Lazy loading with JPA on #ManyToOne - spring-boot

Question

I have a project with Spring Boot, and I cannot make lazy loading work. I have 2 entities: Question and Answer. A question can have many answers.
What I want is, when I try to get an answer, to get only the answer without the question. And also, if I want both, to have this possibility.
What I did, is I added in application.yml: spring.jpa.open-in-view: true.
The Answer entity is like:
#Entity
#Table(name = "mst_ans_answer", schema = "lquest_sc")
public class Answer implements Serializable {
#Id
#GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.SEQUENCE, generator = "lquest_sc.mst_ans_answer_ans_lqs_id_seq")
#SequenceGenerator( name = "lquest_sc.mst_ans_answer_ans_lqs_id_seq", sequenceName = "lquest_sc.mst_ans_answer_ans_lqs_id_seq")
#Column(name = "ans_lqs_id")
private int id;
#Column(name = "qst_lqs_id")
private int questionId;
#Column(name = "ans_text")
private String text;
#ManyToOne(cascade = CascadeType.ALL, fetch = FetchType.LAZY, optional = false)
#JoinColumn(name = "qst_lqs_id", insertable=false, updatable=false)
#JsonIgnore
private Question question;
//getters and setters
}
The Question entity is:
#Entity
#Table(name = "mst_qst_question", schema = "lquest_sc")
public class Question implements Serializable {
#Id
#GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.SEQUENCE, generator = "lquest_sc.mst_qst_question_qst_lqs_id_seq")
#SequenceGenerator(name = "lquest_sc.mst_qst_question_qst_lqs_id_seq", sequenceName = "lquest_sc.mst_qst_question_qst_lqs_id_seq")
#Column(name = "qst_lqs_id")
private int id;
#Column(name = "qst_title")
private String title;
#OneToMany(fetch = FetchType.LAZY, mappedBy = "question")
#OrderBy("order asc")
private Set<Answer> answers = new HashSet<Answer>();
//getters and setters here
The call in the controller is:
#RequestMapping(value = "/questionId/{id}", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public List<Answer> listAll( #PathVariable("id") int id ){
List<Answer> answers = answerRepository.findByEnabledAndQuestionIdOrderByOrderAsc(1,id);
return answers;
}
and the repository is
public interface AnswerRepository extends JpaRepository<Answer, Long> {
List<Answer> findByEnabledAndQuestionIdOrderByOrderAsc(int enabled,int questionId);
}
The problem is that in the controller, when I try to evaluate
answers.get(0).getQuestion(), I receive the entity of Question, with the properties filled with null values and the error Method threw 'org.hibernate.LazyInitializationException' exception. Cannot evaluate Question_$$_jvst5b6_1.toString(). What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

I don't know why spring.jpa.open-in-view = true is not working in your case. Maybe the OpenEntityManagerInViewInterceptordoes not get triggered or the thread has been left, when you are evaluating the Question. Or you have an older version which just does not support it.
Lazy loading works only inside of a transaction. A solution could be -
as #Pradeep already gave you the hint - to use #Tranactional inside a business logic class.
Even if you put the #Transactional inside your repository it will not work, because you have to put the annotation on top of the method where you are trying to evaluate answers.get(0).getQuestion().
Furthermore I advise you not to call your repository from the controller directly, but to use a service layer, where you put your business logic.
Example implementation
This is only a example implementation to show you how to structure your application and what the important keywords are. Also note, that you can either use #Inject or #Autowired. When you have implemented your logic, just inject the service into your controller and use it there.
AnswerService.java
public interface AnswerService {
List<Answer> findByEnabledAndQuestionIdOrderByOrderAsc(int enabled, Long id);
}
AnswerServiceImpl.java
#Service
public class AnswerServiceImpl implements AnswerService {
private AnswerRepository answerRepository;
#Inject
public AnswerServiceImpl(AnswerRepository answerRepository) {
this.answerRepository = answerRepository;
}
#Transactional
#Override
public List<Answer> findByEnabledAndQuestionIdOrderByOrderAsc(int enabled, Long id) {
List<Answer> answerList = findByEnabledAndQuestionIdOrderByOrderAsc(int enabled,int questionId);
// do your lazy loading here
// because you are still in the same transactional context
// return the list
return answerList;
}
}