@ManyToMany - delete inverse side object

[Aleksander Zielinski]

Hello Ranchers,

Have a problem with deleting records. When trying to delete inverse side object (Car) and this object's key is used is in join table, it says children were found and operation is not possible. If I set cascade type to REMOVE on "drivers" collection it Car class, it also tries to delete associated Drivers what I don't want.

Is there any way to delete Car and all records in join table that reffers to this Car without deleting Driver?

Will be very grateful for help.

public class Driver {
....
@ManyToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
@JoinTable(name = "product_policy_contact_field",
joinColumns = @JoinColumn(name = "driver_id", referencedColumnName = "id"),
inverseJoinColumns = @JoinColumn(name = "car_id", referencedColumnName = "id"))
@Cascade(value = {org.hibernate.annotations.CascadeType.SAVE_UPDATE,
org.hibernate.annotations.CascadeType.DELETE,
org.hibernate.annotations.CascadeType.DELETE_ORPHAN})
public List<Car> getCars() {
return cars;
}
...
}

public class Car {
...
@ManyToMany(mappedBy = "cars")
public Collection<Driver> getDrivers() {
return drivers;
}
...
}

[ August 21, 2007: Message edited by: Aleksander Zielinski ]
[ August 21, 2007: Message edited by: Aleksander Zielinski ]

[Shailesh Kini]

Aleksander,

You have an interesting problem at hand. I have never tried this out myself and I am not sure if cascade delete would work in this case. In my opinion one workaround is to use JPA QL to delete the records in your join table.

Please let us know if you find something more elegant.

[Edvins Reisons]

Because the owning side of the relationship is the Driver, it is from the Driver's collection that you need to remove the Driver-Car link.