Apply CMP JTA on plain CDI (no EJB) is it possible in Java EE 6?

Question

Does anyone know if it's possible to make CMP JTA work on plain CDI beans? The goal is just to inject a DAO bean (which is NO EJB) into a JSF bean, annotate a method with some kick-ass annotation and make it work out of the box. Some thing like this :

@Named
public class ClusterController {

    @Inject
    private ClusterDAO clusterDAO;

    /**
     * A simple proxy method
     * @param cluster cluster to be saved to the DB
     */

    @Transactional(value = Transactional.TxType.REQUIRES_NEW)
    public void createCluster(Cluster cluster) {
        clusterDAO.saveEntity(cluster);
    }
}

This @Transactional(value = Transactional.TxType.REQUIRES_NEW) does not do the trick (I'm using JBOSS EAP 6). I get :

Caused by: javax.persistence.TransactionRequiredException: JBAS011469: Transaction is required to perform this operation (either use a transaction or extended persistence context)
    at org.jboss.as.jpa.container.AbstractEntityManager.transactionIsRequired(AbstractEntityManager.java:692) [jboss-as-jpa-7.3.0.Final-redhat-14.jar:7.3.0.Final-redhat-14]
    at org.jboss.as.jpa.container.AbstractEntityManager.persist(AbstractEntityManager.java:562) [jboss-as-jpa-7.3.0.Final-redhat-14.jar:7.3.0.Final-redhat-14]

CDI 1 doesn't manage transactions. This is handled by EJB. – Luiggi Mendoza Jun 16 '14 at 19:44 — Luiggi Mendoza, Jun 16 '14 at 19:44

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

Not in plain Java EE 6 without some plumbing. According to this answer, by standard this is possible in Java EE 7 with JTA 1.2. You can get a quick picture about JTA 1.2 in the Aquarium.

So, a number of options remain:

Write-your-own transactional CDI Interceptor (maybe a duplicate to your question).
Use DeltaSpike CDI extensions or Seam transactions. This means using a non-standard framework, so portability may be harmed. If kick-ass is what you need, this might not be a real show-stopper for you.
Upgrade to Java EE 7. However, there is no EE7 EAP yet. If community WildFly is not the option.

IMHO, I'd stick with the standard and write/use an interceptor (if change of architecture/specification/vendor is really not the option). You can hopefully do an easy swap for JTA 1.2 transactions in case of a future migration.

You can find more detail in linked Q&As.

Thanks. I've implemented CDI interceptor and it works like a charm. Sadly that there is no built-in solution in EE6. — Anton, Jun 16 '14 at 21:15
EJB is a built-in solution. It's neat, efficient and standard. Don't shy away from it! — Yuri, Jun 17 '14 at 08:30

Apply CMP JTA on plain CDI (no EJB) is it possible in Java EE 6?

1 Answers1