[java] When to use EntityManager.find() vs EntityManager.getReference() with JPA

I disagree with the selected answer, and as davidxxx correctly pointed out, getReference does not provide such behaviour of dynamic updations without select. I asked a question concerning the validity of this answer, see here - cannot update without issuing select on using setter after getReference() of hibernate JPA.

I quite honestly haven't seen anybody who's actually used that functionality. ANYWHERE. And i don't understand why it's so upvoted.

Now first of all, no matter what you call on a hibernate proxy object, a setter or a getter, an SQL is fired and the object is loaded.

But then i thought, so what if JPA getReference() proxy doesn't provide that functionality. I can just write my own proxy.

Now, we can all argue that selects on primary keys are as fast as a query can get and it's not really something to go to great lengths to avoid. But for those of us who can't handle it due to one reason or another, below is an implementation of such a proxy. But before i you see the implementation, see it's usage and how simple it is to use.

USAGE

Order example = ProxyHandler.getReference(Order.class, 3);
example.setType("ABCD");
example.setCost(10);
PersistenceService.save(example);

And this would fire the following query -

UPDATE Order SET type = 'ABCD' and cost = 10 WHERE id = 3;

and even if you want to insert, you can still do PersistenceService.save(new Order("a", 2)); and it would fire an insert as it should.

IMPLEMENTATION

Add this to your pom.xml -

<dependency>
<groupId>cglib</groupId>
<artifactId>cglib</artifactId>
<version>3.2.10</version>
</dependency>

Make this class to create dynamic proxy -

@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
public class ProxyHandler {

public static <T> T getReference(Class<T> classType, Object id) {
    if (!classType.isAnnotationPresent(Entity.class)) {
        throw new ProxyInstantiationException("This is not an entity!");
    }

    try {
        Enhancer enhancer = new Enhancer();
        enhancer.setSuperclass(classType);
        enhancer.setCallback(new ProxyMethodInterceptor(classType, id));
        enhancer.setInterfaces((new Class<?>[]{EnhancedProxy.class}));
        return (T) enhancer.create();
    } catch (Exception e) {
        throw new ProxyInstantiationException("Error creating proxy, cause :" + e.getCause());
    }
}

Make an interface with all the methods -

public interface EnhancedProxy {
    public String getJPQLUpdate();
    public HashMap<String, Object> getModifiedFields();
}

Now, make an interceptor which will allow you to implement these methods on your proxy -

import com.anil.app.exception.ProxyInstantiationException;
import javafx.util.Pair;
import net.sf.cglib.proxy.MethodInterceptor;
import net.sf.cglib.proxy.MethodProxy;

import javax.persistence.Id;
import java.lang.reflect.Field;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.util.*;
/**
* @author Anil Kumar
*/
public class ProxyMethodInterceptor implements MethodInterceptor, EnhancedProxy {

private Object target;
private Object proxy;
private Class classType;
private Pair<String, Object> primaryKey;
private static HashSet<String> enhancedMethods;

ProxyMethodInterceptor(Class classType, Object id) throws IllegalAccessException, InstantiationException {
    this.classType = classType;
    this.target = classType.newInstance();
    this.primaryKey = new Pair<>(getPrimaryKeyField().getName(), id);
}

static {
    enhancedMethods = new HashSet<>();
    for (Method method : EnhancedProxy.class.getDeclaredMethods()) {
        enhancedMethods.add(method.getName());
    }
}

@Override
public Object intercept(Object obj, Method method, Object[] args, MethodProxy proxy) throws Throwable {
    //intercept enhanced methods
    if (enhancedMethods.contains(method.getName())) {
        this.proxy = obj;
        return method.invoke(this, args);
    }
    //else invoke super class method
    else
        return proxy.invokeSuper(obj, args);
}

@Override
public HashMap<String, Object> getModifiedFields() {
    HashMap<String, Object> modifiedFields = new HashMap<>();
    try {
        for (Field field : classType.getDeclaredFields()) {

            field.setAccessible(true);

            Object initialValue = field.get(target);
            Object finalValue = field.get(proxy);

            //put if modified
            if (!Objects.equals(initialValue, finalValue)) {
                modifiedFields.put(field.getName(), finalValue);
            }
        }
    } catch (Exception e) {
        return null;
    }
    return modifiedFields;
}

@Override
public String getJPQLUpdate() {
    HashMap<String, Object> modifiedFields = getModifiedFields();
    if (modifiedFields == null || modifiedFields.isEmpty()) {
        return null;
    }
    StringBuilder fieldsToSet = new StringBuilder();
    for (String field : modifiedFields.keySet()) {
        fieldsToSet.append(field).append(" = :").append(field).append(" and ");
    }
    fieldsToSet.setLength(fieldsToSet.length() - 4);
    return "UPDATE "
            + classType.getSimpleName()
            + " SET "
            + fieldsToSet
            + "WHERE "
            + primaryKey.getKey() + " = " + primaryKey.getValue();
}

private Field getPrimaryKeyField() throws ProxyInstantiationException {
    for (Field field : classType.getDeclaredFields()) {
        field.setAccessible(true);
        if (field.isAnnotationPresent(Id.class))
            return field;
    }
    throw new ProxyInstantiationException("Entity class doesn't have a primary key!");
}
}

And the exception class -

public class ProxyInstantiationException extends RuntimeException {
public ProxyInstantiationException(String message) {
    super(message);
}

A service to save using this proxy -

@Service
public class PersistenceService {

@PersistenceContext
private EntityManager em;

@Transactional
private void save(Object entity) {
    // update entity for proxies
    if (entity instanceof EnhancedProxy) {
        EnhancedProxy proxy = (EnhancedProxy) entity;
        Query updateQuery = em.createQuery(proxy.getJPQLUpdate());
        for (Entry<String, Object> entry : proxy.getModifiedFields().entrySet()) {
            updateQuery.setParameter(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue());
        }
        updateQuery.executeUpdate();
    // insert otherwise
    } else {
        em.persist(entity);
    }

}
}