@PreUpdate does not work with Spring Data JPA

Question

I have an entity:

@Entity
@EntityListeners(MyEntityListener.class)
class MyEntity{ ... }

And the listener:

class MyEntityListener{
    @PrePersist
    @PreUpdate
    public void doSomething(Object entity){ ... }
}

I'm using the Spring Data generated DAO for this entity (1.4.1) and EclipseLink. The code behavior is as follows:

MyEntity entity = new Entity();
entity = dao.save(entity); // the doSomething() is called here
// change something it the entity and save it again
dao.save(entity); // the doSomething() is NOT called here, checked with breakpoint

The problem has already been described by someone in 2009, however, they did not came up with any solution. I wonder if anyone has and idea how to solve it?

Answer 1

As you said, the callback method is called the second time, if the entity is detached or fetched again from DB.

I cannot explain it exactly, but can think of the scenario described here, when no dirty fields are identified before the second save() call and thus the @PreUpdate callback not called. Or it may be simply a bug within your version of EclipseLink.

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UPDATE

In the JPA 2.0 specification I found the following, which is exactly your behaviour (3.5.2 Semantics of the Life Cycle Callback Methods for Entities):

Note that it is implementation-dependent as to whether PreUpdate and PostUpdate call- backs occur when an entity is persisted and subsequently modified in a single transaction or when an entity is modified and subsequently removed within a single transaction. Portable applications should not rely on such behavior.