What's the difference between @JoinColumn and mappedBy when using a JPA @OneToMany association

Question

What is the difference between:

@Entity
public class Company {

    @OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL , fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
    @JoinColumn(name = \"c         


        

Answer 1

Let me make it simple.
You can use @JoinColumn on either sides irrespective of mapping.

Let's divide this into three cases.
1) Uni-directional mapping from Branch to Company.
2) Bi-direction mapping from Company to Branch.
3) Only Uni-directional mapping from Company to Branch.

So any use-case will fall under this three categories. So let me explain how to use @JoinColumn and mappedBy.
1) Uni-directional mapping from Branch to Company.
Use JoinColumn in Branch table.
2) Bi-direction mapping from Company to Branch.
Use mappedBy in Company table as describe by @Mykhaylo Adamovych's answer.
3)Uni-directional mapping from Company to Branch.
Just use @JoinColumn in Company table.

@Entity
public class Company {

@OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL , fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
@JoinColumn(name="courseId")
private List branches;
...
}

This says that in based on the foreign key "courseId" mapping in branches table, get me list of all branches. NOTE: you can't fetch company from branch in this case, only uni-directional mapping exist from company to branch.