JPA: Why isn't entity save() working inside catch block despite @Transactional?

Question

I am currently working with JPA. I’ve encountered an issue during development. Here’s the current situation:

itemService addItem: If the item is already owned, an exception is thrown. If the item is owned but the user is in the process of waiting for a specified time to own it, another exception is thrown. If the item is not owned, the item is successfully given to the user.

StoreService handleItem: This method gives the item to the user, and if the item is already owned but the user is waiting for a specified time to own it, it should be processed as an immediate gift.

I want to keep using the addItem method of itemService as it is, because it is used by my entire development team, not just by me.

Below is part of the code for StoreService:

@Transactional
protected void handleItem(User user, AssetItem assetItem) throws CustomCheckedException {
    try {
        itemService.addItem(user, assetItem); 
    } catch (CustomCheckedException e) {
        if (e.getErrorCode() == ErrorCode.RECEIVING_IN_PROGRESS) {
            Item item = (Item) e.getAdditionalData();
            item.setStatusToOwned();
            itemRepository.save(item);
            itemRepository.flush();
        } else {
            throw e;
        }
    }
}

The reason for handling CustomCheckedException separately is that previously I encountered the error UnexpectedRollbackException: Transaction silently rolled back because it has been marked as rollback-only. Since it was indicated that CheckedException would not trigger a rollback, I applied this approach.

My questions are as follows:

1. In the catch block, the itemRepository.save(item) is not working as expected, and the changes are not reflected in the database even though @Transactional is used. Why does the save method not work in the catch block?

2. To resolve the issue with UnexpectedRollbackException: Transaction silently rolled back because it has been marked as rollback-only, I introduced CustomCheckedException (since CheckedExceptions do not trigger rollback), along with the try-catch block. Is there a better way to handle this, without using these mechanisms?

What I tried:

• I implemented a @Transactional annotation on the method that handles the item assignment (handleItem in StoreService).
• I attempted to save the entity (itemRepository.save(subCharacter)) inside a catch block where I handle a custom exception (CustomCheckedException).
• I used flush() to manually force the persistence context to synchronize with the database.
• I also tested without flush() and noticed that the database was not updated unless I explicitly called flush().

What I expected:

• I expected that the @Transactional annotation would automatically commit changes to the database when the save() method is called within the catch block, even if an exception is thrown.
• I expected the changes to be persisted without needing to manually flush the entity manager.
• I also expected that the changes would be committed and reflected in the database without the need for an additional flush() call.

Answer 1

1. In your protected method @Transactional will be ignored. Call handleItem should come from outside or with using ApplicationContext
2. Use @Transactional(propagation = Propagation.REQUIRES_NEW) for itemService.addItem(user, assetItem)
3. Use ApplicationContext for call addItem method inside bean

It should be something like:

public class StoreService {
...
 @Autowired
 ApplicationContext context;
...
 @Transactional(propagation = Propagation.REQUIRES_NEW)
 public void addItem((User user, AssetItem assetItem) throws CustomCheckedException {
     itemService.addItem(user, assetItem);
 }
 @Transactional
 public void handleItem((User user, AssetItem assetItem) throws CustomCheckedException {
     try {
          context.getBean(StoreService.class).addItem(user, assetItem);
     } catch (CustomCheckedException e) {
        if (e.getErrorCode() == ErrorCode.RECEIVING_IN_PROGRESS) {
            Item item = (Item) e.getAdditionalData();
            item.setStatusToOwned();
            itemRepository.save(item);
            itemRepository.flush();
        } else {
            throw e;
        }
    }

 }
...
}