Modify data within PreUpdate will only merges partially

[masterozz666]

Hi,

i have a problem with entity listeners using @PreUpdate to modify the data.
There are two entity beans, the first contains a collection of the second entity bean => OneToMany-Mapping. Something like that:

@Entity
@Table(name = "TEST_FIRSTBEAN")
public class FirstBean implements Serializable {

 private static final long serialVersionUID = 8150999009636714523L;

 private Integer id;
 private Integer state;
 private Set<SecondBean> secondBeans = new HashSet<SecondBean>(0);

 public FirstBean() {
 }

 @Id
 @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO)
 @Column(name = "ID", unique = true, nullable = false, precision = 22, scale = 0)
 public Integer getId() {
 return this.id;
 }

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

 @Column(name = "STATE")
 public Integer getState() {
 return this.state;
 }

 public void setState(Integer state) {
 this.state = state;
 }

 @OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL, fetch = FetchType.EAGER, mappedBy = "firstBean")
 public Set<SecondBean> getSecondBeans() {
 return this.secondBeans;
 }

 public void setSecondBeans(Set<SecondBean> bBeans) {
 this.secondBeans = bBeans;
 }

}

and

@Entity
@Table(name = "TEST_SECONDBEAN")
public class SecondBean implements Serializable {
 private static final long serialVersionUID = -5353954801248924436L;

 private Integer id;
 private Integer state;
 private FirstBean firstBean;

 public SecondBean() {
 }

 @Id
 @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO)
 @Column(name = "ID", unique = true, nullable = false, precision = 22, scale = 0)
 public Integer getId() {
 return this.id;
 }

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

 @Column(name = "STATE")
 public Integer getState() {
 return this.state;
 }

 public void setState(Integer state) {
 this.state = state;
 }

 @ManyToOne(fetch = FetchType.EAGER)
 @JoinColumn(name = "FIRSTBEAN_ID")
 public FirstBean getFirstBean() {
 return this.firstBean;
 }

 public void setFirstBean(FirstBean firstBean) {
 this.firstBean = firstBean;
 }

}

There is also a simple entity listener. In the PreUpdate-Method It will set the state of the second beans, if the state of the first bean was set. Something like this:

public class FirstBeanEntityListener {
 private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(FirstBeanEntityListener.class);

 public FirstBeanEntityListener() {
 super();
 }

 @PreUpdate
 public void preUpdate(final FirstBean bean) throws NamingException {
 LOGGER.info("* FirstBean '"+bean.getName()+"' entity listener: @preUpdate called");

 if (bean != null && bean.getState() != null) {
 LOGGER.info(" FirstBean '"+bean.getName()+"': state set");

 for (SecondBean childBeans : bean.getSecondBeans()) {
 LOGGER.info(" set state for second bean: " + childBeans.getName());
 childBeans.setState(new Integer(1));
 }
 }
 }

}

The entity listener is bound to the entity bean using orm.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<entity-mappings xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence/orm" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
 xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence/orm http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence/orm_1_0.xsd" version="1.0">
 <entity class="FirstBean">
 <entity-listeners>
 <entity-listener class="FirstBeanEntityListener" />
 </entity-listeners>
 </entity>
</entity-mappings>

The problem is now: If i have one FirstBean with any number of second beans, and i set the state of the first bean on client side, merge it in a stateless session bean and look at the database after that, state of one SecondBean wasn't set, but all others are set. Assume a jUnit test like that:

public class EntityBeanListenerTest {

 private TestServiceRemote testRemoteBean = null;

 @Before
 public void setUp() throws NamingException, RemoteCheckedException {
 //Perform lookup:
 ...
 this.testRemoteBean = (TestServiceRemote) ctx.lookup("TestService");
 }

 @After
 public void tearDown() throws Exception {
 this.testRemoteBean = null;
 }

 private FirstBean createSampleFirstBean() {
 final FirstBean firstBean;
 final SecondBean secondBean1;
 final SecondBean secondBean2;
 final SecondBean secondBean3;

 //Init first bean
 firstBean = new FirstBean();

 //Init second beans
 secondBean1 = new SecondBean();
 secondBean2 = new SecondBean();
 secondBean3 = new SecondBean();

 //Add second beans to first bean
 firstBean.getSecondBeans().add(secondBean1);
 firstBean.getSecondBeans().add(secondBean2);
 firstBean.getSecondBeans().add(secondBean3);

 secondBean1.setFirstBean(firstBean);
 secondBean2.setFirstBean(firstBean);
 secondBean3.setFirstBean(firstBean);

 return firstBean;
 }

 @Test
 public void testFirstBeanDeletion() throws RemoteCheckedException {
 FirstBean firstBean;

 //Reset database, will only clean table data
 this.testRemoteBean.resetDatabase();

 //Create data
 firstBean = this.createSampleFirstBean();

 //Save data and retrieve persisted data
 this.testRemoteBean.persistFirstBean(firstBean);
 firstBean = this.testRemoteBean.getFirstBean();

 firstBean.setState(new Integer(1));
 this.testRemoteBean.mergeFirstBean(firstBean);
 firstBean = this.testRemoteBean.getFirstBean();

 for (final SecondBean secondBean : firstBean.getSecondBeans()) {
 //This will fail on one bean, which one is indeterministic
 Assert.assertNotNull("Second beans have not been deleted", secondBean.getState());
 }
 }

}

I though the listeners should set all states of second beans, but for one second bean, the state wasn't set.
If i perform a flush after merging the data in the same transaction in the session bean, the jUnit test will pass.

Can anyone explain, why this happens? Am i doing something wrong? Must i always perform a flush?
I am using JBoss AS 4.2.2 GA.

Thanks in advance,

Markus