Spring @Async: null hibernate session on LAZY collection

Question

I'm using an @Async annotation on a service layer method.

Everything works fine when I EAGERLY load @OneToMany collection fields, but when I try to access LAZY loaded element I found that Hibernate SessionImplementor object session is null. That obviously give me an exception:

org.hibernate.LazyInitializationException: failed to lazily initialize a collection of role:
....    

Here is my collection field:

@OneToMany(mappedBy="abc", fetch=FetchType.LAZY, cascade=CascadeType.REMOVE)
@OrderBy(value="xsd asc")
@JsonIgnore
private Set<Item> items = new HashSet<Item>();

How can I bind hibernate session in order to LAZELY load my object inside @Async context?

EDIT

Here is my trancactionManager / entityManager configuration

<bean id="transactionManager" class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.JpaTransactionManager">
    <property name="entityManagerFactory" ref="emf"/>
</bean>

<tx:annotation-driven transaction-manager="transactionManager" />

<bean id="emf" class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean">
    <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource" />
    <property name="jpaVendorAdapter" ref="hibernateJpaVendorAdapter">

    </property>
    <property name="packagesToScan" value="it.domain"/>

    <property name="persistenceUnitName" value="persistenceUnit"/>
    <property name="jpaProperties">
        <props>
            <prop key="hibernate.dialect">${hibernate.dialect}</prop>
            <prop key="hibernate.ejb.naming_strategy">org.hibernate.cfg.ImprovedNamingStrategy</prop>
            <!--${hibernate.format_sql} -->
            <prop key="hibernate.format_sql">true</prop>
            <prop key="hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto">${hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto}</prop>
            <!-- ${hibernate.show_sql} -->
            <prop key="hibernate.show_sql">false</prop> 

            <prop key="hibernate.connection.charSet">UTF-8</prop>

            <prop key="hibernate.max_fetch_depth">3</prop>
            <prop key="hibernate.jdbc.fetch_size">50</prop>
            <prop key="hibernate.jdbc.batch_size">20</prop>

            <prop key="org.hibernate.envers.audit_table_suffix">_H</prop>
            <prop key="org.hibernate.envers.revision_field_name">AUDIT_REVISION</prop>
            <prop key="org.hibernate.envers.revision_type_field_name">ACTION_TYPE</prop>
            <prop key="org.hibernate.envers.audit_strategy">org.hibernate.envers.strategy.ValidityAuditStrategy</prop>
            <prop key="org.hibernate.envers.audit_strategy_validity_end_rev_field_name">AUDIT_REVISION_END</prop>
            <prop key="org.hibernate.envers.audit_strategy_validity_store_revend_timestamp">True</prop>
            <prop key="org.hibernate.envers.audit_strategy_validity_revend_timestamp_field_name">AUDIT_REVISION_END_TS</prop>               
        </props>
    </property>
</bean>

<jpa:repositories base-package="it.repository"
                  entity-manager-factory-ref="emf"
                  transaction-manager-ref="transactionManager"/>

<jpa:auditing auditor-aware-ref="auditorAwareBean" />
<bean id="auditorAwareBean" class="it.auditor.AuditorAwareBean"/>

Heyerdahl

Are you using a Spring managed SessionFactory and TransactionManager?. Can you show the code of the method? – Paramorph

Is the method loading the entity or just accessing it? – Kory

@SotiriosDelimanolis, the method load the entity calling corresponding repository – Heyerdahl

The JPA and Hibernate transaction managers work almost the same... I just updated my answer. In any case, if you remove the @Async annotation it should work... but I believe you don't want this. – Paramorph

@Paramorph I know that withous Async it works :) The problem is with Async ;) – Heyerdahl

In that case you may implement a CurrentSessionContext that allows you to preserve sessions across threads and calling threads. – Paramorph

It's not that difficult, the difficult part is that you will manage the sessions and threads. – Paramorph

@Heyerdahl I just updated the question with that info. – Paramorph

I had same issue when I was using @async. I tried a lot of things and finally dealt with it by opening a new session and doing stuff and then closing the session. I am not sure if it is an ideal solution, but given the fact that hibernate session and thread have some personal issues on being together, I am happy with this solution. – Braden

Answer 1

Spring's transaction context is preserved using ThreadLocals. This means that your SessionFactory is only available to the thread dispatching your request thus, if you create a new thread, you will get a null and a corresponding exception.

What your @Async method does is use a TaskExecutor to run your method in another thread. So the problem described above is happening with your service.

I quote from the Spring's JpaTransactionManager docs:

PlatformTransactionManager implementation for a single JPA EntityManagerFactory. Binds a JPA EntityManager from the specified factory to the thread, potentially allowing for one thread-bound EntityManager per factory. SharedEntityManagerCreator and @PersistenceContext are aware of thread-bound entity managers and participate in such transactions automatically. Using either is required for JPA access code supporting this transaction management mechanism.

If you want to preserve your annotation then you should take a look at Hibernate CurrentSessionContext and somehow manage the sessions yourself.

See this question for more info.

Paramorph

Answer 2

I had the same problem, spent few days trying to find a solution, finally got a solution. I would like to share the details I found for those who might have the same issue.

1st - Your @Async-annotated method should be declared in a separate bean rather than the @Controller- or @RestController-annotated bean.

2nd - You certainly need to declare the method @Transactional which is called from within @Async declared method. However, the very first method called from @Async method has to be defined @Transactional. I had the @Transactional method in second or third level in the method execution stack therefore the problem was not solved and I spent two days trying to figure out what was going on.

So the best thing to do is

@Controller
ControllerBean {

    @Autowired
    AsyncService asyncService;

    public controllerMethod() {
        asyncService.asyncMethod();
    }
}

@Service
AsyncService {
    @Autowired
    TransactionalService transactionalService;

    @Async
    public asyncMethod() {
        transactionalService.transactionalMethod();
    }
}

@Service
TransactionalService {
    @Autowired
    SomeOtherService someOtherService;

    @Autowired
    EntityRepository entityRepository;

    @Transactional
    public transactionalMethod() {
        Entity entity = entityRepository.findOne(12345);

        someOtherService.doWork(entity);
    }
}

@Service
SomeOtherService {

    @Autowired
    EntityRepository entityRepository;

    @Transactional
    public doWork(Entity entity) {
        // fetch lazy properties, save, etc. without any session problems...
        entity.getLazyProperties(); 

        entityRepository.save(entity);
    }
}

Rinarinaldi

Answer 3

In normal circumstances (without @Async) a transaction gets propagated through the call hierarchy from one Spring component to the other.

When a @Transactional Spring @Component calls a method annotated with @Async this does not happen. The call to the asynchronous method is being scheduled and executed at a later time by a task executor and is thus handled as a 'fresh' call, i.e. without a transactional context. If the @Async method (or the component in which it is declared) is not @Transactional by itself Spring will not manage any needed transactions.

Try to annotate the method that calls the @Async method, and tell us if worked.

Eaddy

Thank you for your answer. My methos is already transactional! – Heyerdahl

Answer 4

It depends how and where does a mapping occur.

If you want to use @Async together with LAZY loading, a method declared with @Transactional has to implement the logic of LAZY loading.

If LAZY loading is initated outside @Transactional, it will not work.

Gio