# Persisting entity with nullable @Any field throws "not-null property references a null or transient value"

**URL:** <https://discourse.hibernate.org/t/persisting-entity-with-nullable-any-field-throws-not-null-property-references-a-null-or-transient-value/7970>\
**Category:** Hibernate ORM\
**Created:** [July 13, 2023, 4:40pm UTC](https://discourse.hibernate.org/t/persisting-entity-with-nullable-any-field-throws-not-null-property-references-a-null-or-transient-value/7970 "2023-07-13T16:40:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dirkniblick](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.hibernate.org/dirkniblick/32/2408_2.png) [@dirkniblick](https://discourse.hibernate.org/u/dirkniblick)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 4:40pm UTC](https://discourse.hibernate.org/t/persisting-entity-with-nullable-any-field-throws-not-null-property-references-a-null-or-transient-value/7970/1 "2023-07-13T16:40:33Z")

</div>

Since the solution to [@Any and @ManyToAny Associations Fail in Spring Boot 3](https://discourse.hibernate.org/t/any-and-manytoany-associations-fail-in-spring-boot-3/7576) is available 🎉, I decided to update the repository I used to [demonstrate that problem](https://github.com/dirkniblick/polymorphWithoutSpringboot/tree/develop). I’ve updated Hibernate from 6.1.7.Final to 6.2.6.Final (and the other packages), ran the `HibernatePolymorphApplicationTests` and the null pointer exception from the other post was gone!

Unfortunately, it was replaced with another one:

```auto
not-null property references a null or transient value : com.example.hibernatepolymorph.entity.PropertyHolder.property
org.hibernate.PropertyValueException: not-null property references a null or transient value : com.example.hibernatepolymorph.entity.PropertyHolder.property
	at app//org.hibernate.engine.internal.Nullability.checkNullability(Nullability.java:109)
	at app//org.hibernate.engine.internal.Nullability.checkNullability(Nullability.java:54)
	at app//org.hibernate.action.internal.AbstractEntityInsertAction.nullifyTransientReferencesIfNotAlready(AbstractEntityInsertAction.java:124)
	at app//org.hibernate.action.internal.AbstractEntityInsertAction.makeEntityManaged(AbstractEntityInsertAction.java:133)
	at app//org.hibernate.engine.spi.ActionQueue.addResolvedEntityInsertAction(ActionQueue.java:299)
	at app//org.hibernate.engine.spi.ActionQueue.addInsertAction(ActionQueue.java:272)
	at app//org.hibernate.engine.spi.ActionQueue.addAction(ActionQueue.java:259)
	at app//org.hibernate.event.internal.AbstractSaveEventListener.addInsertAction(AbstractSaveEventListener.java:376)
	at app//org.hibernate.event.internal.AbstractSaveEventListener.performSaveOrReplicate(AbstractSaveEventListener.java:277)
	at app//org.hibernate.event.internal.AbstractSaveEventListener.performSave(AbstractSaveEventListener.java:180)
	at app//org.hibernate.event.internal.AbstractSaveEventListener.saveWithGeneratedId(AbstractSaveEventListener.java:136)
	at app//org.hibernate.event.internal.DefaultPersistEventListener.entityIsTransient(DefaultPersistEventListener.java:175)
	at app//org.hibernate.event.internal.DefaultPersistEventListener.persist(DefaultPersistEventListener.java:93)
	at app//org.hibernate.event.internal.DefaultPersistEventListener.onPersist(DefaultPersistEventListener.java:77)
	at app//org.hibernate.event.internal.DefaultPersistEventListener.onPersist(DefaultPersistEventListener.java:54)
	at app//org.hibernate.event.service.internal.EventListenerGroupImpl.fireEventOnEachListener(EventListenerGroupImpl.java:127)
	at app//org.hibernate.internal.SessionImpl.firePersist(SessionImpl.java:755)
	at app//org.hibernate.internal.SessionImpl.persist(SessionImpl.java:739)
	at app//com.example.hibernatepolymorph.HibernatePolymorphApplicationTests.save(HibernatePolymorphApplicationTests.java:122)
	at app//com.example.hibernatepolymorph.HibernatePolymorphApplicationTests.createPropertyHolder(HibernatePolymorphApplicationTests.java:60)
	at java.base@17.0.2/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
	at java.base@17.0.2/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:77)
	at java.base@17.0.2/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
	at java.base@17.0.2/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:568)
	at app//org.junit.platform.commons.util.ReflectionUtils.invokeMethod(ReflectionUtils.java:727)
	at app//org.junit.jupiter.engine.execution.MethodInvocation.proceed(MethodInvocation.java:60)
	at app//org.junit.jupiter.engine.execution.InvocationInterceptorChain$ValidatingInvocation.proceed(InvocationInterceptorChain.java:131)
	at app//org.junit.jupiter.engine.extension.TimeoutExtension.intercept(TimeoutExtension.java:156)
	at app//org.junit.jupiter.engine.extension.TimeoutExtension.interceptTestableMethod(TimeoutExtension.java:147)
	at app//org.junit.jupiter.engine.extension.TimeoutExtension.interceptTestMethod(TimeoutExtension.java:86)
	at app//org.junit.jupiter.engine.execution.InterceptingExecutableInvoker$ReflectiveInterceptorCall.lambda$ofVoidMethod$0(InterceptingExecutableInvoker.java:103)
	at app//org.junit.jupiter.engine.execution.InterceptingExecutableInvoker.lambda$invoke$0(InterceptingExecutableInvoker.java:93)
	at app//org.junit.jupiter.engine.execution.InvocationInterceptorChain$InterceptedInvocation.proceed(InvocationInterceptorChain.java:106)
	at app//org.junit.jupiter.engine.execution.InvocationInterceptorChain.proceed(InvocationInterceptorChain.java:64)
	at app//org.junit.jupiter.engine.execution.InvocationInterceptorChain.chainAndInvoke(InvocationInterceptorChain.java:45)
	at app//org.junit.jupiter.engine.execution.InvocationInterceptorChain.invoke(InvocationInterceptorChain.java:37)
	at app//org.junit.jupiter.engine.execution.InterceptingExecutableInvoker.invoke(InterceptingExecutableInvoker.java:92)
	at app//org.junit.jupiter.engine.execution.InterceptingExecutableInvoker.invoke(InterceptingExecutableInvoker.java:86)
	at app//org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.TestMethodTestDescriptor.lambda$invokeTestMethod$7(TestMethodTestDescriptor.java:217)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.ThrowableCollector.execute(ThrowableCollector.java:73)
	at app//org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.TestMethodTestDescriptor.invokeTestMethod(TestMethodTestDescriptor.java:213)
	at app//org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.TestMethodTestDescriptor.execute(TestMethodTestDescriptor.java:138)
	at app//org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.TestMethodTestDescriptor.execute(TestMethodTestDescriptor.java:68)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.lambda$executeRecursively$6(NodeTestTask.java:151)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.ThrowableCollector.execute(ThrowableCollector.java:73)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.lambda$executeRecursively$8(NodeTestTask.java:141)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.Node.around(Node.java:137)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.lambda$executeRecursively$9(NodeTestTask.java:139)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.ThrowableCollector.execute(ThrowableCollector.java:73)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.executeRecursively(NodeTestTask.java:138)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.execute(NodeTestTask.java:95)
	at java.base@17.0.2/java.util.ArrayList.forEach(ArrayList.java:1511)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.SameThreadHierarchicalTestExecutorService.invokeAll(SameThreadHierarchicalTestExecutorService.java:41)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.lambda$executeRecursively$6(NodeTestTask.java:155)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.ThrowableCollector.execute(ThrowableCollector.java:73)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.lambda$executeRecursively$8(NodeTestTask.java:141)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.Node.around(Node.java:137)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.lambda$executeRecursively$9(NodeTestTask.java:139)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.ThrowableCollector.execute(ThrowableCollector.java:73)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.executeRecursively(NodeTestTask.java:138)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.execute(NodeTestTask.java:95)
	at java.base@17.0.2/java.util.ArrayList.forEach(ArrayList.java:1511)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.SameThreadHierarchicalTestExecutorService.invokeAll(SameThreadHierarchicalTestExecutorService.java:41)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.lambda$executeRecursively$6(NodeTestTask.java:155)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.ThrowableCollector.execute(ThrowableCollector.java:73)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.lambda$executeRecursively$8(NodeTestTask.java:141)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.Node.around(Node.java:137)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.lambda$executeRecursively$9(NodeTestTask.java:139)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.ThrowableCollector.execute(ThrowableCollector.java:73)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.executeRecursively(NodeTestTask.java:138)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.execute(NodeTestTask.java:95)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.SameThreadHierarchicalTestExecutorService.submit(SameThreadHierarchicalTestExecutorService.java:35)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.HierarchicalTestExecutor.execute(HierarchicalTestExecutor.java:57)
	at app//org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.HierarchicalTestEngine.execute(HierarchicalTestEngine.java:54)
	at app//org.junit.platform.launcher.core.EngineExecutionOrchestrator.execute(EngineExecutionOrchestrator.java:107)
	at app//org.junit.platform.launcher.core.EngineExecutionOrchestrator.execute(EngineExecutionOrchestrator.java:88)
	at app//org.junit.platform.launcher.core.EngineExecutionOrchestrator.lambda$execute$0(EngineExecutionOrchestrator.java:54)
	at app//org.junit.platform.launcher.core.EngineExecutionOrchestrator.withInterceptedStreams(EngineExecutionOrchestrator.java:67)
	at app//org.junit.platform.launcher.core.EngineExecutionOrchestrator.execute(EngineExecutionOrchestrator.java:52)
	at app//org.junit.platform.launcher.core.DefaultLauncher.execute(DefaultLauncher.java:114)
	at app//org.junit.platform.launcher.core.DefaultLauncher.execute(DefaultLauncher.java:86)
	at app//org.junit.platform.launcher.core.DefaultLauncherSession$DelegatingLauncher.execute(DefaultLauncherSession.java:86)
	at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.junitplatform.JUnitPlatformTestClassProcessor$CollectAllTestClassesExecutor.processAllTestClasses(JUnitPlatformTestClassProcessor.java:110)
	at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.junitplatform.JUnitPlatformTestClassProcessor$CollectAllTestClassesExecutor.access$000(JUnitPlatformTestClassProcessor.java:90)
	at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.junitplatform.JUnitPlatformTestClassProcessor.stop(JUnitPlatformTestClassProcessor.java:85)
	at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.SuiteTestClassProcessor.stop(SuiteTestClassProcessor.java:62)
	at java.base@17.0.2/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
	at java.base@17.0.2/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:77)
	at java.base@17.0.2/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
	at java.base@17.0.2/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:568)
	at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ReflectionDispatch.dispatch(ReflectionDispatch.java:36)
	at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ReflectionDispatch.dispatch(ReflectionDispatch.java:24)
	at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ContextClassLoaderDispatch.dispatch(ContextClassLoaderDispatch.java:33)
	at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ProxyDispatchAdapter$DispatchingInvocationHandler.invoke(ProxyDispatchAdapter.java:94)
	at jdk.proxy1/jdk.proxy1.$Proxy2.stop(Unknown Source)
	at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.worker.TestWorker$3.run(TestWorker.java:193)
	at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.worker.TestWorker.executeAndMaintainThreadName(TestWorker.java:129)
	at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.worker.TestWorker.execute(TestWorker.java:100)
	at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.worker.TestWorker.execute(TestWorker.java:60)
	at org.gradle.process.internal.worker.child.ActionExecutionWorker.execute(ActionExecutionWorker.java:56)
	at org.gradle.process.internal.worker.child.SystemApplicationClassLoaderWorker.call(SystemApplicationClassLoaderWorker.java:113)
	at org.gradle.process.internal.worker.child.SystemApplicationClassLoaderWorker.call(SystemApplicationClassLoaderWorker.java:65)
	at app//worker.org.gradle.process.internal.worker.GradleWorkerMain.run(GradleWorkerMain.java:69)
	at app//worker.org.gradle.process.internal.worker.GradleWorkerMain.main(GradleWorkerMain.java:74)

```

It dies at the `save` method here:

```java
PropertyHolder namePropertyHolder = new PropertyHolder();
namePropertyHolder.setId(1L);
save(namePropertyHolder);
System.out.printf("Created: %s%n", namePropertyHolder);

...

void save(Object object) {
    EntityTransaction transaction = entityManager.getTransaction();
    transaction.begin();
    entityManager.persist(object);
    transaction.commit();
}

```

If you look at the definition for PropertyHolder.property, you’ll see null values _should_ be allowed:

```auto
    @Any
    @AnyDiscriminator(DiscriminatorType.STRING)
    @AnyDiscriminatorValue(discriminator = "S", entity = StringProperty.class)
    @AnyDiscriminatorValue(discriminator = "I", entity = IntegerProperty.class)
    @AnyKeyJavaClass(Long.class)
    @Column(name = "property_type")
    @JoinColumn(name = "property_id")
    private Property<?> property;

```

The exception persists even if I apply the defaults here:

```auto
    @Any(optional = true)
    @AnyDiscriminator(DiscriminatorType.STRING)
    @AnyDiscriminatorValue(discriminator = "S", entity = StringProperty.class)
    @AnyDiscriminatorValue(discriminator = "I", entity = IntegerProperty.class)
    @AnyKeyJavaClass(Long.class)
    @Column(name = "property_type", nullable = true)
    @JoinColumn(name = "property_id", nullable = true)
    private Property<?> property;

```

If I change the test to populate the `property` field prior to persisting, the test succeeds:

```auto
PropertyHolder namePropertyHolder = new PropertyHolder();
namePropertyHolder.setId(1L);
namePropertyHolder.setProperty(nameProperty);
save(namePropertyHolder);
System.out.printf("Created: %s%n", namePropertyHolder);

```

I feel like the `not-null property references a null or transient value` exception above is incorrect here.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dirkniblick](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.hibernate.org/dirkniblick/32/2408_2.png) [@dirkniblick](https://discourse.hibernate.org/u/dirkniblick)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 4:47pm UTC](https://discourse.hibernate.org/t/persisting-entity-with-nullable-any-field-throws-not-null-property-references-a-null-or-transient-value/7970/2 "2023-07-13T16:47:10Z")

</div>

FYI, [here’s the 5.6.15.Final version of the same repository](https://github.com/dirkniblick/polymorphWithoutSpringBootHibernate5.6.15Final.git) which performs the same test successfully.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mbladel](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.hibernate.org/mbladel/32/2128_2.png) [@mbladel](https://discourse.hibernate.org/u/mbladel)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2023, 9:28am UTC](https://discourse.hibernate.org/t/persisting-entity-with-nullable-any-field-throws-not-null-property-references-a-null-or-transient-value/7970/3 "2023-07-14T09:28:42Z")

</div>

Thanks for the detailed explanation of the problem. I think you found another bug, please create a new entry in the issue tracker ([https://hibernate.atlassian.net](https://hibernate.atlassian.net)) with a test case ([GitHub - hibernate/hibernate-test-case-templates: Templates and examples to report issues to Hibernate](https://github.com/hibernate/hibernate-test-case-templates)) that reproduces the issue.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dirkniblick](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.hibernate.org/dirkniblick/32/2408_2.png) [@dirkniblick](https://discourse.hibernate.org/u/dirkniblick)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2023, 4:22pm UTC](https://discourse.hibernate.org/t/persisting-entity-with-nullable-any-field-throws-not-null-property-references-a-null-or-transient-value/7970/4 "2023-07-14T16:22:26Z")

</div>

Jira ticket: [[HHH-16937] - Hibernate JIRA](https://hibernate.atlassian.net/browse/HHH-16937)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dirkniblick](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.hibernate.org/dirkniblick/32/2408_2.png) [@dirkniblick](https://discourse.hibernate.org/u/dirkniblick)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 7:25pm UTC](https://discourse.hibernate.org/t/persisting-entity-with-nullable-any-field-throws-not-null-property-references-a-null-or-transient-value/7970/5 "2024-03-08T19:25:33Z")

</div>

FYI, this issue was eliminated in Hibernate 6.3.0 and 6.2.8.