Hibernate - Saving Entities - Update Table - Not based on Primary Key

Question

Pseudo code to get to the point:

@Entity
Person {
   @Id
   Integer id;
   String SSN;
   String name;
}

Use case for repository, or service:

personRepository.save(new Person(ssn:"123456", name:"jeff")):

id is unique and autoincremented primary key
SSN is unique and is the identifier of a person
name is just a string and could be changed

Currently save uses hibernate's merge() to do the insert/update, but I don't have the id when I'm saving (part of my abstraction layer so that client code doesn't need to touch entities at all), so how can I update the persons name if the SSN is already present in the database without having to do a separate lookup on that field, and then branch logic in there (I don't want to do that because I may be updating and inserting MANY people at once and think it will be slow)

should I just delete all and then re-insert?

walnutmon
– walnutmon

2010-07-15 18:47:59 +00:00
Commented Jul 15, 2010 at 18:47 — walnutmon
– walnutmon, Commented Jul 15, 2010 at 18:47

apiri · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-15 19:37:30Z

2

You could use your session to generate a HQL query, and roll your own update along the lines of:

String queryString = "update Person set name = :name where ssn = :ssn";
Query query = session.createQuery(queryString);
query.setString("name", newName);
query.setString("ssn", ssn);
query.executeUpdate();

I'm not aware of a way to just update an entity as you are suggesting, as Hibernate very heavily depends on your @Id field to aid in determining persisted state.

answered Jul 15, 2010 at 19:37

apiri

1,6339 silver badges15 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

walnutmon Over a year ago

Is there any way to make this the default update for an entity? Because I will not always be calling update manually, it could cascade from a parent object. If not, this is likely the best I can do, however I will likely re-evaluate my Entities and come up with something differnt

apiri Over a year ago

If the object is properly associated with a parent object in a persistent context AND you have the cascade established on the parent object to the child, Hibernate should handle this automatically for you, updating/creating the appropriate changes where necessary for your child object saying you use a saveOrUpdate from the parent.

Pascal Thivent · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-15 19:49:08Z

1

how can I update the persons name if the SSN is already present in the database without having to do a separate lookup on that field, and then branch logic in there (...)

The only option I can think would be to use the SSN as primary key.

answered Jul 15, 2010 at 19:49

Pascal Thivent

572k140 gold badges1.1k silver badges1.1k bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Hibernate - Saving Entities - Update Table - Not based on Primary Key

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related