jpa independent custom type mapping / javax.persistence.x alternative to org.hibernate.annotations.Type and org.hibernate.annotations.TypeDef

Question

I have a table GameCycle in a db that holds a column date of type number. The values in this column are 8-digit numbers representing a

Answer 1

Custom Type Mapping has been finally added in JPA 2.1 (JSR-388, part of Java EE 7).
The Hibernate's @Type annotation is no longer needed, and can be replaced by Type Conversion in JPA 2.1.

JPA 2.1 has added :

• annotation @Convert
• annotation @Converts
• annotation @Converter
• interface AttributeConverter

The most basic example : (Example 1: Convert a basic attribute) - from source

@Converter
public class BooleanToIntegerConverter 
    implements AttributeConverter 
{  ... }

...

@Entity
@Table(name = "EMPLOYEE")
public class Employee
{

    @Id
    private Long id;

    @Column
    @Convert(converter = BooleanToIntegerConverter.class)
    private boolean fullTime;

}

Other links :

• Type Conversion in JPA 2.1
• JPA 2.1 - How to implement a Type Converter
• Mapping Enums Done Right With @Convert in JPA 2.1