[hibernate-issues] [Hibernate-JIRA] Created: (HHH-3026) Impossible cyclic requirement causes misleading error

[Dobes Vandermeer (JIRA)]

Impossible cyclic requirement causes misleading error
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                 Key: HHH-3026
                 URL: http://opensource.atlassian.com/projects/hibernate/browse/HHH-3026
             Project: Hibernate3
          Issue Type: Improvement
    Affects Versions: 3.2.5
            Reporter: Dobes Vandermeer


When you create an impossible cycle, for example:

class A {
   @OneToMany(inverse="a")
   List<A> listOfA = new ArrayList<A>();

   @OneToOne(optional=false)
   B specialB;
}

class B {
  @ManyToOne(optional=false)
  A a;
}

It's actually impossible for hibernate to insert the B referenced by 'specialB', because in order to insert it, A must have a valid primary key.  In order to insert A, b must have a primary key.

This is fine, and I accept that hibernate does not work around this problem.  However, the error message hibernate provides isn't just useless, it's actually misleading:

"not-null property references a null or transient value"

This message sent me on a useless multi-hour quest looking for a null or transient value, of which there were none.

If possible, hibernate should detect and report this as cyclic dependency when it flushes, and print a nicer error like:

"Instance of A requires B to have been inserted, but B also requires A to have been inserted; please make one of these properties nullable"




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