JPA ORM XML MetaData Reference (v5.1)

JPA XML MetaData allows you to define mapping information but in a separate file (orm.xml) separating persistence mapping from your model. What follows provides a reference guide to orm.xml MetaData elements. Here is an example header for orm.xml files with XSD specification

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<entity-mappings xmlns="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/persistence/orm"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/persistence/orm
        http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/persistence/orm_2_2.xsd" version="2.2">
    ...
</entity-mappings>

If using any of the DataNucleus extensions, then the XSD is defined here, in which case you would define your header as :-

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<entity-mappings xmlns="http://www.datanucleus.org/xsd/jpa/orm"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.datanucleus.org/xsd/jpa/orm
        http://www.datanucleus.org/xsd/jpa/orm_2_2.xsd" version="2.2">
    ...
</entity-mappings>

Metadata for description tag

The <description> element (<entity-mappings>) contains the text describing all classes (and hence entities) defined in this file. It serves no useful purpose other than descriptive.

Metadata for xml-mapping-metadata-complete tag

The <xml-mapping-metadata-complete> element (under <persistence-unit-metadata>) when specified defines that the classes in this file are fully specified with just their metadata and that any annotations should be ignored.

Metadata for package tag

The <package> element (under <entity-mappings>) contains the text defining the package into which all classes in this file belong.

Metadata for schema tag

The <schema> element (under <entity-mappings>) contains the default schema for all classes in this file.

Metadata for catalog tag

The <catalog> element (under <entity-mappings>) contains the default catalog for all classes in this file.

Metadata for access tag

The <access> element (under <entity-mappings>) contains the setting for how to access the persistent fields/properties. This can be set to either "FIELD" or "PROPERTY".

Metadata for sequence-generator tag

The <sequence-generator> element (under <entity-mappings>, or <entity> or <id>) defines a generator of sequence values, for use elsewhere in this persistence-unit.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the generator (required)

sequence-name

Name of the sequence

initial-value

Initial value for the sequence

1

allocation-size

Number of values that the sequence allocates when needed

50

Metadata for table-generator tag

The <table-generator> element (under <entity-mappings>, or <entity> or <id>) defines a generator of sequence values using a datastore table, for use elsewhere in this persistence-unit.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the generator (required)

table

name of the table to use for sequences

SEQUENCE_TABLE

catalog

Catalog to store the sequence table

schema

Schema to store the sequence table

pk-column-name

Name of the primary-key column in the table

SEQUENCE_NAME

value-column-name

Name of the value column in the table

NEXT_VAL

pk-column-value

Name of the value to use in the primary key column (for this row)

{name of the class}

initial-value

Initial value to use in the table

0

allocation-size

Number of values to allocate when needed

50

Metadata for named-query tag

The <named-query> element (under <entity-mappings> or under <entity>) defines a JPQL query that will be accessible at runtime via the name. The element itself will contain the text of the query. It has the following attributes

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the query

Metadata for named-native-query tag

The <named-native-query> element (under <entity-mappings> or under <entity>) defines an SQL query that will be accessible at runtime via the name. The element itself will contain the text of the query. It has the following attributes

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the query

Metadata for sql-result-set-mapping tag

The <sql-result-set-mapping> element (under <entity-mappings> or under <entity>) defines how the results of the SQL query are output to the user per row of the result set. It will contain sub-elements. It has the following attributes

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the SQL result-set mapping (referenced by native queries)

Metadata for named-entity-graph tag

The <named-entity-graph> element (under <entity>) defines an entity graph with root as that entity, accessible at runtime via the name. It has the following attributes

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the entity graph

Metadata for named-attribute-node tag

The <named-attribute-node> element (under <named-entity-graph>) defines a node in the entity graph. It has the following attributes

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the node (field/property)

subgraph

Name of a subgraph that maps this attribute fully (optional)

Metadata for subgraph/subclass-subgraph tag

The <subgraph>/subclass-subgraph element (under <named-entity-graph>) defines a subgraph in the entity graph. It has the following attributes

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the subgraph (referenced in the named-attribute-node)

class

Type of the subgraph attribute

Metadata for entity-result tag

The <entity-result> element (under <sql-result-set-mapping>) defines an entity that is output from an SQL query per row of the result set. It can contain sub-elements of type <field-result>. It has the following attributes

Attribute Description Values

entity-class

Class of the entity

discriminator-column

Column containing any discriminator (so subclasses of the entity type can be distinguished)

Metadata for field-result tag

The <field-result> element (under <entity-result>) defines a field of an entity and the column representing it in an SQL query. It has the following attributes

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the entity field

column

Name of the SQL column

Metadata for column-result tag

The <column-result> element (under <sql-result-set-mapping>) defines a column that is output directly from an SQL query per row of the result set. It has the following attributes

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the SQL column

Metadata for mapped-superclass tag

These are attributes within the <mapped-superclass> tag (under <entity-mappings>). This is used to define the persistence definition for a class that has no table but is mapped.

Attribute Description Values

class

Name of the class (required)

metadata-complete

Whether the definition of persistence of this class is complete with this MetaData definition. That is, should any annotations be ignored.

true, false

Metadata for entity tag

These are attributes within the <entity> tag (under <entity-mappings>). This is used to define the persistence definition for this class.

Attribute Description Values

class

Name of the class (required)

name

Name of the entity. Used by JPQL queries

metadata-complete

Whether the definition of persistence of this class is complete with this MetaData definition. That is, should any annotations be ignored.

true, false

cacheable

Whether instances of this class should be cached in the L2 cache. New in JPA2

true, false

Metadata for description tag

The <description> element (under <entity>) contains the text describing the class being persisted. It serves no useful purpose other than descriptive.

Metadata for table tag

These are attributes within the <table> tag (under <entity>). This is used to define the table where this class will be persisted.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the table

catalog

Catalog where the table is stored

schema

Schema where the table is stored

Metadata for secondary-table tag

These are attributes within the <secondary-table> tag (under <entity>). This is used to define the join of a secondary table back to the primary table where this class will be persisted.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the table

catalog

Catalog where the table is stored

schema

Schema where the table is stored

Metadata for join-table tag

These are attributes within the <join-table> tag (under <one-to-one>, <one-to-many>, <many-to-many>). This is used to define the join table where a collection/maps relationship will be persisted.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the join table

catalog

Catalog where the join table is stored

schema

Schema where the join table is stored

orphan-removal

Whether to remove orphans when either removing the owner or nulling the relation

false

Metadata for collection-table tag

These are attributes within the <collection-table> tag (under <element-collection>). This is used to define the join table where a collections relationship will be persisted.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the join table

catalog

Catalog where the join table is stored

schema

Schema where the join table is stored

Metadata for unique-constraint tag

This element is specified under the <table>, <secondary-table> or <join-table> tags. This is used to define a unique constraint on the table. No attributes are provided, just sub-element(s) "column-name"

Metadata for column tag

These are attributes within the <column> tag (under <basic>). This is used to define the column where the data will be stored.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the column

unique

Whether the column is unique

true, false

nullable

Whether the column is nullable

true, false

insertable

Whether the column is insertable

true, false

updatable

Whether the column is updatable

true, false

column-definition

DDL to use for the column (everything except the column name). This must include the SQL type of the column

table

Table for the column ?

length

Length for the column (when string type)

255

precision

Precision for the column (when numeric type)

0

scale

Scale for the column (when numeric type)

0

jdbc-type

The JDBC Type to use for this column (DataNucleus extension)

sql-type

The SQL Type to use for this column (DataNucleus extension)

position

The position to use for this column (first=0) (DataNucleus extension)

Metadata for primary-key-join-column tag

These are attributes within the <primary-join-key-column> tag (under <secondary-table> or <entity>). This is used to define the join of PK columns between secondary and primary tables, or between table of subclass and table of base class.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the column

referenced-column-name

Name of column in primary table

Metadata for join-column tag

These are attributes within the <join-column> tag (under <join-table>). This is used to define the join column.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the column

referenced-column-name

Name of the column at the other side of the relation that this is a FK to

unique

Whether the column is unique

true, false

nullable

Whether the column is nullable

true, false

insertable

Whether the column is insertable

true, false

updatable

Whether the column is updatable

true, false

column-definition

DDL to use for the column (everything except the column name). This must include the SQL type of the column

table

Table for the column ?

Metadata for inverse-join-column tag

These are attributes within the <inverse-join-column> tag (under <join-table>). This is used to define the join column to the element.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the column

referenced-column-name

Name of the column at the other side of the relation that this is a FK to

unique

Whether the column is unique

true, false

nullable

Whether the column is nullable

true, false

insertable

Whether the column is insertable

true, false

updatable

Whether the column is updatable

true, false

column-definition

DDL to use for the column (everything except the column name). This must include the SQL type of the column

table

Table for the column ?

Metadata for shared-relation tag

These are attributes within the <shared-relation> tag (under <one-to-many> or <many-to-many>). This is a DataNucleus Extension. This is used to define a relation as being shared, with a distinguisher column.

Attribute Description Values

column

Name of the distinguisher column

value

Value to store in the distinguisher column for this field

primary-key

Whether the distinguisher column is part of the primary key (when join table).

Metadata for id-class tag

These are attributes within the <id-class> tag (under <entity>). This defines a identity class to be used for this entity.

Attribute Description Values

class

Name of the identity class (required)

Metadata for inheritance tag

These are attributes within the <inheritance> tag (under <entity>). This defines the inheritance of the class.

Attribute Description Values

strategy

Strategy for inheritance in terms of storing this class

SINGLE_TABLE, JOINED, TABLE_PER_CLASS

Metadata for discriminator-value tag

These are attributes within the <discriminator-value> tag (under <entity>). This defines the value used in a discriminator. The value is contained in the element. Specification of the value will result in a "value-map" discriminator strategy being adopted. If no discriminator-value is present, but discriminator-column is then "class-name" discriminator strategy is used.

Metadata for discriminator-column tag

These are attributes within the <discriminator-column> tag (under <entity>). This defines the column used for a discriminator.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the discriminator column

DTYPE

discriminator-type

Type of data stored in the discriminator column

STRING, CHAR, INTEGER

length

Length of the discriminator column

Metadata for id tag

These are attributes within the <id> tag (under <attributes>). This is used to define the field used to be the identity of the class.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the field (required)

Metadata for generated-value tag

These are attributes within the <generated-value> tag (under <id>). This is used to define how to generate the value for the identity field.

Attribute Description Values

strategy

Generation strategy. Please refer to the Identity Generation Guide

auto, identity, sequence, table

generator

Name of the generator to use if wanting to override the default DataNucleus generator for the specified strategy. Please refer to the <sequence-generator> and <table-generator>

Metadata for datastore-id tag

These are attributes within the <datastore-id> tag (under <entity>). This is used to define the entity is using datastore identity (DataNucleus extension).

Attribute Description Values

column

Name of the surrogate column to add for the datastore identity.

generated-value

Details of the generated value strategy and generator. Please refer to the <generated-value>

Metadata for surrogate-version tag

These are attributes within the <surrogate-version> tag (under <entity>). This is used to define the entity has a surrogate version column (DataNucleus extension).

Attribute Description Values

column

Name of the surrogate column to add for the version.

indexed

Whether the surrogate version column should be indexed.

true, false

Metadata for embedded-id tag

These are attributes within the <embedded-id> tag (under <attributes>). This is used to define the field used to be the (embedded) identity of the class. Note that this is not yet fully supported - specify the fields in the class

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the field (required)

Metadata for version tag

These are attributes within the <version> tag (under <attributes>). This is used to define the field used to be hold the version of the class.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the field (required)

Metadata for basic tag

These are attributes within the <basic> tag (under <attributes>). This is used to define the persistence information for the field.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the field (required)

fetch

Fetch type for this field

LAZY, EAGER

optional

Whether this field may be null and may be used in schema generation

true, false

Metadata for temporal tag

These are attributes within the <temporal> tag (under <basic>). This is used to define the details of persistence as a temporal type. The contents of the element can be one of DATE, TIME, TIMESTAMP.

Metadata for enumerated tag

These are attributes within the <enumerated> tag (under <basic>). This is used to define the details of persistence as an enum type. The contents of the element can be one of ORDINAL or STRING to represent whether the enum is persisted as an integer-based or the actual string.

Metadata for one-to-one tag

These are attributes within the <one-to-one> tag (under <attributes>). This is used to define that the field is part of a 1-1 relation.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the field (required)

target-entity

Class name of the related entity

fetch

Whether the field should be fetched immediately

EAGER, LAZY

optional

Whether the field can store nulls.

true, false

mapped-by

Name of the field that owns the relation (specified on the inverse side)

Metadata for many-to-one tag

These are attributes within the <many-to-one> tag (under <attributes>). This is used to define that the field is part of a N-1 relation.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the field (required)

target-entity

Class name of the related entity

fetch

Whether the field should be fetched immediately

EAGER, LAZY

optional

Whether the field can store nulls.

true, false

Metadata for element-collection tag

These are attributes within the <element-collection> tag (under <attributes>). This is used to define that the field is part of a 1-N non-PC relation.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the field (required)

target-class

Class name of the related object

fetch

Whether the field should be fetched immediately

EAGER, LAZY

Metadata for one-to-many tag

These are attributes within the <one-to-many> tag (under <attributes>). This is used to define that the field is part of a 1-N relation.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the field (required)

target-entity

Class name of the related entity

fetch

Whether the field should be fetched immediately

EAGER, LAZY

mapped-by

Name of the field that owns the relation (specified on the inverse side)

orphan-removal

Whether to remove orphans when either removing the owner or removing the element

false

Metadata for many-to-many tag

These are attributes within the <many-to-many> tag (under <attributes>). This is used to define that the field is part of a M-N relation.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the field (required)

target-entity

Class name of the related entity

fetch

Whether the field should be fetched immediately

EAGER, LAZY

mapped-by

Name of the field on the non-owning side that completes the relation. Specified on the owner side

Metadata for embedded tag

These are attributes within the <embedded> tag (under <attributes>). This is used to define that the field is part of an embedded relation.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the field (required)

Metadata for order-by tag

This element is specified under <one-to-many> or <many-to-many>. It is used to define the field(s) of the element class that is used for ordering the elements when they are retrieved from the datastore. It has no attributes and the ordering is specified within the element itself. It should be a comma-separated list of field names (of the element) with optional "ASC" or "DESC" to signify ascending or descending

Metadata for order-column tag

This element is specified under <one-to-many> or <many-to-many>. It is used to define that the List will be ordered with the ordering stored in a surrogate column in the other table.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the column

{fieldName}_ORDER

nullable

Whether the column is nullable

true, false

insertable

Whether the column is insertable

true, false

updatable

Whether the column is updatable

true, false

column-definition

DDL to use for the column (everything except the column name). This must include the SQL type of the column

base

Origin of the ordering (value for the first element)

0

Metadata for map-key tag

These are attributes within the <map-key> tag (under <one-to-many> or <many-to-many>). This is used to define the field of the value class that is the key of a Map.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the field (required)

Metadata for map-key-class tag

These are attributes within the <map-key-class> tag (under <one-to-many> or <many-to-many>). This is used to define the key type for a Map.

Attribute Description Values

class

Type used for the key (required)

Metadata for map-key-temporal tag

Within the <map-key-temporal> tag (under <element-collection>, <one-to-many> or <many-to-many>) you put the TemporalType value.

Metadata for map-key-enumerated tag

Within the <map-key-enumerated> tag (under <element-collection>, <one-to-many> or <many-to-many>) you put the EnumType value.

Metadata for transient tag

These are attributes within the <transient> tag (under <attributes>). This is used to define that the field is not to be persisted.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the field (required)

Metadata for index tag

These are attributes within the <index> element. This is used to define the details of an index when overriding the provider default.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the index

unique

Whether the index is unique

column-list

List of columns (including any ASC, DESC specifications for each column)

Metadata for foreign-key tag

These are attributes within the <foreign-key> element. This is used to define the details of a foreign-key when overriding the provider default.

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the foreign-key

value

Constraint mode

foreignKeyDefinition

The DDL for the foreign key

Metadata for convert tag

These are attributes within the <convert> element, under <basic>. This is used to define the use of type conversion on this field.

Attribute Description Values

converter

Class name of the converter

attribute-name

Name of the embedded field to convert (optional). Not yet supported

disable-conversion

Whether to disable any auto-apply converters for this field

true, false

Metadata for exclude-default-listeners tag

This element is specified under <mapped-superclass> or <entity> and is used to denote that any default listeners defined in this file will be ignored.

Metadata for exclude-superclass-listeners tag

This element is specified under <mapped-superclass> or <entity> and is used to denote that any listeners of superclasses will be ignored.

Metadata for entity-listener tag

These are attributes within the <entity-listener> tag (under <entity-listeners>). This is used to an EntityListener class and the methods it uses

Attribute Description Values

class

Name of the EntityListener class that receives the callbacks for this Entity

Metadata for pre-persist tag

These are attributes within the <pre-persist> tag (under <entity>). This is used to define any "PrePersist" method callback.

Attribute Description Values

method-name

Name of the method (required)

Metadata for post-persist tag

These are attributes within the <post-persist> tag (under <entity>). This is used to define any "PostPersist" method callback.

Attribute Description Values

method-name

Name of the method (required)

Metadata for pre-remove tag

These are attributes within the <pre-remove> tag (under <entity>). This is used to define any "PreRemove" method callback.

Attribute Description Values

method-name

Name of the method (required)

Metadata for post-remove tag

These are attributes within the <post-remove> tag (under <entity>). This is used to define any "PostRemove" method callback.

Attribute Description Values

method-name

Name of the method (required)

Metadata for pre-update tag

These are attributes within the <pre-remove> tag (under <entity>). This is used to define any "PreUpdate" method callback.

Attribute Description Values

method-name

Name of the method (required)

Metadata for post-update tag

These are attributes within the <post-update> tag (under <entity>). This is used to define any "PostUpdate" method callback.

Attribute Description Values

method-name

Name of the method (required)

Metadata for post-load tag

These are attributes within the <post-load> tag (under <entity>). This is used to define any "PostLoad" method callback.

Attribute Description Values

method-name

Name of the method (required)

Metadata for attribute-override tag

These are attributes within the <attribute-override> tag (under <entity>). This is used to override the columns for any fields in superclasses

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the field/property (required)

Metadata for association-override tag

These are attributes within the <association-override> tag (under <entity>). This is used to override the columns for any N-1/1-1 fields in superclasses

Attribute Description Values

name

Name of the field/property (required)