The parent class is Address, the child class is AddressPreference. AddressPreference has a composite key, which one of them is the foreign key to Address. The one-to-many relationship from Address will cascade save-update AddressPreference. However, when I persist(saveOrUpdate), It keeps complaining about constraint voilation exception.

Here are the relevant mapping information:

--------- Address.hbm.xml -------------------

<class name="Address" table="address"
<id name="addressId" type="long">
<column name="ADDRESS_ID" />
<generator class="identity" />
</id>

<map name="addressPreferences" inverse="true" cascade="save-update, persist, merge,remove, delete">
<key column="ADDRESS_ID" not-null="true" />
<map-key type="long" column="PREFERENCE_TYPE_ID"/>
<one-to-many class="AddressPreference" />
</map>
...
</class>

------- AddressPreference.hbm.xml -------------------
<class name="AddressPreference" table="address_preference">
<composite-id name="id" class="AddressPreferenceId">
<key-property name="addressId" column="ADDRESS_ID" />

<key-property name="preferenceTypeId" type="long">
<column name="PREFERENCE_TYPE_ID" />
</key-property>
</composite-id>

<many-to-one name="address" class="Address" update="false" insert="false" fetch="join">
<column name="ADDRESS_ID" not-null="true" />
</many-to-one>

...
</class>

-------------


Here is the operation. I am using hibernate JPA interface, which internally use hibernate
===============================================================================
Address address = new Address();

AddressPreference pref = new AddressPreference();

AddressPreferenceId pid = new AddressPreferenceId();
pid.setPreferenceTypeId(9);
//don't know the id of address yet, therefore, can't assign it to pid.

Map<Long, AddressPreference> preferences = new HashMap<Long, AddressPreference>();
preferences.put(new Long(9), pref);
address.setAddressPreferences(preferences);


Tx.start();

entityManager.save(address);

tx.commit();

======================================================================
The generated query and exception I have been getting is:

Hibernate: insert into clm.wcp_address (FIRST_NAME, MIDDLE_NAME, LAST_NAME, ADDR1, ADDR2, ADDR3, CITY, STATE, ZIP, COUNTRY, CREATED_DTM, OMS_ADDRESS_ID) values (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
Hibernate: insert into clm.wcp_address_preference (SOURCE_ID, CURRENT_STATUS, STATUS_CHANGE_DTM, CREATED_BY, CREATED_DTM, MODIFIED_BY, MODIFIED_DTM, INACTIVE_DATE, CUSTOMER_ID, ADDRESS_HISTORY_ID, ADDRESS_ID, PREFERENCE_TYPE_ID) values (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
4317 [main] WARN org.hibernate.util.JDBCExceptionReporter - SQL Error: 1452, SQLState: 23000
4317 [main] ERROR org.hibernate.util.JDBCExceptionReporter - Cannot add or update a child row: a foreign key constraint fails (`clm`.`wcp_address_preference`, CONSTRAINT `WCP_ADDRESS_PREFERENCE_IBFK_2` FOREIGN KEY (`ADDRESS_ID`) REFERENCES `wcp_address` (`ADDRESS_ID`) ON DELETE NO ACTION)
4317 [main] ERROR org.hibernate.event.def.AbstractFlushingEventListener - Could not synchronize database state with session
org.hibernate.exception.ConstraintViolationException: Could not execute JDBC batch update
at org.hibernate.exception.SQLStateConverter.convert(SQLStateConverter.java:94)
at org.hibernate.exception.JDBCExceptionHelper.convert(JDBCExceptionHelper.java:66)
at org.hibernate.jdbc.AbstractBatcher.executeBatch(AbstractBatcher.java:275)
at org.hibernate.engine.ActionQueue.executeActions(ActionQueue.java:266)
at org.hibernate.engine.ActionQueue.executeActions(ActionQueue.java:167)

Did you try adding cascade attribute to the mapping?

Yes, there is cascade setting for sure. It is just when I copy it into the post, I missed one line. I edit post with the exact setting in my mapping files. Sorry for confusion.

The problem is there when there is a cascade setup in one-to-many side.

I found answer to it from this page, assuming it is correct, quote as follows:

https://hibernate.bluemars.net/117.html?cmd=prntdoc

"I have a composite key where one column holds a generated value - how can I get Hibernate to generate and assign the value?
We regard this as an extremely strange thing to want to do. If you have a generated surrogate key, why not just make it be the primary key?

However, if you must do this, you can do it by writing a CompositeUserType for the composite identifier class, and then defining a custom IdentifierGenerator that populates the generated value into the composite key class."

I have found a way to insert a new entity with a new joined (children) entity together by cascade.

See http://www.rndblog.com/hibernate-how-to-insert-onetomany-children-by-cascade/