What does Hibernate @Proxy(lazy = false) annotation do?

Question

I was facing two different stack traces (see below) when trying to serialize my ESRBRating object which is a JPA entity. I am using Spring Data JPA. The controller called the service, service called the repository. I was able to resolve the issue by adding @Proxy(lazy = false) on my ESRBRating object.

My main question is what does @Proxy(lazy = false) actually do? Why does it work when adding it? Is this a good solution or will it have side effects such as performance / memory concerns?

For reference, this is my ESRBRating class now.

@Entity
@Table(name = "esrb_rating", schema = "igdb")
@JsonIgnoreProperties(ignoreUnknown = true)
@Proxy(lazy = false)
public class ESRBRating implements Serializable {

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    @Id
    @NotNull
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO)
    @Column(name = "id", nullable = false)
    private Long id;

    @NotNull
    @Size(min = 1, max = 255)
    @Column(name = "title", nullable = false, length = 255)
    private String title;

    @Size(max = 65535)
    @Column(length = 65535)
    private String description;

    @OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL, mappedBy = "esrbRating")
    private List<Game> games;

    public ESRBRating() {
    }

    public ESRBRating(Long id, String title, String description) {
        this.id = id;
        this.title = title;
        this.description = description;
    }

    public Long getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public void setId(Long id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public String getTitle() {
        return title;
    }

    public void setTitle(String title) {
        this.title = title;
    }

    public String getDescription() {
        return description;
    }

    public void setDescription(String description) {
        this.description = description;
    }

    public List<Game> getGames() {
        return games;
    }

    public void setGames(List<Game> games) {
        this.games = games;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object o) {
        if (this == o) return true;
        if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;

        ESRBRating that = (ESRBRating) o;

        return Objects.equal(this.id, that.id) &&
                Objects.equal(this.title, that.title) &&
                Objects.equal(this.description, that.description);
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        return Objects.hashCode(id, title, description);
    }

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return Objects.toStringHelper(this)
                .add("id", id)
                .add("title", title)
                .add("description", description)
                .toString();
    }
}

Stack Trace:

Caused by: org.hibernate.LazyInitializationException: could not initialize proxy - no Session
    at org.hibernate.proxy.AbstractLazyInitializer.initialize(AbstractLazyInitializer.java:165)
    at org.hibernate.proxy.AbstractLazyInitializer.getImplementation(AbstractLazyInitializer.java:286)
    at org.hibernate.proxy.pojo.javassist.JavassistLazyInitializer.invoke(JavassistLazyInitializer.java:185)
    at net.jkratz.igdb.model.ESRBRating_$$_jvst319_0.getId(ESRBRating_$$_jvst319_0.java)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:606)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.BeanPropertyWriter.serializeAsField(BeanPropertyWriter.java:466)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.std.BeanSerializerBase.serializeFields(BeanSerializerBase.java:639)
    ... 76 more

I was also getting this stack trace.

org.springframework.http.converter.HttpMessageNotWritableException: Could not write content: No serializer found for class org.hibernate.proxy.pojo.javassist.JavassistLazyInitializer and no properties discovered to create BeanSerializer (to avoid exception, disable SerializationFeature.FAIL_ON_EMPTY_BEANS) ) (through reference chain: net.jkratz.igdb.model.ESRBRating_$$_jvstb5c_0["handler"]); nested exception is com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException: No serializer found for class org.hibernate.proxy.pojo.javassist.JavassistLazyInitializer and no properties discovered to create BeanSerializer (to avoid exception, disable SerializationFeature.FAIL_ON_EMPTY_BEANS) ) (through reference chain: net.jkratz.igdb.model.ESRBRating_$$_jvstb5c_0["handler"])
    at org.springframework.http.converter.json.AbstractJackson2HttpMessageConverter.writeInternal(AbstractJackson2HttpMessageConverter.java:238)
    at org.springframework.http.converter.AbstractHttpMessageConverter.write(AbstractHttpMessageConverter.java:208)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.AbstractMessageConverterMethodProcessor.writeWithMessageConverters(AbstractMessageConverterMethodProcessor.java:158)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.HttpEntityMethodProcessor.handleReturnValue(HttpEntityMethodProcessor.java:138)
    at org.springframework.web.method.support.HandlerMethodReturnValueHandlerComposite.handleReturnValue(HandlerMethodReturnValueHandlerComposite.java:71)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.ServletInvocableHandlerMethod.invokeAndHandle(ServletInvocableHandlerMethod.java:122)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.invokeHandleMethod(RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.java:781)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.handleInternal(RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.java:721)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.AbstractHandlerMethodAdapter.handle(AbstractHandlerMethodAdapter.java:83)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:943)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:877)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:966)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doGet(FrameworkServlet.java:857)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:620)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.service(FrameworkServlet.java:842)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:727)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:303)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:208)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.HiddenHttpMethodFilter.doFilterInternal(HiddenHttpMethodFilter.java:77)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:107)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:241)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:208)
    at org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:52)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:241)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:208)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:330)
    at org.springframework.security.web.access.intercept.FilterSecurityInterceptor.invoke(FilterSecurityInterceptor.java:118)
    at org.springframework.security.web.access.intercept.FilterSecurityInterceptor.doFilter(FilterSecurityInterceptor.java:84)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:342)
    at org.springframework.security.web.access.ExceptionTranslationFilter.doFilter(ExceptionTranslationFilter.java:113)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:342)
    at org.springframework.security.web.session.SessionManagementFilter.doFilter(SessionManagementFilter.java:103)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:342)
    at org.springframework.security.web.authentication.AnonymousAuthenticationFilter.doFilter(AnonymousAuthenticationFilter.java:113)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:342)
    at org.springframework.security.web.servletapi.SecurityContextHolderAwareRequestFilter.doFilter(SecurityContextHolderAwareRequestFilter.java:154)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:342)
    at org.springframework.security.web.savedrequest.RequestCacheAwareFilter.doFilter(RequestCacheAwareFilter.java:45)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:342)
    at org.springframework.security.web.authentication.www.BasicAuthenticationFilter.doFilter(BasicAuthenticationFilter.java:150)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:342)
    at org.springframework.security.web.authentication.ui.DefaultLoginPageGeneratingFilter.doFilter(DefaultLoginPageGeneratingFilter.java:155)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:342)
    at org.springframework.security.web.authentication.AbstractAuthenticationProcessingFilter.doFilter(AbstractAuthenticationProcessingFilter.java:199)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:342)
    at org.springframework.security.web.authentication.logout.LogoutFilter.doFilter(LogoutFilter.java:110)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:342)
    at org.springframework.security.web.context.request.async.WebAsyncManagerIntegrationFilter.doFilterInternal(WebAsyncManagerIntegrationFilter.java:50)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:107)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:342)
    at org.springframework.security.web.context.SecurityContextPersistenceFilter.doFilter(SecurityContextPersistenceFilter.java:87)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:342)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy.doFilterInternal(FilterChainProxy.java:192)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:160)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.DelegatingFilterProxy.invokeDelegate(DelegatingFilterProxy.java:344)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.DelegatingFilterProxy.doFilter(DelegatingFilterProxy.java:261)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:241)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:208)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:220)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:122)
    at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:501)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:171)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.invoke(AccessLogValve.java:950)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:116)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:408)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1040)
    at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:607)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(JIoEndpoint.java:314)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1145)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:615)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException: No serializer found for class org.hibernate.proxy.pojo.javassist.JavassistLazyInitializer and no properties discovered to create BeanSerializer (to avoid exception, disable SerializationFeature.FAIL_ON_EMPTY_BEANS) ) (through reference chain: net.jkratz.igdb.model.ESRBRating_$$_jvstb5c_0["handler"])
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.impl.UnknownSerializer.failForEmpty(UnknownSerializer.java:59)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.impl.UnknownSerializer.serialize(UnknownSerializer.java:26)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.BeanPropertyWriter.serializeAsField(BeanPropertyWriter.java:505)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.std.BeanSerializerBase.serializeFields(BeanSerializerBase.java:639)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.BeanSerializer.serialize(BeanSerializer.java:152)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.DefaultSerializerProvider.serializeValue(DefaultSerializerProvider.java:114)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper.writeValue(ObjectMapper.java:1887)
    at org.springframework.http.converter.json.AbstractJackson2HttpMessageConverter.writeInternal(AbstractJackson2HttpMessageConverter.java:231)
    ... 72 more

Reference to my original question and issue: JsonMappingException: could not initialize proxy - no Session

Vlad Mihalcea · Accepted Answer · 2021-01-09T10:42:16.560

19

@Proxy(lazy=false) will disable the default lazy loading for a particular entity. This means you always get the initialized entity whenever this entity is being referenced from other entities.

Using this annotation is usually a "code smell". If I were you, I would remove it and simply load all entity associations using the JOIN FETCH directive.

edited Jan 09 '21 at 10:42

answered Nov 18 '14 at 19:14

Vlad Mihalcea

142,745
71
566
911

So @Proxy(lazy=false) will cause games in my ESRBRating class to be loaded automatically every time? That would definitely be a problem because every ESRBRating will have thousands of games. Or am I not understand that correctly? If I put fetch = FETCHTYPE.LAZY in the @OneToMany would it override that? When fetching the ESRBRating from the REST API it would never return the games in reality. – greyfox Nov 18 '14 at 19:52
All ToMany associations are lazy by default, so it's not the games collections that's going to be eagerly fetched. It's the ESRBRating to be eagerly fetched whenever you reference it from other entities, like when a Game has a @ManyToOne ESRBRating association. In this case the Game.ESRBRating is not going to be a proxy but an actual fetched object. – Vlad Mihalcea Nov 18 '14 at 20:02
Ahhh okay that makes sense, so in that case if the Game entity has @ManyToOne(optional = false, fetch = FetchType.LAZY) for the esrbRating and/or the getter has a @JSONIgnore, it will still fetch the ESRBRating object? – greyfox Nov 18 '14 at 20:05
It shouldn't be fetched if you instruct Hibernate not to do it. @JsonIgnore is actually what you aim for here. You can have non-initialized Lazy associations that are skipped by the Jackson marshaller. But if an association is ignored it then means you donlt need to fetch it, so like you said, it makes sense to configure it as LAZY. – Vlad Mihalcea Nov 18 '14 at 20:11
Very good, thanks for the explanation, I've accepted your answer. – greyfox Nov 18 '14 at 20:14

What does Hibernate @Proxy(lazy = false) annotation do?

1 Answers1

Linked