Hello

I'm writing an UserType and I'm not sure my type should be mutable or immutable because the Hibernate StringType is an immutable type but changes to a property of this type will be written to the database!?

What exactly means mutable in the context of UserType?

Thank's

atsch

I don't know much about the implementation of StringType, but mutable means the same as it does everywhere else -- an immutable UserType is one that can be assumed to never change.

@atsch
far away from beeing a hibernate-expert let me try to explain you my view of "mutable" concerning UserTypes.

The StringType is "immutable" because you can't change the value of the string without changing the instance.

A UserType will be "mutable" if you can change the value of your bean without changing the instance ... for example the DateType is mutable, because you can change the date without changing the "date"-instance.

Therefore you will need different implementations of "deepCopy" ...

HiH
curio

Or another way to put it - an immutable property in a class has a getter but no setter.

- dave

atsch