Many-to-many on the same table with additional columns

Question

I have a class User. A user can be a friend with many other users. The relationship is mutual. If A is a friend of B then B is a friend of A. Also I want every relation to s

Answer 1

I'm not sure this will fit your case, but give it a try.

@Entity
public class Friend {

    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy=GenerationType.AUTO)
    private int friendId;

    @Column
    private String name;

    @ManyToMany(mappedBy="owner")
    private List friendships;
}

@Entity
public class Friendship {

    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy=GenerationType.AUTO)
    private int friendshipId;

    @OneToOne
    private Friend owner;

    @OneToOne
    private Friend target;

   // other info
}