I have defined a MANY-TO-MANY relationship between two entities via a JoinTable.

ALERT
--------
alertId
alertType

ALERTCONTACTXREF
-----------------------------
alertId
contactId

CONTACT
-------------
contactId
contactName

The many to many association was defined on the alert entity. So there is this method on the alert entity:

@Entity
Alert {
@Column Long alertId;
@Column String alertType;

@ManyToMany( fetch=FetchType.EAGER )
@JoinTable( name="ALERTCONTACTXREF",
joinColumns= @JoinColumn( name="ALERTID",
referencedColumnName="ALERTID" ),
inverseJoinColumns= @JoinColumn( name="CONTACTID",
referencedColumnName="CONTACTID" ) )
private Set<Contact> contacts;

Set<Contact> getContacts();
}

My question is this:
If I delete a contact from the Set of contacts of an alert instance, will hibernate delete the corresponding record in the cross ref/join table (ie ALERTCONTACTXREF) ?

I would only want the association deleted, not the associated entity.

-Mike

I guess Hibernate deletes all relations in the relation-table on an update and afterwards inserts the relations again!!!

So my best guess on your question is Yes!!!!