Package org.hibernate.annotations

Annotation Interface PropertyRef

@Target({FIELD,METHOD,ANNOTATION_TYPE})
@Retention(RUNTIME)
@Incubating
public @interface PropertyRef

Allows to specify the target of a foreign-key using a "target attribute" as opposed to join column(s). E.g.

     @Entity
     class Employee {
         @Id
         Integer id;
         @Column(name="ssn") 
         String socialSecurityNumber;
     }
     @Entity
     class TaxDetails {
         @Id Integer id;
         @OneToOne
         @PropertyRef("socialSecurityNumber")
         Employee employee;
     }
 

Generally more useful with composite keys:

     @Embeddable
     class Name {
         String first;
         String last;
     }
     @Entity
     class Employee {
         @Id
         Integer id;
         @Embedded
         Name name;
     }
     @Entity
     class TaxDetails {
         @Id Integer id;
         @OneToOne
         @PropertyRef("name")
         Employee employee;
     }
 

API Note:

As Hibernate allows OneToMany.mappedBy() and ManyToMany.mappedBy() to refer to basic and embedded attributes already, this annotation is mainly useful for mapping to-one associations.

Required Element Summary

Required Elements

Modifier and Type	Required Element	Description
String	value	The name of the attribute on the target entity which defines the foreign-key target.

Element Details

value

String value

The name of the attribute on the target entity which defines the foreign-key target.