Configure JPA to let PostgreSQL generate the primary key value

Question

So our project use PostgreSQL database and we use JPA for operating the database. We have created the entities from the database with automatic creator in Netbeans 7.1.2.

Answer 1

You can also save yourself some effort by writing a script to perform a mass conversion of the generic GenerationType.IDENTITY to the solution proposed by the selected answer. The below script has some slight dependencies on how the Java source file is formatted and will make modifications without backups. Caveat emptor!

After running the script:

1. Search and replace import javax.persistence.Table; with import javax.persistence.Table; import javax.persistence.SequenceGenerator;.
2. Reformat the source code in NetBeans as follows:
   1. Select all the source files to format.
   2. Press Alt+Shift+F
   3. Confirm reformatting.

Save the following script as update-sequences.sh or similar:

#!/bin/bash

# Change this to the directory name (package name) where the entities reside.
PACKAGE=com/domain/project/entities

# Change this to the path where the Java source files are located.
cd src/main/java

for i in $(find $PACKAGE/*.java -type f); do
  # Only process classes that have an IDENTITY sequence.
  if grep "GenerationType.IDENTITY" $i > /dev/null; then
    # Extract the table name line.
    LINE_TABLE_NAME=$(grep -m 1 @Table $i | awk '{print $4;}')
    # Trim the quotes (if present).
    TABLE_NAME=${LINE_TABLE_NAME//\"}
    # Trim the comma (if present).
    TABLE_NAME=${TABLE_NAME//,}

    # Extract the column name line.
    LINE_COLUMN_NAME=$(grep -m 1 -C1 -A3 @Id $i | tail -1)
    COLUMN_NAME=$(echo $LINE_COLUMN_NAME | awk '{print $4;}')
    COLUMN_NAME=${COLUMN_NAME//\"}
    COLUMN_NAME=${COLUMN_NAME//,}

    # PostgreSQL sequence name.
    SEQUENCE_NAME="${TABLE_NAME}_${COLUMN_NAME}_seq"

    LINE_SEQ_GENERATOR="@SequenceGenerator( name = \"$SEQUENCE_NAME\", sequenceName = \"$SEQUENCE_NAME\", allocationSize = 1 )"
    LINE_GENERATED_VAL="@GeneratedValue( strategy = GenerationType.SEQUENCE, generator = \"$SEQUENCE_NAME\" )"
    LINE_COLUMN="@Column( name = \"$COLUMN_NAME\", updatable = false )\n"

    # These will depend on source code formatting.
    DELIM_BEGIN="@GeneratedValue( strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY )"
    # @Basic( optional = false ) is also replaced.
    DELIM_ENDED="@Column( name = \"$COLUMN_NAME\" )"

    # Replace these lines...
    #
    # $DELIM_BEGIN
    # $DELIM_ENDED
    #
    # With these lines...
    #
    # $LINE_SEQ_GENERATOR
    # $LINE_GENERATED_VAL
    # $LINE_COLUMN

    sed -i -n "/$DELIM_BEGIN/{:a;N;/$DELIM_ENDED/!ba;N;s/.*\n/$LINE_SEQ_GENERATOR\n$LINE_GENERATED_VAL\n$LINE_COLUMN/};p" $i
  else
    echo "Skipping $i ..."
  fi
done

When generating the CRUD application using NetBeans, the ID attributes won't include editable input fields.