CODEWITHSUNDEEP
jpa
Nick
Nick

Reputation: 11

Data sharing amongst JPA Entities

Setup: I have a simple web app that has a handfull of forms, each on a separate page. These forms represent patient data. There is a one-to-one relationship between patient and all these forms/entities. Each form maps directly to a db table and a JPA entity, maybe not the best architecture but it works and is simple. Question: If form/entity A and form/entity B share a common chunk of data (one of more fields), what is the best way to handle that in JPA. I.E. - If the data gets inserted via form A, I need it to show up in form B as existing data and vice versa. In other words its logical for both entities to contain that data. I believe I will have to move the common data into its own entity and define the relationships that way, but I have tried many different ways and none gets me all the way, at least with basic JPA. Can this be done through pure JPA relationships or will I have to write a bunch of code to make this happen manually. Not looking for code specifically, just the correct way to model this data. Thanks.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 231

Answers (1)

James
James

Reputation: 18389

If the forms have separate tables with duplicate columns for the common data, then you cannot directly share the data. You will need to copy the data from one Entity to the other in your application. You could use a Embeddable to define the common data, but would still need to copy this Embeddable from one form to the other.

If you put the common data in a 3rd table, then you can share the data. Form A and Form B would define a OneToOne relationship to the common data.

Upvotes: 1

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