How is the entity being saved to the database without a transaction?

Question

I am able to save an entity without @Transactional in my Spring Boot application. I only noticed this because I wasn't able to update an entity until I added @Transactional to the save method within EmployeeService.java.

I don't have @Transactional annotated at the class level. The only other place it is found is on methods in my Service layer that do not pertain to the save method. My EmployeeDAO does not extend JPARepository. It is annotated with @Repository. I have spring-boot-starter-data-jpa as a dependency. I am not manually beginning or committing a transaction either.

EmployeeRestController.java

@PostMapping("/employees")
public void addEmployee(@RequestBody Employee employee) {
    employee.setId(0);

    employeeService.save(employee);
}

EmployeeService.java

public void save(Employee employee) {
    emplDAO.save(employee);
}

EmployeeDAO.java

@Override
public void save(Employee employee) {
    Session currentSession = em.unwrap(Session.class);

    currentSession.saveOrUpdate(employee);
}

By default `spring.jpa.open-in-view` is set to `true`. Probably it is the reason — Denis Zavedeev, Apr 17 '19 at 21:42
@caco3 This was the exact cause. Thank you for clarifying. Can you provide more detail as to why this is the case? This is the first time I have encountered open-in-view, as I am new to Spring. — Hammerspace, Apr 18 '19 at 00:16
@caco3 Also, I don't know how to upvote or mark your answer as correct. — Hammerspace, Apr 18 '19 at 00:17
You couldn't because it is a comment:) I've posted an answer with some related links — Denis Zavedeev, Apr 18 '19 at 06:41

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 18 '19 at 06:00

By default in Spring Boot Web applications spring.jpa.open-in-view is set to true.

Most probably it is the reason

From Spring Boot Reference Guide:

If you are running a web application, Spring Boot by default registers OpenEntityManagerInViewInterceptor to apply the “Open EntityManager in View” pattern, to allow for lazy loading in web views. If you do not want this behavior, you should set spring.jpa.open-in-view to false in your application.properties.

See also:

How is the entity being saved to the database without a transaction?

1 Answers1