Mapping enum to string in hibernate

Question

I've got a Category Hibernate model:

@Entity
@Table(name = "category")
public class Category {

    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy=GenerationType.AUTO)
    @Column(name = "id")
    private long id;

    @Column(name = "type")
    private String type;

which have a type string field. Also I've got a Java enum which represent a type of a category:

public enum CategoryType {
    INCOME, OUTCOME;
}

which I would like to use instead of the string type. The SQL accepts two distinct values in the varchar parameter: either CategoryIncome or CategoryOutcome. I would like the Category model class to accept an enum variable - and map it somehow to the string whenever hibernate asks for it.

Is it possible?

score 235 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 13 '13 at 13:39

235

Yes, is possible. It should be:

@Enumerated(EnumType.STRING)
@Column(name = "category_type")
private CategoryType categoryType;

answered Apr 13 '13 at 13:39

dcernahoschi

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19

You can even go further and, now as JPA 2.1 is released, use `@Converter(autoApply = true) public class CategoryTypeConverter implements javax.persistence.AttributeConverter ` – membersound Apr 14 '14 at 12:48
8

For anyone who might have the same problem..: I had to put this annotation to my getter method instead of the field, like this: `@Enumerated(EnumType.STRING) public CategoryType getCategoryType() { return this.categoryType; }`. – ZeroOne Mar 18 '16 at 13:46
1

I was in `hibernate.ddl-auto=update` mode and I had to drop my table and let hibernate create it again in order to convert my enum from int to varchar. Hopefully it helps someone with similar issue. – Arashsoft Feb 15 '18 at 21:35
See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44864675/hibernate-enumerated-seems-to-be-ignored if your enumeration value is being written as ordinal despite Enumerated annotation. – metamaker Dec 11 '18 at 01:55
I do not put it on the getter. Putting it on the variable declaration works fine, which is good for Lombok using @Data, etc. What if I want to apply this to all Enums without annotating each one? – Andrew Jul 26 '20 at 19:40

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 26 '20 at 15:35

5

The accepted answer is not sufficient for PostgreSQL. I attach the implementation that worked for me:

https://stackoverflow.com/a/64021041/5279996

edited Oct 26 '20 at 15:35

Ahmed Ashour

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answered Sep 25 '20 at 04:47

Braian Coronel

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 08 '22 at 11:54

I had to add

@Column(columnDefinition = "VARCHAR(30)")

to @dcernahoschi solutions to make it work.

@Column(columnDefinition = "VARCHAR(30)")
@Enumerated(EnumType.STRING)
@Column(name = "category_type")
private CategoryType categoryType

Without I got the Exception

org.hibernate.tool.schema.spi.CommandAcceptanceException: Error executing DDL "

Mapping enum to string in hibernate

3 Answers3

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