1 Relationship Methods----------------------
public void setUser(User user) {
if (Objects.equals(this.user, user)) {
return;
}
User oldUser = this.user;
this.user = user;
if (oldUser != null) {
oldUser.removeUserGameState(this);
}
if (user != null) {
user.addUserGameState(this);
}
}
public void setGameState(GameState gameState) {
if (Objects.equals(this.gameState, gameState)) {
return;
}
GameState oldGameState = this.gameState;
this.gameState = gameState;
if (oldGameState != null) {
oldGameState.removeUserGameState(this);
}
if (oldGameState != null) {
oldGameState.addUserGameState(this);
}
}
//----------------------N:M Relationship Methods----------------------
}
User_GameState_PK (Combined Key)
#Embeddable
#Builder
#ToString
#NoArgsConstructor
#AllArgsConstructor
#Getter
#Setter
public class User_GameState_PK implements Serializable {
#Column(name = "USER_ID")
private Long user_id;
#Column(name = "GAMESTATE_ID")
private Long gameState_id;
public User_GameState_PK(long user_id, long gameState_id){
this.user_id = user_id;
this.gameState_id = gameState_id;
}
#Override
public boolean equals(Object o) {
if (this == o) return true;
if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass())
return false;
User_GameState_PK that = (User_GameState_PK) o;
return Objects.equals(user_id, that.user_id) &&
Objects.equals(gameState_id, that.gameState_id);
}
#Override
public int hashCode() {
return Objects.hash(user_id, gameState_id);
}
}
The method saving the Connection in my Service
(both GameState and User are already instantiated, and the method gets the identifier of both objects, retrieving them from the database and adding the relation between them.)
public Optional<GameStateDTO> addUserToGameState(String identifierGS, String identifierU) {
GameState gameState = gameStateRepo.findByIdentifier(identifierGS)
.orElseThrow(() -> new IllegalArgumentException("GameState ID has no according GameState."));
User user = userRepo.findByIdentifier(identifierU)
.orElseThrow(() -> new IllegalArgumentException("User ID has no according User."));
//Custom N:M Connection Part
UserGameState connection = new UserGameState(user, gameState);
userGameStateRepo.save(connection);
return Optional.of(gameState)
.map(m -> convertModelIntoDTO(m));
}
I managed to set the N:M table up, together with its combined key. I tested it with simple CRUD Routes, and they worked.
Next I tried to set up some routes so that people could actually join a game(/gamestate) at which point it throws the following exception upon saving.
javax.persistence.EntityExistsException: A different object with the same identifier value was already associated with the session : [com.Astralis.backend.model.UserGameState#User_GameState_PK(user_id=1, gameState_id=7)]
After reading through some posts on stackoverflow I tried out changing the Cascadetype to .MERGE, which resulted in this exception.
javax.persistence.EntityNotFoundException: ...
Really I am lost here, it feels like if I use .PERSIST, Hibernate complaines that it copies itself while saving the Relation. While if I change it to .MERGE, it complaines that the value isn't already present in the first place.
I am more than thankfull for any breadcrumb bringing me closer to a solution, as this turned out to be a gigantic roadblock for the project, and I have tried out everything that I can think of.

So after a few more days of searching I managed to solve it.
For this I first remade a guide's project in with the data structure from the guide and the service/controller structure of my project. Testing if it would work, and as it did I just started comparing the models with each other and tried all different possibilities out, to find out what is actually causing the issues.
The used guide is this one: https://vladmihalcea.com/the-best-way-to-map-a-many-to-many-association-with-extra-columns-when-using-jpa-and-hibernate/
I had six Copy&Paste (kinda) mistakes that caused Hibernate to falsely associate table columns with each other. These were:
in User:
...
#ToString.Exclude
#EqualsAndHashCode.Exclude
#OneToMany(
cascade = {CascadeType.PERSIST},
fetch = FetchType.LAZY,
mappedBy = "user",// changed from gameState to user
orphanRemoval = true
)
private List<UserGameState> userGameStates = new ArrayList<>();
...
in GameState the reverse:
...
#ToString.Exclude
#EqualsAndHashCode.Exclude
#OneToMany(cascade = {CascadeType.PERSIST},
fetch = FetchType.LAZY,
mappedBy = "gameState",// changed from user to gameState
orphanRemoval = true)
private List<UserGameState> userGameStates = new ArrayList<>();
...
3&4. The JoinColumn Annotations were unnecessary, seemingly I combiend multiple guides into one project. This caused then even more issues:
...
#ManyToOne(
cascade = {CascadeType.PERSIST},
fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
#MapsId("user_id")
//#JoinColumn(name = "USER_ID", insertable = false, updatable = false) //this one removed
private User user;
#ManyToOne(
cascade = {CascadeType.PERSIST},
fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
#MapsId("gameState_id")
//#JoinColumn(name = "GAMESTATE_ID", insertable = false, updatable = false) //this one removed
private GameState gameState;
...
5&6. Two minor copy&paste mistakes, in the "continuity keeper" methods in UserGameState:
...
public void setGameState(GameState gameState) {
if (Objects.equals(this.gameState, gameState)) {
return;
}
GameState oldGameState = this.gameState;
this.gameState = gameState;
if (oldGameState != null) {
oldGameState.removeUserGameState(this);
}
//I copied the previous if block, and replaced the remove... with add...
//But I didn't change the oldGameState to gameState.
//This didn't throw any errors, and actually it still created the relations properly, but I am pretty sure it would cause issues further down the line.
if (gameState != null) {
gameState.addUserGameState(this);
}
}
...
So how does this work now:
As before, when the route with the Identifiers for the connected GameState and User is called, the service "addUserToGameState" is called, getting the models with the given Identifiers.
...
public Optional<GameStateDTO> addUserToGameState(String identifierGS, String identifierU) {
GameState gameState = gameStateRepo.findByIdentifier(identifierGS)
.orElseThrow(() -> new IllegalArgumentException("GameState ID has no according GameState."));
User user = userRepo.findByIdentifier(identifierU)
.orElseThrow(() -> new IllegalArgumentException("User ID has no according User."));
//Custom N:M Connection Part
UserGameState connection = new UserGameState(user, gameState);
return Optional.of(gameState)
.map(m -> convertModelIntoDTO(m));
}
...
After that the UserGameState cosntructer is called, which sets and creates the combined key and calls the setter methods for the related User/GameState fields.
...
public UserGameState(User u, GameState gs) {
// create primary key
this.id = new User_GameState_PK(u.getId(), gs.getId());
// initialize attributes
setUser(u);
setGameState(gs);
}
...
I wrote the setters in a way, that they at the same time, check the added models for relationship consistency issues, and adjust their fields according to if they are newly edited or replaced.
...
public void setUser(User user) {
if (Objects.equals(this.user, user)) {
return;
}
User oldUser = this.user;
this.user = user;
if (oldUser != null) {
oldUser.removeUserGameState(this);
}
if (user != null) {
user.addUserGameState(this);
}
}
public void setGameState(GameState gameState) {
if (Objects.equals(this.gameState, gameState)) {
return;
}
GameState oldGameState = this.gameState;
this.gameState = gameState;
if (oldGameState != null) {
oldGameState.removeUserGameState(this);
}
if (gameState != null) {//copy paste error
gameState.addUserGameState(this);
}
}
...

Joincolumn returns null value

I am trying to join a column using the #JoinColumn annotation but my column is always returning a null and I am not sure why.
#Entity
public class Blender implements Serializable {
#Id
#GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO)
#Column(name = "blender_id")
private int id;
#OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL, mappedBy = "blender", fetch = FetchType.EAGER)
private List<Ingredients> ingredients;
private Status status;
private String type;
public Blender() {
}
public Blender(List<Ingredients> ingredients) {
this.ingredients = ingredients;
}
public List<Ingredients> getIngredients() {
return ingredients;
}
public void setIngredients(List<Ingredients> ingredients) {
this.ingredients = ingredients;
}
public String getType() {
return type;
}
public void setType(String type) {
this.type = type;
}
public Status getStatus() {
return status;
}
public void setStatus(Status status) {
this.status = status;
}
public int getId() {
return id;
}
#Override
public String toString() {
String result = String.format(
"Blender[id=%d, type=%s, status=%s]%n",id,type,status);
if(ingredients!=null){
for (Ingredients ingredient: ingredients) {
result += String.format(
"ingredients[id=%d,fruit=%s,juice=%s,ice=%s]%n",
ingredient.getId(),
ingredient.getFruit(),
ingredient.getJuice(),
ingredient.getIce());
}
}
return result;
}
}
and Ingredients
#Entity
public class Ingredients implements Serializable {
#Id
#GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO)
private Long id;
private int fruit;
private int juice;
private int ice;
#ManyToOne(fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
#JoinColumn(columnDefinition="integer", name = "blender_id")
private Blender blender;
public Ingredients() {
}
public Long getId() {
return id;
}
public int getFruit() {
return fruit;
}
public void setFruit(int fruit) {
this.fruit = fruit;
}
public int getJuice() {
return juice;
}
public void setJuice(int juice) {
this.juice = juice;
}
public int getIce() {
return ice;
}
public void setIce(int ice) {
this.ice = ice;
}
public Blender getBlender() {
return blender;
}
public void setBlender(Blender blender) {
this.blender = blender;
}
#Override
public String toString() {
return "Ingredients{" +
"id=" + id +
", fruit='" + fruit + '\'' +
", juice='" + juice + '\'' +
", ice='" + ice + '\'' +
'}';
}
}
#JoinColumn(columnDefinition="integer", name = "blender_id") is returning null not sure why.

try with just
#ManyToOne(fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
#JoinColumn(name = "blender_id")
private Blender blender;

#OneToMany(mappedBy = "association", cascade = { CascadeType.ALL })
private List<Company> company;
#ManyToOne
#JoinColumn(name = "association_id")
private Association association;
You can try this pattern.
Read for you.
How to Enable Lazy Loading in Hibernate
Before moving further, it is important to recap the default behavior of lazy loading in case of using hibernate mappings vs annotations.
The default behavior is to load ‘property values eagerly’ and to load ‘collections lazily’. Contrary to what you might remember if you have used plain Hibernate 2 (mapping files) before, where all references (including collections) are loaded eagerly by default. Also note that #OneToMany and #ManyToMany associations are defaulted to LAZY loading; and #OneToOne and #ManyToOne are defaulted to EAGER loading. This is important to remember to avoid any pitfall in future.
To enable lazy loading explicitly you must use "fetch = FetchType.LAZY" on a association which you want to lazy load when you are using hibernate annotations.
An example usage will look like this:
#OneToMany( mappedBy = "category", fetch = FetchType.LAZY ) private Set products; Another attribute parallel to "FetchType.LAZY" is "FetchType.EAGER" which is just opposite to LAZY i.e. it will load association entity as well when owner entity is fetched first time.
How Lazy Loading Works in Hibernate
The simplest way that Hibernate can apply lazy load behavior upon your entities and associations is by providing a proxy implementation of them. Hibernate intercepts calls to the entity by substituting a proxy for it derived from the entity’s class. Where the requested information is missing, it will be loaded from the database before control is ceded to the parent entity’s implementation.
Please note that when the association is represented as a collection class, then a wrapper (essentially a proxy for the collection, rather than for the entities that it contains) is created and substituted for the original collection. When you access this collection proxy then what you get inside returned proxy collection are not proxy entities; rather they are actual entities. You need not to put much pressure on understanding this concept because on runtime it hardly matters.

JpaRepository findOne(id) returns null

This is my first post here, I've been searching for a long time here but I didn't found a problem that seemed similar.
When I use JpaRepository function findOne(id) for one of my classes, it returns null. As if no row had been found for this id.
Of course the database row with this id exists.
Also my class mapping seems right.
I don't understand because I already used findOne() for other classes and I never had any problem.
Anyone can tell me what can be the source of this problem, please ? That would be nice !
This is my DAO :
#Transactional
public interface OrderDetailDAO extends JpaRepository<OrderDetail, Integer>
{
}
This is my Model :
#Entity
#Table(name = "order_detail", schema = "", catalog = AppConfig.databaseSchema)
public class OrderDetail implements Serializable {
private int idOrderDetail;
private Order order;
private Preorder preorder;
private UnitType unitType;
private Sale sale;
private DeliveryStatusType deliveryStatusType;
#Id
#GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
#Column(name = "id_Order_Detail")
public int getIdOrderDetail() {
return idOrderDetail;
}
public void setIdOrderDetail(int idOrderDetail) {
this.idOrderDetail = idOrderDetail;
}
#ManyToOne
#JoinColumn(name = "id_Order", referencedColumnName = "id_Order", nullable = false)
public Order getOrder() {
return order;
}
public void setOrder(Order order) {
this.order = order;
}
#ManyToOne
#JoinColumn(name = "id_Preorder", referencedColumnName = "id_Preorder", nullable = false)
public Preorder getPreorder() {
return preorder;
}
public void setPreorder(Preorder preorder) {
this.preorder = preorder;
}
#ManyToOne
#JoinColumn(name = "id_Unit_Type", referencedColumnName = "id_Unit_Type")
public UnitType getUnitType() {
return unitType;
}
public void setUnitType(UnitType unitType) {
this.unitType = unitType;
}
#ManyToOne
#JoinColumn(name = "id_Sale", referencedColumnName = "id_Sale")
public Sale getSale() {
return sale;
}
public void setSale(Sale sale) {
this.sale = sale;
}
#ManyToOne
#JoinColumn(name = "id_Delivery_Status_Type", referencedColumnName = "id_Delivery_Status_Type")
public DeliveryStatusType getDeliveryStatusType() {
return deliveryStatusType;
}
public void setDeliveryStatusType(DeliveryStatusType deliveryStatusType) {
this.deliveryStatusType = deliveryStatusType;
}
}
When I write a request manually, like this :
#Query("SELECT o FROM OrderDetail o WHERE o.idOrderDetail = :idOrderDetail")
public OrderDetail findOneCustom(#Param("idOrderDetail") Integer idOrderDetail);
That works, but that's ugly so I would prefer to use JpaRepository native function findOne()

After all investigation, I have found an interesting answer that is worked for me. I think it is all about defining column type on Db. For my case, I have defined the variable (rid as column) as varchar2(18) that was RID CHAR(18 BYTE).
Java part:
if (dhFlightRepo.findOneFlight(dhFlight.getRid())== null) {
dhFlightRepo.save(dhFlight);
}
If your value that you used as a parameter for findOne() is smallest than set value on column (18 for my case),the jpa doesn't accept value and returns null.You have to change column type as varchar2(18) it can be changeable according to given value on findOne() and work perfect.
I hope that works for all of you.I kindly request to give more detail If someone knows the reason with more detail.

Violation of foreign key constraint JPA

Edit: This code actually works correctly. The problem was un-related and was due to a conflicting Entity which was creating a foreign key constraint and stopping me from inserting into the DataFile table.
I'm having some real trouble with some JPA mappings for a simple #OneToMany mapping.
I'm using EclipseLink and DerbyDB.
#Entity( name = "study2" )
#Access( AccessType.FIELD )
public class Study2 extends EntityBaseItem {
private List<DataFile> datafiles = new ArrayList<DataFile>();
public Study2() { }
#OneToMany( cascade = CascadeType.ALL, orphanRemoval = true )
#JoinColumn( name="STUDY_ID", referencedColumnName = "ID" )
#Access( AccessType.PROPERTY )
public List<DataFile> getDatafiles() {
return this.datafiles;
}
public void setDatafiles( List<DataFile> dfList ) {
this.datafiles = dfList;
}
DataFile.java
#Entity( name = "DataFile" )
public class DataFile extends EntityBaseItem<DataFile> {
private String filename;
private long filesize;
private String fileStatus;
private String fileType;
private String fileSubType;
public DataFile() { }
}
This is my EntityBaseItem.java where the #Id resides:
#MappedSuperclass
public abstract class EntityBaseItem {
#Id
#GeneratedValue( strategy = GenerationType.TABLE )
protected Integer id;
protected EntityBaseItem() {}
public Integer getId() {
return id;
}
public void setId( Integer id ) {
this.id = id;
}
#Override
public int hashCode() {
int hash = 0;
hash += ( this.getId() != null ? this.getId().hashCode() : 0);
return hash;
}
#Override
public boolean equals(Object object) {
if (this == object)
return true;
if (object == null)
return false;
if (getClass() != object.getClass())
return false;
EntityBaseItem other = (EntityBaseItem)object;
if (this.getId() != other.getId() && (this.getId() == null || !this.id.equals(other.id))){
return false;
}
return true;
}
}
The problem is that when I create a Study2 object with some DataFile objects and try to persist it to my DB then I get the error
UPDATE on table 'DATAFILE' caused a violation of foreign key constraint 'DATAFILE_STUDY_ID' for key
If I change the annotation on getDataFiles() and remove the #JoinColumn ( see below ) then the mapping works, however it creates a join table and I'd really rather just have a join column in the DataFile table:
#OneToMany( cascade = CascadeType.ALL, orphanRemoval = true )
#Access( AccessType.PROPERTY )
public List<DataFile> getDatafiles() {
return this.datafiles;
}
I guess it's down to having my #Id in EntityBaseItem as when I removed that and added #Id in the Study2 class then it worked as expected, however there must be some way to keep #Id in the EntityBaseItem and still use a #JoinColumn? I've not had any issues elsewhere in my code, and I have various other mappings which are not as simple as this one.
I know what the error means, however I don't know why it's happening. To me I'd expect my code to work and cascade the DataFiles automatically with a new id for each.
Here is the code that actually causes the error to be thrown:
Study2 testStudy = new Study2();
// set some datafiles etc.
EntityManager em = getEM(); // gives me EntityManager
em.getTransaction().begin();
em.persist( testStudy );
em.getTransaction().commit();
I'd simplified it down to that for testing, throws error on .commit() and then it rolls back the commit.

Change your mappings
public class Study2(){
#OneToMany( cascade = CascadeType.ALL, orphanRemoval = true,mappedBy="study2")
#Access( AccessType.PROPERTY )
public List<DataFile> getDatafiles() {
return this.datafiles;
}
}
Here we say that DataFile is mappedBy "study2" in DataFile class and Study2 has JoinColumn. And the Study2 is inverse side of relationship and will not update the relationship when it gets updated.
Add one field Study2 in DataFile, I have given mapping on field.You can change that
#ManyToOne
#JoinColumn(name="STUDY_ID", referencedColumnName = "ID")
private Study2 study2;
It states that many DataFile are present in one Study2 class

Symmetric composite key in jpa/hibernate

I'm trying to make sure that a model is not persisted twice in the database and its id is symmetrical. Under symmetrical composite id I mean the following:
#Entity
public class Item {
#Id
#GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
#Column(name = "item_id", unique = true, nullable = false)
public Long id;
// other properties ...
}
#Entity
public class Pair {
#EmbeddedId
public PairId id;
// other properties...
#Embeddable
public static class PairId implements Serializable {
#ManyToOne(cascade={CascadeType.MERGE, CascadeType.REFRESH, CascadeType.DETACH})
#JoinColumn(name="source_item_id")
public Item source;
#ManyToOne(cascade={CascadeType.MERGE, CascadeType.REFRESH, CascadeType.DETACH})
#JoinColumn(name="target_item_id")
public Item target;
#Override
public boolean equals(Object o) {
if(this == o){
return true;
}
if (o instanceof PairId == false){
return false;
}
PairId other = (PairId) o;
return (this.source.equals(other.source) && this.target.equals(other.target)) ||
(this.source.equals(other.target) && this.target.equals(other.source));
}
#Override
public int hashCode() { //probably not the best approach
return source.hashCode() + target.hashCode();
}
}
}
Example:
Item i1 = new Item();
Item i2 = new Item();
//persist items into the database ...
PairId pId1 = new PairId(i1, i2);
PairId pId2 = new PairId(i2, i1);
Pair p1 = new Pair(pId1);
//persist p1 into the database
Pair p2 = new Pair(pId2);
//calling persist should not add new entry to the database, since p2 is symmetrical to p1 and already exists in the database
Pair p3 = findById(pId2);
//p3 should now contain p1 also
Do you have any idea how I could implement such a behaviour? Thanks in advance!
Edit:
Added comments on both classes in order to show that those classes could have(and they have) other properties except of the listed ids above. But for the sake of simplicity I just left their ids as alone standing property.

First of all, I would not use a composite ID. Use an autogenerated surrogate key, and store both items as regular properties.
Then, when storing the items in a pair, I would just make sure to always store them in the same order. For example, the source ID should always be smaler than the target ID. This can be ensured using encapsulation:
public void setItems(Item i1, Item i2) {
if (i1.getId().compareTo(i2.getId()) < 0) {
this.source = i1;
this.target = i2;
}
else {
this.source = i2;
this.target = i1;
}
}

Maybe, just maybe you could drop the Pair idea and use a self reference in Item. This way you have less tables, cleaner code and no composite keys.
Code:
#Entity
public class Item
{
#Id
#GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
#Column(name = "id")
private Long id;
#OneToOne
#JoinColumn(name = "source_id", referencedColumnName = "id")
private Item source;
#OneToOne(mappedBy = "source")
private Item target;
}