Collections

Naturally Hibernate also allows to persist collections. These persistent collections can contain almost any other Hibernate type, including: basic types, custom types, embeddables and references to other entities. In this context, the distinction between value and reference semantics is very important. An object in a collection might be handled with value semantics (its life cycle being fully depends on the collection owner), or it might be a reference to another entity with its own life cycle. In the latter case, only the link between the two objects is considered to be a state held by the collection.

The owner of the collection is always an entity, even if the collection is defined by an embeddable type. Collections form one/many-to-many associations between types so there can be:

  • value type collections

  • embeddable type collections

  • entity collections

Hibernate uses its own collection implementations which are enriched with lazy-loading, caching or state change detection semantics. For this reason, persistent collections must be declared as an interface type. The actual interface might be java.util.Collection, java.util.List, java.util.Set, java.util.Map, java.util.SortedSet, java.util.SortedMap or even other object types (meaning you will have to write an implementation of org.hibernate.usertype.UserCollectionType).

As the following example demonstrates, it’s important to use the interface type and not the collection implementation, as declared in the entity mapping.

Example 1. Hibernate uses its own collection implementations
@Entity(name = "Person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    @ElementCollection
    private List<String> phones = new ArrayList<>();

    public List<String> getPhones() {
        return phones;
    }
}

Person person = entityManager.find( Person.class, 1L );
//Throws java.lang.ClassCastException: org.hibernate.collection.internal.PersistentBag cannot be cast to java.util.ArrayList
ArrayList<String> phones = (ArrayList<String>) person.getPhones();

It is important that collections be defined using the appropriate Java Collections Framework interface rather than a specific implementation. From a theoretical perspective, this just follows good design principles. From a practical perspective, Hibernate (like other persistence providers) will use their own collection implementations which conform to the Java Collections Framework interfaces.

The persistent collections injected by Hibernate behave like ArrayList, HashSet, TreeSet, HashMap or TreeMap, depending on the interface type.

Collections as a value type

Value and embeddable type collections have a similar behavior as simple value types because they are automatically persisted when referenced by a persistent object and automatically deleted when unreferenced. If a collection is passed from one persistent object to another, its elements might be moved from one table to another.

Two entities cannot share a reference to the same collection instance. Collection-valued properties do not support null value semantics because Hibernate does not distinguish between a null collection reference and an empty collection.

Collections of value types

Collections of value type include basic and embeddable types. Collections cannot be nested, and, when used in collections, embeddable types are not allowed to define other collections.

For collections of value types, JPA 2.0 defines the @ElementCollection annotation. The lifecycle of the value-type collection is entirely controlled by its owning entity.

Considering the previous example mapping, when clearing the phone collection, Hibernate deletes all the associated phones. When adding a new element to the value type collection, Hibernate issues a new insert statement.

Example 2. Value type collection lifecycle
person.getPhones().clear();
person.getPhones().add( "123-456-7890" );
person.getPhones().add( "456-000-1234" );
DELETE FROM Person_phones WHERE   Person_id = 1

INSERT INTO Person_phones ( Person_id, phones )
VALUES ( 1, '123-456-7890' )

INSERT INTO Person_phones  (Person_id, phones)
VALUES  ( 1, '456-000-1234' )

If removing all elements or adding new ones is rather straightforward, removing a certain entry actually requires reconstructing the whole collection from scratch.

Example 3. Removing collection elements
person.getPhones().remove( 0 );
DELETE FROM Person_phones WHERE Person_id = 1

INSERT INTO Person_phones ( Person_id, phones )
VALUES ( 1, '456-000-1234' )

Depending on the number of elements, this behavior might not be efficient, if many elements need to be deleted and reinserted back into the database table. A workaround is to use an @OrderColumn, which, although not as efficient as when using the actual link table primary key, might improve the efficiency of the remove operations.

Example 4. Removing collection elements using the order column
@ElementCollection
@OrderColumn(name = "order_id")
private List<String> phones = new ArrayList<>();

person.getPhones().remove( 0 );
DELETE FROM Person_phones
WHERE  Person_id = 1
       AND order_id = 1

UPDATE Person_phones
SET    phones = '456-000-1234'
WHERE  Person_id = 1
       AND order_id = 0

The @OrderColumn column works best when removing from the tail of the collection, as it only requires a single delete statement. Removing from the head or the middle of the collection requires deleting the extra elements and updating the remaining ones to preserve element order.

Embeddable type collections behave the same way as value type collections. Adding embeddables to the collection triggers the associated insert statements and removing elements from the collection will generate delete statements.

Example 5. Embeddable type collections
@Entity(name = "Person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    @ElementCollection
    private List<Phone> phones = new ArrayList<>();

    public List<Phone> getPhones() {
        return phones;
    }
}

@Embeddable
public static class Phone {

    private String type;

    @Column(name = "`number`")
    private String number;

    public Phone() {
    }

    public Phone(String type, String number) {
        this.type = type;
        this.number = number;
    }

    public String getType() {
        return type;
    }

    public String getNumber() {
        return number;
    }
}

person.getPhones().add( new Phone( "landline", "028-234-9876" ) );
person.getPhones().add( new Phone( "mobile", "072-122-9876" ) );
INSERT INTO Person_phones ( Person_id, number, type )
VALUES ( 1, '028-234-9876', 'landline' )

INSERT INTO Person_phones ( Person_id, number, type )
VALUES ( 1, '072-122-9876', 'mobile' )

Collections of entities

If value type collections can only form a one-to-many association between an owner entity and multiple basic or embeddable types, entity collections can represent both @OneToMany and @ManyToMany associations.

From a relational database perspective, associations are defined by the foreign key side (the child-side). With value type collections, only the entity can control the association (the parent-side), but for a collection of entities, both sides of the association are managed by the persistence context.

For this reason, entity collections can be devised into two main categories: unidirectional and bidirectional associations. Unidirectional associations are very similar to value type collections since only the parent side controls this relationship. Bidirectional associations are more tricky since, even if sides need to be in-sync at all times, only one side is responsible for managing the association. A bidirectional association has an owning side and an inverse (mappedBy) side.

Another way of categorizing entity collections is by the underlying collection type, and so we can have:

  • bags

  • indexed lists

  • sets

  • sorted sets

  • maps

  • sorted maps

  • arrays

In the following sections, we will go through all these collection types and discuss both unidirectional and bidirectional associations.

Bags

Bags are unordered lists and we can have unidirectional bags or bidirectional ones.

Unidirectional bags

The unidirectional bag is mapped using a single @OneToMany annotation on the parent side of the association. Behind the scenes, Hibernate requires an association table to manage the parent-child relationship, as we can see in the following example:

Example 6. Unidirectional bag
@Entity(name = "Person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;
    @OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
    private List<Phone> phones = new ArrayList<>();

    public Person() {
    }

    public Person(Long id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public List<Phone> getPhones() {
        return phones;
    }
}

@Entity(name = "Phone")
public static class Phone {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    private String type;

    @Column(name = "`number`")
    private String number;

    public Phone() {
    }

    public Phone(Long id, String type, String number) {
        this.id = id;
        this.type = type;
        this.number = number;
    }

    public Long getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public String getType() {
        return type;
    }

    public String getNumber() {
        return number;
    }
}
CREATE TABLE Person (
    id BIGINT NOT NULL ,
    PRIMARY KEY ( id )
)

CREATE TABLE Person_Phone (
    Person_id BIGINT NOT NULL ,
    phones_id BIGINT NOT NULL
)

CREATE TABLE Phone (
    id BIGINT NOT NULL ,
    number VARCHAR(255) ,
    type VARCHAR(255) ,
    PRIMARY KEY ( id )
)

ALTER TABLE Person_Phone
ADD CONSTRAINT UK_9uhc5itwc9h5gcng944pcaslf
UNIQUE (phones_id)

ALTER TABLE Person_Phone
ADD CONSTRAINT FKr38us2n8g5p9rj0b494sd3391
FOREIGN KEY (phones_id) REFERENCES Phone

ALTER TABLE Person_Phone
ADD CONSTRAINT FK2ex4e4p7w1cj310kg2woisjl2
FOREIGN KEY (Person_id) REFERENCES Person

Because both the parent and the child sides are entities, the persistence context manages each entity separately. Cascades can propagate an entity state transition from a parent entity to its children.

By marking the parent side with the CascadeType.ALL attribute, the unidirectional association lifecycle becomes very similar to that of a value type collection.

Example 7. Unidirectional bag lifecycle
Person person = new Person( 1L );
person.getPhones().add( new Phone( 1L, "landline", "028-234-9876" ) );
person.getPhones().add( new Phone( 2L, "mobile", "072-122-9876" ) );
entityManager.persist( person );
INSERT INTO Person ( id )
VALUES ( 1 )

INSERT INTO Phone ( number, type, id )
VALUES ( '028-234-9876', 'landline', 1 )

INSERT INTO Phone ( number, type, id )
VALUES ( '072-122-9876', 'mobile', 2 )

INSERT INTO Person_Phone ( Person_id, phones_id )
VALUES ( 1, 1 )

INSERT INTO Person_Phone ( Person_id, phones_id )
VALUES ( 1, 2 )

In the example above, once the parent entity is persisted, the child entities are going to be persisted as well.

Just like value type collections, unidirectional bags are not as efficient when it comes to modifying the collection structure (removing or reshuffling elements). Because the parent-side cannot uniquely identify each individual child, Hibernate might delete all child table rows associated with the parent entity and re-add them according to the current collection state.
Bidirectional bags

The bidirectional bag is the most common type of entity collection. The @ManyToOne side is the owning side of the bidirectional bag association, while the @OneToMany is the inverse side, being marked with the mappedBy attribute.

Example 8. Bidirectional bag
@Entity(name = "Person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;
    @OneToMany(mappedBy = "person", cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
    private List<Phone> phones = new ArrayList<>();

    public Person() {
    }

    public Person(Long id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public List<Phone> getPhones() {
        return phones;
    }

    public void addPhone(Phone phone) {
        phones.add( phone );
        phone.setPerson( this );
    }

    public void removePhone(Phone phone) {
        phones.remove( phone );
        phone.setPerson( null );
    }
}

@Entity(name = "Phone")
public static class Phone {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    private String type;

    @Column(name = "`number`", unique = true)
    @NaturalId
    private String number;

    @ManyToOne
    private Person person;

    public Phone() {
    }

    public Phone(Long id, String type, String number) {
        this.id = id;
        this.type = type;
        this.number = number;
    }

    public Long getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public String getType() {
        return type;
    }

    public String getNumber() {
        return number;
    }

    public Person getPerson() {
        return person;
    }

    public void setPerson(Person person) {
        this.person = person;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object o) {
        if ( this == o ) {
            return true;
        }
        if ( o == null || getClass() != o.getClass() ) {
            return false;
        }
        Phone phone = (Phone) o;
        return Objects.equals( number, phone.number );
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        return Objects.hash( number );
    }
}
CREATE TABLE Person (
    id BIGINT NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (id)
)

CREATE TABLE Phone (
    id BIGINT NOT NULL,
    number VARCHAR(255),
    type VARCHAR(255),
    person_id BIGINT,
    PRIMARY KEY (id)
)

ALTER TABLE Phone
ADD CONSTRAINT UK_l329ab0g4c1t78onljnxmbnp6
UNIQUE (number)

ALTER TABLE Phone
ADD CONSTRAINT FKmw13yfsjypiiq0i1osdkaeqpg
FOREIGN KEy (person_id) REFERENCES Person
Example 9. Bidirectional bag lifecycle
person.addPhone( new Phone( 1L, "landline", "028-234-9876" ) );
person.addPhone( new Phone( 2L, "mobile", "072-122-9876" ) );
entityManager.flush();
person.removePhone( person.getPhones().get( 0 ) );
INSERT INTO Phone (number, person_id, type, id)
VALUES ( '028-234-9876', 1, 'landline', 1 )

INSERT INTO Phone (number, person_id, type, id)
VALUES ( '072-122-9876', 1, 'mobile', 2 )

UPDATE Phone
SET person_id = NULL, type = 'landline' where id = 1
Example 10. Bidirectional bag with orphan removal
@OneToMany(mappedBy = "person", cascade = CascadeType.ALL, orphanRemoval = true)
private List<Phone> phones = new ArrayList<>();
DELETE FROM Phone WHERE id = 1

When rerunning the previous example, the child will get removed because the parent-side propagates the removal upon disassociating the child entity reference.

Ordered Lists

Although they use the List interface on the Java side, bags don’t retain element order. To preserve the collection element order, there are two possibilities:

@OrderBy

the collection is ordered upon retrieval using a child entity property

@OrderColumn

the collection uses a dedicated order column in the collection link table

Unidirectional ordered lists

When using the @OrderBy annotation, the mapping looks as follows:

Example 11. Unidirectional @OrderBy list
@Entity(name = "Person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;
    @OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
    @OrderBy("number")
    private List<Phone> phones = new ArrayList<>();

    public Person() {
    }

    public Person(Long id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public List<Phone> getPhones() {
        return phones;
    }
}

@Entity(name = "Phone")
public static class Phone {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    private String type;

    @Column(name = "`number`")
    private String number;

    public Phone() {
    }

    public Phone(Long id, String type, String number) {
        this.id = id;
        this.type = type;
        this.number = number;
    }

    public Long getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public String getType() {
        return type;
    }

    public String getNumber() {
        return number;
    }
}

The database mapping is the same as with the Unidirectional bags example, so it won’t be repeated. Upon fetching the collection, Hibernate generates the following select statement:

Example 12. Unidirectional @OrderBy list select statement
SELECT
   phones0_.Person_id AS Person_i1_1_0_,
   phones0_.phones_id AS phones_i2_1_0_,
   unidirecti1_.id AS id1_2_1_,
   unidirecti1_."number" AS number2_2_1_,
   unidirecti1_.type AS type3_2_1_
FROM
   Person_Phone phones0_
INNER JOIN
   Phone unidirecti1_ ON phones0_.phones_id=unidirecti1_.id
WHERE
   phones0_.Person_id = 1
ORDER BY
   unidirecti1_."number"

The child table column is used to order the list elements.

The @OrderBy annotation can take multiple entity properties, and each property can take an ordering direction too (e.g. @OrderBy("name ASC, type DESC")).

If no property is specified (e.g. @OrderBy), the primary key of the child entity table is used for ordering.

Another ordering option is to use the @OrderColumn annotation:

Example 13. Unidirectional @OrderColumn list
@OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
@OrderColumn(name = "order_id")
private List<Phone> phones = new ArrayList<>();
CREATE TABLE Person_Phone (
    Person_id BIGINT NOT NULL ,
    phones_id BIGINT NOT NULL ,
    order_id INTEGER NOT NULL ,
    PRIMARY KEY ( Person_id, order_id )
)

This time, the link table takes the order_id column and uses it to materialize the collection element order. When fetching the list, the following select query is executed:

Example 14. Unidirectional @OrderColumn list select statement
select
   phones0_.Person_id as Person_i1_1_0_,
   phones0_.phones_id as phones_i2_1_0_,
   phones0_.order_id as order_id3_0_,
   unidirecti1_.id as id1_2_1_,
   unidirecti1_.number as number2_2_1_,
   unidirecti1_.type as type3_2_1_
from
   Person_Phone phones0_
inner join
   Phone unidirecti1_
      on phones0_.phones_id=unidirecti1_.id
where
   phones0_.Person_id = 1

With the order_id column in place, Hibernate can order the list in-memory after it’s being fetched from the database.

Bidirectional ordered lists

The mapping is similar with the Bidirectional bags example, just that the parent side is going to be annotated with either @OrderBy or @OrderColumn.

Example 15. Bidirectional @OrderBy list
@OneToMany(mappedBy = "person", cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
@OrderBy("number")
private List<Phone> phones = new ArrayList<>();

Just like with the unidirectional @OrderBy list, the number column is used to order the statement on the SQL level.

When using the @OrderColumn annotation, the order_id column is going to be embedded in the child table:

Example 16. Bidirectional @OrderColumn list
@OneToMany(mappedBy = "person", cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
@OrderColumn(name = "order_id")
private List<Phone> phones = new ArrayList<>();
CREATE TABLE Phone (
    id BIGINT NOT NULL ,
    number VARCHAR(255) ,
    type VARCHAR(255) ,
    person_id BIGINT ,
    order_id INTEGER ,
    PRIMARY KEY ( id )
)

When fetching the collection, Hibernate will use the fetched ordered columns to sort the elements according to the @OrderColumn mapping.

Customizing ordered list ordinal

You can customize the ordinal of the underlying ordered list by using the @ListIndexBase annotation.

Example 17. @ListIndexBase mapping example
@OneToMany(mappedBy = "person", cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
@OrderColumn(name = "order_id")
@ListIndexBase(100)
private List<Phone> phones = new ArrayList<>();

When inserting two Phone records, Hibernate is going to start the List index from 100 this time.

Example 18. @ListIndexBase persist example
Person person = new Person( 1L );
entityManager.persist( person );
person.addPhone( new Phone( 1L, "landline", "028-234-9876" ) );
person.addPhone( new Phone( 2L, "mobile", "072-122-9876" ) );
INSERT INTO Phone("number", person_id, type, id)
VALUES ('028-234-9876', 1, 'landline', 1)

INSERT INTO Phone("number", person_id, type, id)
VALUES ('072-122-9876', 1, 'mobile', 2)

UPDATE Phone
SET order_id = 100
WHERE id = 1

UPDATE Phone
SET order_id = 101
WHERE id = 2
Customizing ORDER BY SQL clause

While the JPA @OrderBy annotation allows you to specify the entity attributes used for sorting when fetching the current annotated collection, the Hibernate specific @OrderBy annotation is used to specify a SQL clause instead.

In the following example, the @OrderBy annotations uses the CHAR_LENGTH SQL function to order the Article entities by the number of characters of the name attribute.

Example 19. @OrderBy mapping example
@Entity(name = "Person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    private String name;

    @OneToMany(mappedBy = "person", cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
    @org.hibernate.annotations.OrderBy(clause = "CHAR_LENGTH(name) DESC")
    private List<Article> articles = new ArrayList<>();

    //Getters and setters are omitted for brevity
}

@Entity(name = "Article")
public static class Article {

    @Id
    @GeneratedValue
    private Long id;

    private String name;

    private String content;

    @ManyToOne(fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
    private Person person;

    private Article() {
    }

    public Article(String name, String content) {
        this.name = name;
        this.content = content;
    }

    //Getters and setters are omitted for brevity
}

When fetching the articles collection, Hibernate uses the ORDER BY SQL clause provided by the mapping:

Example 20. @OrderBy fetching example
Person person = entityManager.find( Person.class, 1L );
assertEquals(
    "High-Performance Hibernate",
    person.getArticles().get( 0 ).getName()
);
select
    a.person_id as person_i4_0_0_,
    a.id as id1_0_0_,
    a.content as content2_0_1_,
    a.name as name3_0_1_,
    a.person_id as person_i4_0_1_
from
    Article a
where
    a.person_id = ?
order by
    CHAR_LENGTH(a.name) desc

Sets

Sets are collections that don’t allow duplicate entries and Hibernate supports both the unordered Set and the natural-ordering SortedSet.

Unidirectional sets

The unidirectional set uses a link table to hold the parent-child associations and the entity mapping looks as follows:

Example 21. Unidirectional set
@Entity(name = "Person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;
    @OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
    private Set<Phone> phones = new HashSet<>();

    public Person() {
    }

    public Person(Long id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public Set<Phone> getPhones() {
        return phones;
    }
}

@Entity(name = "Phone")
public static class Phone {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    private String type;

    @NaturalId
    @Column(name = "`number`")
    private String number;

    public Phone() {
    }

    public Phone(Long id, String type, String number) {
        this.id = id;
        this.type = type;
        this.number = number;
    }

    public Long getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public String getType() {
        return type;
    }

    public String getNumber() {
        return number;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object o) {
        if ( this == o ) {
            return true;
        }
        if ( o == null || getClass() != o.getClass() ) {
            return false;
        }
        Phone phone = (Phone) o;
        return Objects.equals( number, phone.number );
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        return Objects.hash( number );
    }
}

The unidirectional set lifecycle is similar to that of the Unidirectional bags, so it can be omitted. The only difference is that Set doesn’t allow duplicates, but this constraint is enforced by the Java object contract rather than the database mapping.

When using sets, it’s very important to supply proper equals/hashCode implementations for child entities. In the absence of a custom equals/hashCode implementation logic, Hibernate will use the default Java reference-based object equality which might render unexpected results when mixing detached and managed object instances.
Bidirectional sets

Just like bidirectional bags, the bidirectional set doesn’t use a link table, and the child table has a foreign key referencing the parent table primary key. The lifecycle is just like with bidirectional bags except for the duplicates which are filtered out.

Example 22. Bidirectional set
@Entity(name = "Person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    @OneToMany(mappedBy = "person", cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
    private Set<Phone> phones = new HashSet<>();

    public Person() {
    }

    public Person(Long id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public Set<Phone> getPhones() {
        return phones;
    }

    public void addPhone(Phone phone) {
        phones.add( phone );
        phone.setPerson( this );
    }

    public void removePhone(Phone phone) {
        phones.remove( phone );
        phone.setPerson( null );
    }
}

@Entity(name = "Phone")
public static class Phone {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    private String type;

    @Column(name = "`number`", unique = true)
    @NaturalId
    private String number;

    @ManyToOne
    private Person person;

    public Phone() {
    }

    public Phone(Long id, String type, String number) {
        this.id = id;
        this.type = type;
        this.number = number;
    }

    public Long getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public String getType() {
        return type;
    }

    public String getNumber() {
        return number;
    }

    public Person getPerson() {
        return person;
    }

    public void setPerson(Person person) {
        this.person = person;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object o) {
        if ( this == o ) {
            return true;
        }
        if ( o == null || getClass() != o.getClass() ) {
            return false;
        }
        Phone phone = (Phone) o;
        return Objects.equals( number, phone.number );
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        return Objects.hash( number );
    }
}

Sorted sets

For sorted sets, the entity mapping must use the SortedSet interface instead. According to the SortedSet contract, all elements must implement the Comparable interface and therefore provide the sorting logic.

Unidirectional sorted sets

A SortedSet that relies on the natural sorting order given by the child element Comparable implementation logic must be annotated with the @SortNatural Hibernate annotation.

Example 23. Unidirectional natural sorted set
@Entity(name = "Person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;
    @OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
    @SortNatural
    private SortedSet<Phone> phones = new TreeSet<>();

    public Person() {
    }

    public Person(Long id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public Set<Phone> getPhones() {
        return phones;
    }
}

@Entity(name = "Phone")
public static class Phone implements Comparable<Phone> {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    private String type;

    @NaturalId
    @Column(name = "`number`")
    private String number;

    public Phone() {
    }

    public Phone(Long id, String type, String number) {
        this.id = id;
        this.type = type;
        this.number = number;
    }

    public Long getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public String getType() {
        return type;
    }

    public String getNumber() {
        return number;
    }

    @Override
    public int compareTo(Phone o) {
        return number.compareTo( o.getNumber() );
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object o) {
        if ( this == o ) {
            return true;
        }
        if ( o == null || getClass() != o.getClass() ) {
            return false;
        }
        Phone phone = (Phone) o;
        return Objects.equals( number, phone.number );
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        return Objects.hash( number );
    }
}

The lifecycle and the database mapping are identical to the Unidirectional bags, so they are intentionally omitted.

To provide a custom sorting logic, Hibernate also provides a @SortComparator annotation:

Example 24. Unidirectional custom comparator sorted set
@Entity(name = "Person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    @OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
    @SortComparator(ReverseComparator.class)
    private SortedSet<Phone> phones = new TreeSet<>();

    public Person() {
    }

    public Person(Long id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public Set<Phone> getPhones() {
        return phones;
    }
}

public static class ReverseComparator implements Comparator<Phone> {
    @Override
    public int compare(Phone o1, Phone o2) {
        return o2.compareTo( o1 );
    }
}

@Entity(name = "Phone")
public static class Phone implements Comparable<Phone> {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    private String type;

    @NaturalId
    @Column(name = "`number`")
    private String number;

    public Phone() {
    }

    public Phone(Long id, String type, String number) {
        this.id = id;
        this.type = type;
        this.number = number;
    }

    public Long getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public String getType() {
        return type;
    }

    public String getNumber() {
        return number;
    }

    @Override
    public int compareTo(Phone o) {
        return number.compareTo( o.getNumber() );
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object o) {
        if ( this == o ) {
            return true;
        }
        if ( o == null || getClass() != o.getClass() ) {
            return false;
        }
        Phone phone = (Phone) o;
        return Objects.equals( number, phone.number );
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        return Objects.hash( number );
    }
}
Bidirectional sorted sets

The @SortNatural and @SortComparator work the same for bidirectional sorted sets too:

Example 25. Bidirectional natural sorted set
@OneToMany(mappedBy = "person", cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
@SortNatural
private SortedSet<Phone> phones = new TreeSet<>();

@SortComparator(ReverseComparator.class)
private SortedSet<Phone> phones = new TreeSet<>();

Maps

A java.util.Map is a ternary association because it requires a parent entity, a map key and a value. An entity can either be a map key or a map value, depending on the mapping. Hibernate allows using the following map keys:

MapKeyColumn

for value type maps, the map key is a column in the link table that defines the grouping logic

MapKey

the map key is either the primary key or another property of the entity stored as a map entry value

MapKeyEnumerated

the map key is an Enum of the target child entity

MapKeyTemporal

the map key is a Date or a Calendar of the target child entity

MapKeyJoinColumn

the map key is an entity mapped as an association in the child entity that’s stored as a map entry key

Value type maps

A map of value type must use the @ElementCollection annotation, just like value type lists, bags or sets.

Example 26. Value type map with an entity as a map key
public enum PhoneType {
    LAND_LINE,
    MOBILE
}

@Entity(name = "Person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    @Temporal(TemporalType.TIMESTAMP)
    @ElementCollection
    @CollectionTable(name = "phone_register")
    @Column(name = "since")
    private Map<Phone, Date> phoneRegister = new HashMap<>();

    public Person() {}

    public Person(Long id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public Map<Phone, Date> getPhoneRegister() {
        return phoneRegister;
    }
}

@Embeddable
public static class Phone {

    private PhoneType type;

    @Column(name = "`number`")
    private String number;

    public Phone() {
    }

    public Phone(PhoneType type, String number) {
        this.type = type;
        this.number = number;
    }

    public PhoneType getType() {
        return type;
    }

    public String getNumber() {
        return number;
    }
}
CREATE TABLE Person (
    id BIGINT NOT NULL ,
    PRIMARY KEY ( id )
)

CREATE TABLE phone_register (
    Person_id BIGINT NOT NULL ,
    since TIMESTAMP ,
    number VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL ,
    type INTEGER NOT NULL ,
    PRIMARY KEY ( Person_id, number, type )
)

ALTER TABLE phone_register
ADD CONSTRAINT FKrmcsa34hr68of2rq8qf526mlk
FOREIGN KEY (Person_id) REFERENCES Person

Adding entries to the map generates the following SQL statements:

Example 27. Adding value type map entries
person.getPhoneRegister().put(
    new Phone( PhoneType.LAND_LINE, "028-234-9876" ), new Date()
);
person.getPhoneRegister().put(
    new Phone( PhoneType.MOBILE, "072-122-9876" ), new Date()
);
INSERT INTO phone_register (Person_id, number, type, since)
VALUES (1, '072-122-9876', 1, '2015-12-15 17:16:45.311')

INSERT INTO phone_register (Person_id, number, type, since)
VALUES (1, '028-234-9876', 0, '2015-12-15 17:16:45.311')
Maps with a custom key type

Hibernate defines the @MapKeyType annotation which you can use to customize the Map key type.

Considering you have the following tables in your database:

create table person (
    id int8 not null,
    primary key (id)
)

create table call_register (
    person_id int8 not null,
    phone_number int4,
    call_timestamp_epoch int8 not null,
    primary key (person_id, call_timestamp_epoch)
)

alter table if exists call_register
    add constraint FKsn58spsregnjyn8xt61qkxsub
    foreign key (person_id)
    references person

The call_register records the call history for every person. The call_timestamp_epoch column stores the phone call timestamp as a Unix timestamp since epoch.

The @MapKeyColumn annotation is used to define the table column holding the key while the @Column mapping gives the value of the java.util.Map in question.

Since we want to map all the calls by their associated java.util.Date, not by their timestamp since epoch which is a number, the entity mapping looks as follows:

Example 28. @MapKeyType mapping example
@Entity
@Table(name = "person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    @ElementCollection
    @CollectionTable(
        name = "call_register",
        joinColumns = @JoinColumn(name = "person_id")
    )
    @MapKeyType(
        @Type(
            type = "org.hibernate.userguide.collections.type.TimestampEpochType"
        )
    )
    @MapKeyColumn( name = "call_timestamp_epoch" )
    @Column(name = "phone_number")
    private Map<Date, Integer> callRegister = new HashMap<>();

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

    public Map<Date, Integer> getCallRegister() {
        return callRegister;
    }
}

The associated TimestampEpochType looks as follows:

public class TimestampEpochType
        extends AbstractSingleColumnStandardBasicType<Date>
        implements VersionType<Date>, LiteralType<Date> {

    public static final TimestampEpochType INSTANCE = new TimestampEpochType();

    public TimestampEpochType() {
        super(
            BigIntTypeDescriptor.INSTANCE,
            JdbcTimestampTypeDescriptor.INSTANCE
        );
    }

    @Override
    public String getName() {
        return "epoch";
    }

    @Override
    public Date next(
        Date current,
        SharedSessionContractImplementor session) {
        return seed( session );
    }

    @Override
    public Date seed(
        SharedSessionContractImplementor session) {
        return new Timestamp( System.currentTimeMillis() );
    }

    @Override
    public Comparator<Date> getComparator() {
        return getJavaTypeDescriptor().getComparator();
    }

    @Override
    public String objectToSQLString(
        Date value,
        Dialect dialect) throws Exception {
        final Timestamp ts = Timestamp.class.isInstance( value )
            ? ( Timestamp ) value
            : new Timestamp( value.getTime() );
        return StringType.INSTANCE.objectToSQLString(
            ts.toString(), dialect
        );
    }

    @Override
    public Date fromStringValue(
        String xml) throws HibernateException {
        return fromString( xml );
    }
}

The TimestampEpochType allows us to map a Unix timestamp since epoch to a java.util.Date. But, without the @MapKeyType Hibernate annotation, it would not be possible to customize the Map key type.

Maps having an interface type as the key

Considering you have the following PhoneNumber interface with an implementation given by the MobilePhone class type:

Example 29. PhoneNumber interface and the MobilePhone class type
public interface PhoneNumber {

    String get();
}

@Embeddable
public static class MobilePhone
        implements PhoneNumber {

    static PhoneNumber fromString(String phoneNumber) {
        String[] tokens = phoneNumber.split( "-" );
        if ( tokens.length != 3 ) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException( "invalid phone number: " + phoneNumber );
        }
        int i = 0;
        return new MobilePhone(
            tokens[i++],
            tokens[i++],
            tokens[i]
        );
    }

    private MobilePhone() {
    }

    public MobilePhone(
            String countryCode,
            String operatorCode,
            String subscriberCode) {
        this.countryCode = countryCode;
        this.operatorCode = operatorCode;
        this.subscriberCode = subscriberCode;
    }

    @Column(name = "country_code")
    private String countryCode;

    @Column(name = "operator_code")
    private String operatorCode;

    @Column(name = "subscriber_code")
    private String subscriberCode;

    @Override
    public String get() {
        return String.format(
            "%s-%s-%s",
            countryCode,
            operatorCode,
            subscriberCode
        );
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object o) {
        if ( this == o ) {
            return true;
        }
        if ( o == null || getClass() != o.getClass() ) {
            return false;
        }
        MobilePhone that = (MobilePhone) o;
        return Objects.equals( countryCode, that.countryCode ) &&
                Objects.equals( operatorCode, that.operatorCode ) &&
                Objects.equals( subscriberCode, that.subscriberCode );
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        return Objects.hash( countryCode, operatorCode, subscriberCode );
    }
}

If you want to use the PhoneNumber interface as a java.util.Map key, then you need to supply the @MapKeyClass annotation as well.

Example 30. @MapKeyClass mapping example
@Entity
@Table(name = "person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    @ElementCollection
    @CollectionTable(
        name = "call_register",
        joinColumns = @JoinColumn(name = "person_id")
    )
    @MapKeyColumn( name = "call_timestamp_epoch" )
    @MapKeyClass( MobilePhone.class )
    @Column(name = "call_register")
    private Map<PhoneNumber, Integer> callRegister = new HashMap<>();

    //Getters and setters are omitted for brevity
}
create table person (
    id bigint not null,
    primary key (id)
)

create table call_register (
    person_id bigint not null,
    call_register integer,
    country_code varchar(255) not null,
    operator_code varchar(255) not null,
    subscriber_code varchar(255) not null,
    primary key (person_id, country_code, operator_code, subscriber_code)
)

alter table call_register
    add constraint FKqyj2at6ik010jqckeaw23jtv2
    foreign key (person_id)
    references person

When inserting a Person with a callRegister containing 2 MobilePhone references, Hibernate generates the following SQL statements:

Example 31. @MapKeyClass persist example
Person person = new Person();
person.setId( 1L );
person.getCallRegister().put( new MobilePhone( "01", "234", "567" ), 101 );
person.getCallRegister().put( new MobilePhone( "01", "234", "789" ), 102 );

entityManager.persist( person );
insert into person (id) values (?)

-- binding parameter [1] as [BIGINT] - [1]

insert into call_register(
    person_id,
    country_code,
    operator_code,
    subscriber_code,
    call_register
)
values
    (?, ?, ?, ?, ?)

-- binding parameter [1] as [BIGINT]  - [1]
-- binding parameter [2] as [VARCHAR] - [01]
-- binding parameter [3] as [VARCHAR] - [234]
-- binding parameter [4] as [VARCHAR] - [789]
-- binding parameter [5] as [INTEGER] - [102]

insert into call_register(
    person_id,
    country_code,
    operator_code,
    subscriber_code,
    call_register
)
values
    (?, ?, ?, ?, ?)

-- binding parameter [1] as [BIGINT]  - [1]
-- binding parameter [2] as [VARCHAR] - [01]
-- binding parameter [3] as [VARCHAR] - [234]
-- binding parameter [4] as [VARCHAR] - [567]
-- binding parameter [5] as [INTEGER] - [101]

When fetching a Person and accessing the callRegister Map, Hibernate generates the following SQL statements:

Example 32. @MapKeyClass fetch example
Person person = entityManager.find( Person.class, 1L );
assertEquals( 2, person.getCallRegister().size() );

assertEquals(
    Integer.valueOf( 101 ),
    person.getCallRegister().get( MobilePhone.fromString( "01-234-567" ) )
);

assertEquals(
    Integer.valueOf( 102 ),
    person.getCallRegister().get( MobilePhone.fromString( "01-234-789" ) )
);
select
    cr.person_id as person_i1_0_0_,
    cr.call_register as call_reg2_0_0_,
    cr.country_code as country_3_0_,
    cr.operator_code as operator4_0_,
    cr.subscriber_code as subscrib5_0_
from
    call_register cr
where
    cr.person_id = ?

-- binding parameter [1] as [BIGINT] - [1]

-- extracted value ([person_i1_0_0_] : [BIGINT])  - [1]
-- extracted value ([call_reg2_0_0_] : [INTEGER]) - [101]
-- extracted value ([country_3_0_]   : [VARCHAR]) - [01]
-- extracted value ([operator4_0_]   : [VARCHAR]) - [234]
-- extracted value ([subscrib5_0_]   : [VARCHAR]) - [567]

-- extracted value ([person_i1_0_0_] : [BIGINT])  - [1]
-- extracted value ([call_reg2_0_0_] : [INTEGER]) - [102]
-- extracted value ([country_3_0_]   : [VARCHAR]) - [01]
-- extracted value ([operator4_0_]   : [VARCHAR]) - [234]
-- extracted value ([subscrib5_0_]   : [VARCHAR]) - [789]
Unidirectional maps

A unidirectional map exposes a parent-child association from the parent-side only.

The following example shows a unidirectional map which also uses a @MapKeyTemporal annotation. The map key is a timestamp and it’s taken from the child entity table.

The @MapKey annotation is used to define the entity attribute used as a key of the java.util.Map in question.
Example 33. Unidirectional Map
public enum PhoneType {
    LAND_LINE,
    MOBILE
}

@Entity(name = "Person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    @OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL, orphanRemoval = true)
    @JoinTable(
            name = "phone_register",
            joinColumns = @JoinColumn(name = "phone_id"),
            inverseJoinColumns = @JoinColumn(name = "person_id"))
    @MapKey(name = "since")
    @MapKeyTemporal(TemporalType.TIMESTAMP)
    private Map<Date, Phone> phoneRegister = new HashMap<>();

    public Person() {
    }

    public Person(Long id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public Map<Date, Phone> getPhoneRegister() {
        return phoneRegister;
    }

    public void addPhone(Phone phone) {
        phoneRegister.put( phone.getSince(), phone );
    }
}

@Entity(name = "Phone")
public static class Phone {

    @Id
    @GeneratedValue
    private Long id;

    private PhoneType type;

    @Column(name = "`number`")
    private String number;

    private Date since;

    public Phone() {
    }

    public Phone(PhoneType type, String number, Date since) {
        this.type = type;
        this.number = number;
        this.since = since;
    }

    public PhoneType getType() {
        return type;
    }

    public String getNumber() {
        return number;
    }

    public Date getSince() {
        return since;
    }
}
CREATE TABLE Person (
    id BIGINT NOT NULL ,
    PRIMARY KEY ( id )
)

CREATE TABLE Phone (
    id BIGINT NOT NULL ,
    number VARCHAR(255) ,
    since TIMESTAMP ,
    type INTEGER ,
    PRIMARY KEY ( id )
)

CREATE TABLE phone_register (
    phone_id BIGINT NOT NULL ,
    person_id BIGINT NOT NULL ,
    PRIMARY KEY ( phone_id, person_id )
)

ALTER TABLE phone_register
ADD CONSTRAINT FKc3jajlx41lw6clbygbw8wm65w
FOREIGN KEY (person_id) REFERENCES Phone

ALTER TABLE phone_register
ADD CONSTRAINT FK6npoomh1rp660o1b55py9ndw4
FOREIGN KEY (phone_id) REFERENCES Person
Bidirectional maps

Like most bidirectional associations, this relationship is owned by the child-side while the parent is the inverse side and can propagate its own state transitions to the child entities.

In the following example, you can see that @MapKeyEnumerated was used so that the Phone enumeration becomes the map key.

Example 34. Bidirectional Map
@Entity(name = "Person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    @OneToMany(mappedBy = "person", cascade = CascadeType.ALL, orphanRemoval = true)
    @MapKey(name = "type")
    @MapKeyEnumerated
    private Map<PhoneType, Phone> phoneRegister = new HashMap<>();

    public Person() {
    }

    public Person(Long id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public Map<PhoneType, Phone> getPhoneRegister() {
        return phoneRegister;
    }

    public void addPhone(Phone phone) {
        phone.setPerson( this );
        phoneRegister.put( phone.getType(), phone );
    }
}

@Entity(name = "Phone")
public static class Phone {

    @Id
    @GeneratedValue
    private Long id;

    private PhoneType type;

    @Column(name = "`number`")
    private String number;

    private Date since;

    @ManyToOne
    private Person person;

    public Phone() {
    }

    public Phone(PhoneType type, String number, Date since) {
        this.type = type;
        this.number = number;
        this.since = since;
    }

    public PhoneType getType() {
        return type;
    }

    public String getNumber() {
        return number;
    }

    public Date getSince() {
        return since;
    }

    public Person getPerson() {
        return person;
    }

    public void setPerson(Person person) {
        this.person = person;
    }
}
CREATE TABLE Person (
    id BIGINT NOT NULL ,
    PRIMARY KEY ( id )
)

CREATE TABLE Phone (
    id BIGINT NOT NULL ,
    number VARCHAR(255) ,
    since TIMESTAMP ,
    type INTEGER ,
    person_id BIGINT ,
    PRIMARY KEY ( id )
)

ALTER TABLE Phone
ADD CONSTRAINT FKmw13yfsjypiiq0i1osdkaeqpg
FOREIGN KEY (person_id) REFERENCES Person

Arrays

When discussing arrays, it is important to understand the distinction between SQL array types and Java arrays that are mapped as part of the application’s domain model.

Not all databases implement the SQL-99 ARRAY type and, for this reason, Hibernate doesn’t support native database array types.

Hibernate does support the mapping of arrays in the Java domain model - conceptually the same as mapping a List. However, it is important to realize that it is impossible for Hibernate to offer lazy-loading for arrays of entities and, for this reason, it is strongly recommended to map a "collection" of entities using a List rather than an array.

Arrays as binary

By default, Hibernate will choose a BINARY type, as supported by the current Dialect.

Example 35. Arrays stored as binary
@Entity(name = "Person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;
    private String[] phones;

    public Person() {
    }

    public Person(Long id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public String[] getPhones() {
        return phones;
    }

    public void setPhones(String[] phones) {
        this.phones = phones;
    }
}
CREATE TABLE Person (
    id BIGINT NOT NULL ,
    phones VARBINARY(255) ,
    PRIMARY KEY ( id )
)

If you want to map arrays such as String[] or int[] to database-specific array types like PostgreSQL integer[] or text[], you need to write a custom Hibernate Type.

Check out this article for an example of how to write such a custom Hibernate Type.

Collections as basic value type

Notice how all the previous examples explicitly mark the collection attribute as either ElementCollection, OneToMany or ManyToMany. Collections not marked as such require a custom Hibernate Type and the collection elements must be stored in a single database column.

This is sometimes beneficial. Consider a use-case such as a VARCHAR column that represents a delimited list/set of Strings.

Example 36. Comma delimited collection
@Entity(name = "Person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    @Type(type = "comma_delimited_strings")
    private List<String> phones = new ArrayList<>();

    public List<String> getPhones() {
        return phones;
    }
}

public class CommaDelimitedStringsJavaTypeDescriptor extends AbstractTypeDescriptor<List> {

    public static final String DELIMITER = ",";

    public CommaDelimitedStringsJavaTypeDescriptor() {
        super(
            List.class,
            new MutableMutabilityPlan<List>() {
                @Override
                protected List deepCopyNotNull(List value) {
                    return new ArrayList( value );
                }
            }
        );
    }

    @Override
    public String toString(List value) {
        return ( (List<String>) value ).stream().collect( Collectors.joining( DELIMITER ) );
    }

    @Override
    public List fromString(String string) {
        List<String> values = new ArrayList<>();
        Collections.addAll( values, string.split( DELIMITER ) );
        return values;
    }

    @Override
    public <X> X unwrap(List value, Class<X> type, WrapperOptions options) {
        return (X) toString( value );
    }

    @Override
    public <X> List wrap(X value, WrapperOptions options) {
        return fromString( (String) value );
    }
}

public class CommaDelimitedStringsType extends AbstractSingleColumnStandardBasicType<List> {

    public CommaDelimitedStringsType() {
        super(
            VarcharTypeDescriptor.INSTANCE,
            new CommaDelimitedStringsJavaTypeDescriptor()
        );
    }

    @Override
    public String getName() {
        return "comma_delimited_strings";
    }
}

The developer can use the comma-delimited collection like any other collection we’ve discussed so far and Hibernate will take care of the type transformation part. The collection itself behaves like any other basic value type, as its lifecycle is bound to its owner entity.

Example 37. Comma delimited collection lifecycle
person.phones.add( "027-123-4567" );
person.phones.add( "028-234-9876" );
session.flush();
person.getPhones().remove( 0 );
INSERT INTO Person ( phones, id )
VALUES ( '027-123-4567,028-234-9876', 1 )

UPDATE Person
SET    phones = '028-234-9876'
WHERE  id = 1

See the Hibernate Integrations Guide for more details on developing custom value type mappings.

Custom collection types

If you wish to use other collection types than List, Set or Map, like Queue for instance, you have to use a custom collection type, as illustrated by the following example:

Example 38. Custom collection mapping example
@Entity(name = "Person")
public static class Person {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    @OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
    @CollectionType( type = "org.hibernate.userguide.collections.type.QueueType")
    private Collection<Phone> phones = new LinkedList<>();

    //Constructors are omitted for brevity

    public Queue<Phone> getPhones() {
        return (Queue<Phone>) phones;
    }
}

@Entity(name = "Phone")
public static class Phone implements Comparable<Phone> {

    @Id
    private Long id;

    private String type;

    @NaturalId
    @Column(name = "`number`")
    private String number;

    //Getters and setters are omitted for brevity

    @Override
    public int compareTo(Phone o) {
        return number.compareTo( o.getNumber() );
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object o) {
        if ( this == o ) {
            return true;
        }
        if ( o == null || getClass() != o.getClass() ) {
            return false;
        }
        Phone phone = (Phone) o;
        return Objects.equals( number, phone.number );
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        return Objects.hash( number );
    }
}

public class QueueType implements UserCollectionType {

    @Override
    public PersistentCollection instantiate(
            SharedSessionContractImplementor session,
            CollectionPersister persister) throws HibernateException {
        return new PersistentQueue( session );
    }

    @Override
    public PersistentCollection wrap(
            SharedSessionContractImplementor session,
            Object collection) {
        return new PersistentQueue( session, (List) collection );
    }

    @Override
    public Iterator getElementsIterator(Object collection) {
        return ( (Queue) collection ).iterator();
    }

    @Override
    public boolean contains(Object collection, Object entity) {
        return ( (Queue) collection ).contains( entity );
    }

    @Override
    public Object indexOf(Object collection, Object entity) {
        int i = ( (List) collection ).indexOf( entity );
        return ( i < 0 ) ? null : i;
    }

    @Override
    public Object replaceElements(
            Object original,
            Object target,
            CollectionPersister persister,
            Object owner,
            Map copyCache,
            SharedSessionContractImplementor session)
            throws HibernateException {
        Queue result = (Queue) target;
        result.clear();
        result.addAll( (Queue) original );
        return result;
    }

    @Override
    public Object instantiate(int anticipatedSize) {
        return new LinkedList<>();
    }

}

public class PersistentQueue extends PersistentBag implements Queue {

    public PersistentQueue(SharedSessionContractImplementor session) {
        super( session );
    }

    public PersistentQueue(SharedSessionContractImplementor session, List list) {
        super( session, list );
    }

    @Override
    public boolean offer(Object o) {
        return add(o);
    }

    @Override
    public Object remove() {
        return poll();
    }

    @Override
    public Object poll() {
        int size = size();
        if(size > 0) {
            Object first = get(0);
            remove( 0 );
            return first;
        }
        throw new NoSuchElementException();
    }

    @Override
    public Object element() {
        return peek();
    }

    @Override
    public Object peek() {
        return size() > 0 ? get( 0 ) : null;
    }
}

The reason why the Queue interface is not used for the entity attribute is because Hibernate only allows the following types:

  • java.util.List

  • java.util.Set

  • java.util.Map

  • java.util.SortedSet

  • java.util.SortedMap

However, the custom collection type can still be customized as long as the base type is one of the aformentioned persistent types.

This way, the Phone collection can be used as a java.util.Queue:

Example 39. Custom collection example
Person person = entityManager.find( Person.class, 1L );
Queue<Phone> phones = person.getPhones();
Phone head = phones.peek();
assertSame(head, phones.poll());
assertEquals( 1, phones.size() );