Saving Entity with Cached object in it causing Detached Entity Exception - spring

Question

I'm trying to save an Entity in DB using Spring Data/Crud Repository(.save) that has in it another entity that was loaded through a #Cache method. In other words, I am trying to save an Ad Entity that has Attributes entities in it, and those attributes were loaded using Spring #Cache.
Because of that, I'm having a Detached Entity Passed to Persist Exception.
My question is, is there a way to save the entity still using #Cache for the Attributes?
I looked that up but couldn't find any people doing the same, specially knowing that I am using CrudRepository that has only the method .save(), that as far as I know manages Persist, Update, Merge, etc.
Any help is very much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Ad.java
#Entity
#DynamicInsert
#DynamicUpdate
#Table(name = "ad")
public class Ad implements SearchableAdDefinition {
#Id
#GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
private Long id;
#ManyToOne(fetch = FetchType.LAZY, optional = false)
private User user;
#OneToMany(mappedBy = "ad", fetch = FetchType.LAZY, cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
private Set<AdAttribute> adAttributes;
(.....) }
AdAttribute.java
#Entity
#Table(name = "attrib_ad")
#IdClass(CompositeAdAttributePk.class)
public class AdAttribute {
#Id
#ManyToOne(fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
#JoinColumn(name = "ad_id")
private Ad ad;
#Id
#ManyToOne(fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
#JoinColumn(name = "attrib_id")
private Attribute attribute;
#Column(name = "value", length = 75)
private String value;
public Ad getAd() {
return ad;
}
public void setAd(Ad ad) {
this.ad = ad;
}
public Attribute getAttribute() {
return attribute;
}
public void setAttribute(Attribute attribute) {
this.attribute = attribute;
}
public String getValue() {
return value;
}
public void setValue(String value) {
this.value = value;
}
}
#Embeddable
class CompositeAdAttributePk implements Serializable {
private Ad ad;
private Attribute attribute;
public CompositeAdAttributePk() {
}
public CompositeAdAttributePk(Ad ad, Attribute attribute) {
this.ad = ad;
this.attribute = attribute;
}
#Override
public boolean equals(Object o) {
if (this == o) return true;
if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;
CompositeAdAttributePk compositeAdAttributePk = (CompositeAdAttributePk) o;
return ad.getId().equals(compositeAdAttributePk.ad.getId()) && attribute.getId().equals(compositeAdAttributePk.attribute.getId());
}
#Override
public int hashCode() {
return Objects.hash(ad.getId(), attribute.getId());
}
}
Method using to load Attributes:
#Cacheable(value = "requiredAttributePerCategory", key = "#category.id")
public List<CategoryAttribute> findRequiredCategoryAttributesByCategory(Category category) {
return categoryAttributeRepository.findCategoryAttributesByCategoryAndAttribute_Required(category, 1);
}
Method used to create/persist the Ad:
#Transactional
public Ad create(String title, User user, Category category, AdStatus status, String description, String url, Double price, AdPriceType priceType, Integer photoCount, Double minimumBid, Integer options, Importer importer, Set<AdAttribute> adAtributes) {
//Assert.notNull(title, "Ad title must not be null");
Ad ad = adCreationService.createAd(title, user, category, status, description, url, price, priceType, photoCount, minimumBid, options, importer, adAtributes);
for (AdAttribute adAttribute : ad.getAdAttributes()) {
adAttribute.setAd(ad);
/* If I add this here, I don't face any exception, but then I don't take benefit from using cache:
Attribute attribute = attributeRepository.findById(adAttribute.getAttribute().getId()).get();
adAttribute.setAttribute(attribute);
*/
}
ad = adRepository.save(ad);
solrAdDocumentRepository.save(AdDocument.adDocumentBuilder(ad));
return ad;
}

Answer 1

I don't know if you still require this answer or not, since it's a long time, you asked this question. Yet i am going to leave my comments here, someone else might get help from it.
Lets assume, You called your findRequiredCategoryAttributesByCategory method, from other part of your application. Spring will first check at cache, and will find nothing. Then it will try to fetch it from Database. So it will create an hibernate session, open a transaction, fetch the data, close the transaction and session. Finally after returning from the function, it will store the result set in cache for future use.
You have to keep in mind, those values, currently in the cache, they are fetched using a hibernate session, which is now closed. So they are not related to any session, and now at detached state.
Now, you are trying to save and Ad entity. For this, spring created a new hibernate session, and Ad entity is attached to this particular session. But the attributes object, that you fetched from the Cache are detached. That's why, while you are trying to persist Ad entity, you are getting Detached Entity Exception
To resolve this issue, you need to re attach those objects to current hibernate session.I use merge() method to do so.
From hibernate documentation here https://docs.jboss.org/hibernate/orm/3.5/javadocs/org/hibernate/Session.html
Copy the state of the given object onto the persistent object with the same identifier. If there is no persistent instance currently associated with the session, it will be loaded. Return the persistent instance. If the given instance is unsaved, save a copy of and return it as a newly persistent instance. The given instance does not become associated with the session. This operation cascades to associated instances if the association is mapped with cascade="merge".
Simply put, this will attach your object to hibernate session.
What you should do, after calling your findRequiredCategoryAttributesByCategory method, write something like
List attributesFromCache = someService.findRequiredCategoryAttributesByCategory();
List attributesAttached = entityManager.merge( attributesFromCache );
Now set attributesAttached to your Ad object. This won't throw exception as attributes list is now part of current Hibernate session.