Hibernate unexpectedly issues INSERT instead of throwing the javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException, when a nonexistent entity is passed to merge()

Question

A client application supplies a stale entity which is to be merged by Hibernate. Taking a very simple example.

public Entity update(Entity entity) {
    return entityManager.contains(entity) ? entity : entityManager.merge(entity);
}

Entity is a detached, stale entity supplied by a web application, for example. The method is executed in an active JTA transaction (or resource local).

_{Optimistic locking has been enabled by introducing a @Version field in the entity given.}

When an entity to be merged had already been deleted, javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException is expected to be thrown which does not happen. Hibernate performs INSERT instead which is completely unexpected. Inserting a stale entity instead of throwing the javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException is something going against locking.

"Insert or update" is a story apart which should be suspended by throwing the javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException, if a stale or deleted (nonexistent) entity is passed to merge(), if optimistic locking is implemented.

EclipseLink throws the javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException as expected in case a stale or deleted / nonexistent entity is passed to merge().

Is there a way to make Hibernate throw the javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException, when a stale or nonexistent entity is passed to merge()?

I expect there should be some configurable property in persistence.xml to apply it globally application-wide or annotations to apply it to a specific entity.

_{I am currently using Hibernate 5.0.5 final.}

Updated to Hibernate 5.0.6 final.

This is a long-standing Hibernate bug. You can vote for it: hibernate.atlassian.net/browse/HHH-1661 — JB Nizet
I think, a new, fresh issue should be created. That issue report is very unlikely to be taken into account as it is quite old. It is a critical bug that cannot be taken lightly and needs to be fixed as soon as possible. — Tiny
It has been updated for Hibernate 5 and thus kept in the open bugs when the big JIRA cleaning was made, is precise, has votes, and a reproducible test case. Opening a new identical bug will either dissolve the bug or the attention, or be marked as a duplicate. — JB Nizet

Sinvaldo Pacheco Sinvaldo Pacheco · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-08T01:10:38

Try EntityManager.refresh instead EntityManager.merge, and verify if entity has a id value, if yes set new values and after EntityManager.merge, if not the entity has been deleted

something like this

public Entity update(Entity entity) {

    entityManager.refresh(entity);

    if (entity.getId() != null) {
        // my entity is in database
        // set my changes in entity
        return entityManager.merge(entity);
    } else {
        // my entity has been deleted
        return null;
    }
}

Hibernate unexpectedly issues INSERT instead of throwing the javax.persistence.OptimisticLockException, when a nonexistent entity is passed to merge()

1 Answers