So I am using Hibernate to manage a large object graph using an extended persistence context. I am running into issues where an object is added to the persistence context. The object is mapped to a collection encapsulated within an entity via a OneToMany mapping. The object that is added to the collection is a complex type with other encapsulated entities. Later during the usage of my application, the user deletes this object and my application logic removes the object from the collection and calls remove(...) on the EntityManager.

My problem happens when I flush the persistence context. An INSERT is fire for this object and constraint violations are thrown since some of the database required fields are null. Is there a way to prevent this INSERT from firing in the first place since the object was marked for deletion from the persistence context? Detaching the object from the persistence context seems a viable option, but I am not sure if this is "best practice".

Thanks in advance!

Specs:
JPA 2
Hibernate 3.6.0.Final
Java 5 and 6

For what it is worth, I was thinking the issue is loosely related to viewtopic.php?p=2191664

So I assume there is no way to achieve this in Hibernate. Having searched the forums, I suppose Gavin would say this is intentional, but it certainly feels like something that should configurable. Anyway, I am running into issues with removing items from the collections of this large object graph. It is the dreaded "deleted entity passed to persist". I assumed that deleteOrphan would take care of removing the entire graph and therefore certain objects wouldn't be passed to persist. Do I need to unlink all my entities before I flush regardless of this attribute?

Thanks