Java Persistence: updating to different subclass entity
 

Dear,

I have three entities, having a class hierarchy like this:

Person
/ \
Teacher Student

I have implemented these three entities using "Separate Table per
Subclass" approach (ie. strategy=InheritanceType.JOINED), and all
works well including inserting, updating and removing.

Now, I have made an entity instance for Teacher, and I want to change
it from Teacher to Student. Given that I guess the PK cannot be
changed, as it's the key for joining other tables. How should I do
that?

1. should I directly update using merge(), or
2. should I put the information to a new Student object, and use
persist(), or
3. should I remove the instance from Teacher first

Thanks,
Harry

Re: Java Persistence: updating to different subclass entity
 

On Feb 5, 8:39 am, "Harry" <harrywo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear,
>
> I have three entities, having a class hierarchy like this:
>
> Person
> / \
> Teacher Student
>
> I have implemented these three entities using "Separate Table per
> Subclass" approach (ie. strategy=InheritanceType.JOINED), and all
> works well including inserting, updating and removing.
>
> Now, I have made an entity instance for Teacher, and I want to change
> it from Teacher to Student. Given that I guess the PK cannot be
> changed, as it's the key for joining other tables. How should I do
> that?
>
> 1. should I directly update using merge(), or
> 2. should I put the information to a new Student object, and use
> persist(), or
> 3. should I remove the instance from Teacher first
>
> Thanks,
> Harry

Hi,
I'm not 100% sure of that, but as far as I understand this is not
possible (using standard methods). The reason is that you also cannot
change the runtime type of a Java object (casting only changes the
compile-type). I would try and workaround this not by hacking it, but
by, for example, creating a standard new Student object and link this
student to the teacher from which it was created (another field in
Student: @something Teacher createdFromTeacher).

Amit

Re: Java Persistence: updating to different subclass entity
 

Amit,

I agree with your point that Java itself cannot change the runtime
type of object.

So, what you mean is to create a reference indicating the history of
the record, and need to link to the old instance for all old
references.

Harry

On Feb 5, 8:04 pm, "Amit Kasher" <amitkas...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Feb 5, 8:39 am, "Harry" <harrywo...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Dear,
>
> > I have three entities, having a class hierarchy like this:
>
> > Person
> > / \
> > Teacher Student
>
> > I have implemented these three entities using "Separate Table per
> > Subclass" approach (ie. strategy=InheritanceType.JOINED), and all
> > works well including inserting, updating and removing.
>
> > Now, I have made an entity instance for Teacher, and I want to change
> > it from Teacher to Student. Given that I guess the PK cannot be
> > changed, as it's the key for joining other tables. How should I do
> > that?
>
> > 1. should I directly update using merge(), or
> > 2. should I put the information to a new Student object, and use
> > persist(), or
> > 3. should I remove the instance from Teacher first
>
> > Thanks,
> > Harry
>
> Hi,
> I'm not 100% sure of that, but as far as I understand this is not
> possible (using standard methods). The reason is that you also cannot
> change the runtime type of a Java object (casting only changes the
> compile-type). I would try and workaround this not by hacking it, but
> by, for example, creating a standard new Student object and link this
> student to the teacher from which it was created (another field in
> Student: @something Teacher createdFromTeacher).
>
> Amit

Re: Java Persistence: updating to different subclass entity
 

On Feb 7, 9:10 am, "Harry" <harrywo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Amit,
>
> I agree with your point that Java itself cannot change the runtime
> type of object.
>
> So, what you mean is to create a reference indicating the history of
> the record, and need to link to the old instance for all old
> references.
>
> Harry
>
> On Feb 5, 8:04 pm, "Amit Kasher" <amitkas...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Feb 5, 8:39 am, "Harry" <harrywo...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > Dear,
>
> > > I have three entities, having a class hierarchy like this:
>
> > > Person
> > > / \
> > > Teacher Student
>
> > > I have implemented these three entities using "Separate Table per
> > > Subclass" approach (ie. strategy=InheritanceType.JOINED), and all
> > > works well including inserting, updating and removing.
>
> > > Now, I have made an entity instance for Teacher, and I want to change
> > > it from Teacher to Student. Given that I guess the PK cannot be
> > > changed, as it's the key for joining other tables. How should I do
> > > that?
>
> > > 1. should I directly update using merge(), or
> > > 2. should I put the information to a new Student object, and use
> > > persist(), or
> > > 3. should I remove the instance from Teacher first
>
> > > Thanks,
> > > Harry
>
> > Hi,
> > I'm not 100% sure of that, but as far as I understand this is not
> > possible (using standard methods). The reason is that you also cannot
> > change the runtime type of a Java object (casting only changes the
> > compile-type). I would try and workaround this not by hacking it, but
> > by, for example, creating a standard new Student object and link this
> > student to the teacher from which it was created (another field in
> > Student: @something Teacher createdFromTeacher).
>
> > Amit

Yes this is what I meant. I actually encountered this issue in the
past and this is the solution I came up with. I had the entities
Client and User (A client can sometime decide to register to the app,
and then he "becomes" a User. The underlying implementation created a
new User object which references the Client object this way: @OneToOne
private final Client creatingClient).

If you (or anyone) come up with a better solution, I'd be happy to be
updated. I'm monitoring this post.

Amit