Fail to set content on nested content properties when using JPA. about spring-content HOT 2 CLOSED

Thanks @vierbergenlars . I see what you are asking for. I think I would have to make it configurable so I need to look into how best to do that (given its depth in the architecture).

Just curious on your opinion in general. I think this can be easily solved in the application later with an @PostLoad annotation on Person; i.e:

	@PostLoad
	private void initData() {
		if(picT == null) {
			picT = new Content();
		}
	}

Would that work for you all? Or are there reasons/justifications why that wouldn't work (well) beyond keeping the app model simple?

from spring-content.

Putting some code in @PostLoad would work, but I consider that a workaround for this bug.

Although it's perhaps a small detail, the response provided by spring-data-rest would also be impacted, instead of looking like I would expect, we will have an object with all null fields when there is no content.

{
  "id": "830ccc3d-5131-4285-b462-2f0995e5f492",
  "name": "xyz",
  "picture": null
}

{
  "id": "830ccc3d-5131-4285-b462-2f0995e5f492",
  "name": "xyz",
  "picture": {
    "length": null,
    "mimetype": null,
    "filename": null
  }
}

You might consider it a detail, but this makes it more difficult for API users to check if there is content.

Adding some code to every entity that uses content is certainly possible, but to me it feels like additional effort that should not be needed to be able to use spring-content.

I think I would have to make it configurable

If taking the second approach (setAutoGrowNestedPaths in write paths; catching NullValueInNestedPathException and treating it as null in read paths) does not need configuration.

I can't immediately think of a situation where you would want an exception while trying to read/write content. That effectively makes two paths that need to be handled for the "no content present" case, one with the read returning null, and one with it throwing an (undeclared/undocumented) exception which is an internal implementation detail.

from spring-content.