[java] JPA CascadeType.ALL does not delete orphans

I am having trouble deleting orphan nodes using JPA with the following mapping

@OneToMany (cascade = CascadeType.ALL, fetch = FetchType.EAGER, mappedBy = "owner")
private List<Bikes> bikes;

I am having the issue of the orphaned roles hanging around the database.

I can use the annotation org.hibernate.annotations.Cascade Hibernate specific tag but obviously I don't want to tie my solution into a Hibernate implementation.

EDIT: It seems JPA 2.0 will include support for this.

For the records, in OpenJPA before JPA2 it was @ElementDependant.

I just find this solution but in my case it doesn't work:

@OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL, targetEntity = MyClass.class, mappedBy = "xxx", fetch = FetchType.LAZY, orphanRemoval = true) 

orphanRemoval = true has no effect.

According to Java Persistence with Hibernate, cascade orphan delete is not available as a JPA annotation.

It is also not supported in JPA XML.

If you are using JPA with EclipseLink, you'll have to set the @PrivateOwned annotation.

Documentation: Eclipse Wiki - Using EclipseLink JPA Extensions - Chapter 1.4 How to Use the @PrivateOwned Annotation

you can use @PrivateOwned to delete orphans e.g

@OneToMany(mappedBy = "masterData", cascade = {
        CascadeType.ALL })
@PrivateOwned
private List<Data> dataList;

Just @OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL, mappedBy = "xxx", fetch = FetchType.LAZY, orphanRemoval = true).

Remove targetEntity = MyClass.class, it works great.

I just find this solution but in my case it doesn't work:

@OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL, targetEntity = MyClass.class, mappedBy = "xxx", fetch = FetchType.LAZY, orphanRemoval = true) 

orphanRemoval = true has no effect.

I was using one to one mapping , but child was not getting deleted JPA was giving foreign key violation

After using orphanRemoval = true , issue got resolved

According to Java Persistence with Hibernate, cascade orphan delete is not available as a JPA annotation.

It is also not supported in JPA XML.

+---------------------------------------------------------+
¦   Action    ¦  orphanRemoval=true ¦   CascadeType.ALL   ¦
¦-------------+---------------------+---------------------¦
¦   delete    ¦     deletes parent  ¦    deletes parent   ¦
¦   parent    ¦     and orphans     ¦    and orphans      ¦
¦-------------+---------------------+---------------------¦
¦   change    ¦                     ¦                     ¦
¦  children   ¦   deletes orphans   ¦      nothing        ¦
¦    list     ¦                     ¦                     ¦
+---------------------------------------------------------+

If you are using JPA 2.0, you can now use the orphanRemoval=true attribute of the @xxxToMany annotation to remove orphans.

Actually, CascadeType.DELETE_ORPHAN has been deprecated in 3.5.2-Final.

Just @OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL, mappedBy = "xxx", fetch = FetchType.LAZY, orphanRemoval = true).

Remove targetEntity = MyClass.class, it works great.

According to Java Persistence with Hibernate, cascade orphan delete is not available as a JPA annotation.

It is also not supported in JPA XML.

For the records, in OpenJPA before JPA2 it was @ElementDependant.

I had the same problem and I wondered why this condition below did not delete the orphans. The list of dishes were not deleted in Hibernate (5.0.3.Final) when I executed a named delete query:

@OneToMany(mappedBy = "menuPlan", cascade = CascadeType.ALL, orphanRemoval = true)
private List<Dish> dishes = new ArrayList<>();

Then I remembered that I must not use a named delete query, but the EntityManager. As I used the EntityManager.find(...) method to fetch the entity and then EntityManager.remove(...) to delete it, the dishes were deleted as well.

+---------------------------------------------------------+
¦   Action    ¦  orphanRemoval=true ¦   CascadeType.ALL   ¦
¦-------------+---------------------+---------------------¦
¦   delete    ¦     deletes parent  ¦    deletes parent   ¦
¦   parent    ¦     and orphans     ¦    and orphans      ¦
¦-------------+---------------------+---------------------¦
¦   change    ¦                     ¦                     ¦
¦  children   ¦   deletes orphans   ¦      nothing        ¦
¦    list     ¦                     ¦                     ¦
+---------------------------------------------------------+

If you are using JPA with EclipseLink, you'll have to set the @PrivateOwned annotation.

Documentation: Eclipse Wiki - Using EclipseLink JPA Extensions - Chapter 1.4 How to Use the @PrivateOwned Annotation

According to Java Persistence with Hibernate, cascade orphan delete is not available as a JPA annotation.

It is also not supported in JPA XML.

I had the same problem and I wondered why this condition below did not delete the orphans. The list of dishes were not deleted in Hibernate (5.0.3.Final) when I executed a named delete query:

@OneToMany(mappedBy = "menuPlan", cascade = CascadeType.ALL, orphanRemoval = true)
private List<Dish> dishes = new ArrayList<>();

Then I remembered that I must not use a named delete query, but the EntityManager. As I used the EntityManager.find(...) method to fetch the entity and then EntityManager.remove(...) to delete it, the dishes were deleted as well.

I was using one to one mapping , but child was not getting deleted JPA was giving foreign key violation

After using orphanRemoval = true , issue got resolved

If you are using JPA 2.0, you can now use the orphanRemoval=true attribute of the @xxxToMany annotation to remove orphans.

Actually, CascadeType.DELETE_ORPHAN has been deprecated in 3.5.2-Final.