Unhelpful error message with property-ref to non-existent property ------------------------------------------------------------------ Key: HHH-4597 URL: http://opensource.atlassian.com/projects/hibernate/browse/HHH-4597 Project: Hibernate Core Issue Type: Bug Components: core Affects Versions: 3.3.2 Environment: Hibernate 3.3.2 GA, annotations, MySQL 5.0.51a-3ubuntu5.4 Reporter: Chris Wilson Attachments: HibernatePropertyRefNotFoundErrorMessageTest.java When a mapping references a property in another mapping that doesn't exist, Hibernate gives an exception like this: org.hibernate.MappingException: property-ref [projectSite] not found on entity [org.wfp.rita.dao.ProjectSite] which doesn't give the most important information: where the reference came *from*. Without this, you have to hunt through all your mapping files looking for a property-ref to the table and property that doesn't exist. Might I suggest an error message like this instead? Association property [owner] of [org.wfp.rita.datafacade.HibernatePropertyRefNotFoundErrorMessageTest$House] references unknown property [ssn] of [org.wfp.rita.datafacade.HibernatePropertyRefNotFoundErrorMessageTest$Person]. The attached test case reproduces the issue and tests for the new error message, please adjust to taste. I know this is not a show-stopper but it's a major irritation and waste of time to have to figure out what this exception means and dig through all your mappings to find the problem. Sorry I didn't create a patch, but Hibernate is not exactly simple to build. Unfortunately the referencing property (association) name is not immediately accessible during the second pass where this error is thrown, but I think it could be fixed using something like this: ManyToOne.java: public void createPropertyRefConstraints(Map persistentClasses) { if (referencedPropertyName!=null) { PersistentClass associationClass = (PersistentClass) persistentClasses.get(getAssociatedEntityName() ); String associationPropName; for (Property prop : associationClass.getProperties()) { if (prop.getValue() == this) { associationPropName = prop.getName(); break; } } if (associationPropName == null) throw Exception(...) PersistentClass pc = (PersistentClass) persistentClasses.get(getReferencedEntityName() ); try { Property property = pc.getReferencedProperty( getReferencedPropertyName() ); } catch (MappingException e) { throw new MappingException("Association property [" + associationPropName + "] of [" + getAssociatedEntityName() + "] references unknown property [" + getReferencedPropertyName() + "] of [" + getReferencedEntityName() + "]", e); } Cheers, Chris. -- This message is automatically generated by JIRA. - If you think it was sent incorrectly contact one of the administrators: http://opensource.atlassian.com/projects/hibernate/secure/Administrators.... - For more information on JIRA, see: http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira