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Spring Data JPA - bidirectional relation with infinite recursion

First, here are my entities.
Player :
#Entity
#JsonIdentityInfo(generator=ObjectIdGenerators.UUIDGenerator.class,
property="id")
public class Player {
// other fields
#ManyToOne
#JoinColumn(name = "pla_fk_n_teamId")
private Team team;
// methods
}
Team :
#Entity
#JsonIdentityInfo(generator=ObjectIdGenerators.UUIDGenerator.class,
property="id")
public class Team {
// other fields
#OneToMany(mappedBy = "team")
private List<Player> members;
// methods
}
As many topics already stated, you can avoid the StackOverflowExeption in your WebService in many ways with Jackson.
That's cool and all but JPA still constructs an entity with infinite recursion to another entity before the serialization. This is just ugly ans the request takes much longer. Check this screenshot : IntelliJ debugger
Is there a way to fix it ? Knowing that I want different results depending on the endpoint. Examples :
endpoint /teams/{id} => Team={id..., members=[Player={id..., team=null}]}
endpoint /members/{id} => Player={id..., team={id..., members=null}}
Thank you!
EDIT : maybe the question isn't very clear giving the answers I get so I'll try to be more precise.
I know that it is possible to prevent the infinite recursion either with Jackson (#JSONIgnore, #JsonManagedReference/#JSONBackReference etc.) or by doing some mapping into DTO. The problem I still see is this : both of the above are post-query processing. The object that Spring JPA returns will still be (for example) a Team, containing a list of players, containing a team, containing a list of players, etc. etc.
I would like to know if there is a way to tell JPA or the repository (or anything) to not bind entities within entities over and over again?

Here is how I handle this problem in my projects.
I used the concept of data transfer objects, implemented in two version: a full object and a light object.
I define a object containing the referenced entities as List as Dto (data transfer object that only holds serializable values) and I define a object without the referenced entities as Info.
A Info object only hold information about the very entity itself and not about relations.
Now when I deliver a Dto object over a REST API, I simply put Info objects for the references.
Let's assume I deliever a PlayerDto over GET /players/1:
public class PlayerDto{
private String playerName;
private String playercountry;
private TeamInfo;
}
Whereas the TeamInfo object looks like
public class TeamInfo {
private String teamName;
private String teamColor;
}
compared to a TeamDto
public class TeamDto{
private String teamName;
private String teamColor;
private List<PlayerInfo> players;
}
This avoids an endless serialization and also makes a logical end for your rest resources as other wise you should be able to GET /player/1/team/player/1/team
Additionally, the concept clearly separates the data layer from the client layer (in this case the REST API), as you don't pass the actually entity object to the interface. For this, you convert the actual entity inside your service layer to a Dto or Info. I use http://modelmapper.org/ for this, as it's super easy (one short method call).
Also I fetch all referenced entities lazily. My service method which gets the entity and converts it to the Dto there for runs inside of a transaction scope, which is good practice anyway.
Lazy fetching
To tell JPA to fetch a entity lazily, simply modify your relationship annotation by defining the fetch type. The default value for this is fetch = FetchType.EAGER which in your situation is problematic. That is why you should change it to fetch = FetchType.LAZY
public class TeamEntity {
#OneToMany(mappedBy = "team",fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
private List<PlayerEntity> members;
}
Likewise the Player
public class PlayerEntity {
#ManyToOne(fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
#JoinColumn(name = "pla_fk_n_teamId")
private TeamEntity team;
}
When calling your repository method from your service layer, it is important, that this is happening within a #Transactional scope, otherwise, you won't be able to get the lazily referenced entity. Which would look like this:
#Transactional(readOnly = true)
public TeamDto getTeamByName(String teamName){
TeamEntity entity= teamRepository.getTeamByName(teamName);
return modelMapper.map(entity,TeamDto.class);
}

In my case I realized I did not need a bidirectional (One To Many-Many To One) relationship.
This fixed my issue:
// Team Class:
#OneToMany(fetch = FetchType.LAZY, cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
private Set<Player> members = new HashSet<Player>();
// Player Class - These three lines removed:
// #ManyToOne
// #JoinColumn(name = "pla_fk_n_teamId")
// private Team team;
Project Lombok might also produce this issue. Try adding #ToString and #EqualsAndHashCode if you are using Lombok.
#Data
#Entity
#EqualsAndHashCode(exclude = { "members"}) // This,
#ToString(exclude = { "members"}) // and this
public class Team implements Serializable {
// ...
This is a nice guide on infinite recursion annotations https://www.baeldung.com/jackson-bidirectional-relationships-and-infinite-recursion

You can use #JsonIgnoreProperties annotation to avoid infinite loop, like this:
#JsonIgnoreProperties("members")
private Team team;
or like this:
#JsonIgnoreProperties("team")
private List<Player> members;
or both.

Jackson: referencing an object as a property

In my java spring application, I am working with hibernate and jpa, and i use jackson to populate data in DB.
Here is the User class:
#Data
#Entity
public class User{
#Id
#GeneratedValue
Long id;
String username;
String password;
boolean activated;
public User(){}
}
and the second class is:
#Entity
#Data
public class Roles {
#Id
#GeneratedValue
Long id;
#OneToOne
User user;
String role;
public Roles(){}
}
In the class Roles i have a property of User
and then i made a json file to store the data:
[ {"_class" : "com.example.domains.User", "id": 1, "username": "Admin", "password": "123Admin123","activated":true}
,
{"_class" : "com.example.domains.Roles", "id": 1,"user":1, "role": "Admin"}]
Unfortunately, when i run the app it complains with:
.RuntimeException: com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException: Can not construct instance of com.example.domains.User: no int/Int-argument constructor/factory method to deserialize from Number value (1)
at [Source: N/A; line: -1, column: -1] (through reference chain: com.example.domains.Roles["user"])
The problem comes from
{"_class" : "com.example.domains.Roles", "id": 1,"user":1, "role": "Admin"}
and when i remove the above line the app works well.
I think, it complains because it cannot make an instance of user.
So, how can i fix it?

Do yourself a favor and stop using your Entities as DTOs!
JPA entities have bidirectional relations, JSON objects don't, I also believe that the responsibilities of an Entity is very different from a DTO, and although joining these responsibilities into a single Java class is possible, in my experience it is a very bad idea.
Here are a couple of reasons
You almost always need more flexibility in the DTO layer, because it is often related to a UI.
You should avoid exposing primary keys from your database to the outside, including your own UI. We always generate an additional uniqueId (UUID) for every publicly exposed Entity, the primary key stays in the DB and is only used for joins.
You often need multiple views of the same Entity. Or a single view of multiple entities.
If you need to add a new entity to a relation with an existing, you will need find the existing one in the database, so posting the new and old object as a single JSON structure has no advantage. You just need the uniqueId of the existing, and then new.
A lot of the problems developers have with JPA, specifically with regards to merging comes from the fact that they receive a detached entity after their json has been deserialized. But this entity typically doesn't have the OneToMany relations (and if it does, it's the parent which has a relation to the child in JSON, but in JPA it is the child's reference to the parent which constitutes the relationship). In most cases you will always need to load the existing version of the entity from the database, and then copy the changes from your DTO into the entity.
I have worked extensively with JPA since 2009, and I know most corner cases of detachment and merging, and have no problem using an Entity as a DTO, but I have seen the confusion and types of errors that occur when you hand such code over to some one who is not intimately familiar with JPA. The few lines you need for a DTO (especially since you already use Lombok), are so simple and allows you much more flexibility, than trying to save a few files and breaking the separation of concerns.

Jackson provide ObjectIdResolver interface for resolving the objects from ids during de-serialization.
In your case you want to resolve the id based from the JPA/hibernate. So you need to implement a custom resolver to resolve id by calling the JPA/hierbate entity manager.
At high level below are the steps:
Implement a custom ObjectIdResolver say JPAEntityResolver (you may extends from SimpleObjectIdResolver). During resolving object it will call JPA entity manager class to find entity by given id and scope(see. ObjectIdResolver#resolveId java docs)
//Example only;
#Component
#Scope("prototype") // must not be a singleton component as it has state
public class JPAEntityResolver extends SimpleObjectIdResolver {
//This would be JPA based object repository or you can EntityManager instance directly.
private PersistentObjectRepository objectRepository;
#Autowired
public JPAEntityResolver (PersistentObjectRepository objectRepository) {
this.objectRepository = objectRepository;
}
#Override
public void bindItem(IdKey id, Object pojo) {
super.bindItem(id, pojo);
}
#Override
public Object resolveId(IdKey id) {
Object resolved = super.resolveId(id);
if (resolved == null) {
resolved = _tryToLoadFromSource(id);
bindItem(id, resolved);
}
return resolved;
}
private Object _tryToLoadFromSource(IdKey idKey) {
requireNonNull(idKey.scope, "global scope does not supported");
String id = (String) idKey.key;
Class<?> poType = idKey.scope;
return objectRepository.getById(id, poType);
}
#Override
public ObjectIdResolver newForDeserialization(Object context) {
return new JPAEntityResolver(objectRepository);
}
#Override
public boolean canUseFor(ObjectIdResolver resolverType) {
return resolverType.getClass() == JPAEntityResolver.class;
}
}
Tell Jackson to use a custom id resolver for a class, by using annotation JsonIdentityInfo(resolver = JPAEntityResolver.class). For e.g.
#JsonIdentityInfo(generator = ObjectIdGenerators.PropertyGenerator.class,
property = "id",
scope = User.class,
resolver = JPAObjectIdResolver.class)
public class User { ... }
JPAObjectIdResolver is a custom implementation and will have dependency on other resources( JPA Entity Manager) which might not be known to Jackson. So Jackson need help to instantiate resolver object. For this purpose, you need to supply a custom HandlerInstantiator to ObjectMapper instance. (In my case I was using spring so I asked spring to create instance of JPAObjectIdResolver by using autowiring)
Now de-serialization should work as expected.
Hope this helps.

I have changed the json file to :
[
{"_class" : "com.example.domains.User",
"id": 1,
"username": "Admin",
"password": "123Admin123",
"activated":true
},
{
"_class" : "com.example.domains.Roles",
"id": 1,
"user":{"_class" : "com.example.domains.User",
"id": 1,
"username": "Admin",
"password": "123Admin123",
"activated":true
},
"role": "Admin"
}
]
But i still think, the best ways is using a foreign key to user record.
Any solution is welcomed

If your bean doesn't strictly adhere to the JavaBeans format, Jackson has difficulties.
It's best to create an explicit #JsonCreator constructor for your JSON model bean, e.g.
class User {
...
#JsonCreator
public User(#JsonProperty("name") String name,
#JsonProperty("age") int age) {
this.name = name;
this.age = age;
}
..
}

1-1 mapping of fields works well , but when it comes to complex object mapping , better to use some API.
You can use Dozer Mapping or Mapstruct to map Object instances.
Dozer has spring integration also.

You could specify non default constructors and then use a custom deserialiser.
Something like this should work (it has not been tested).
public class RolesDeserializer extends StdDeserializer<Roles> {
public RolesDeserializer() {
this(null);
}
public RolesDeserializer(Class<?> c) {
super(c);
}
#Override
public Roles deserialize(JsonParser jp, DeserializationContext dsctxt)
throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
JsonNode node = jp.getCodec().readTree(jp);
long id = ((LongNode) node.get("id")).longValue();
String roleName = node.get("role").asText();
long userId = ((LongNode) node.get("user")).longValue();
//Based on the userId you need to search the user and build the user object properly
User user = new User(userId, ....);
return new Roles(id, roleName, user);
}
}
Then you need to register your new deserialiser (1) or use the #JsonDeserialize annotation (2)
(1)
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
SimpleModule module = new SimpleModule();
module.addDeserializer(Item.class, new RolesDeserializer());
mapper.registerModule(module);
Roles deserializedRol = mapper.readValue(yourjson, Roles.class);
(2)
#JsonDeserialize(using = RolesDeserializer.class)
#Entity
#Data
public class Roles {
...
}
Roles deserializedRol = new ObjectMapper().readValue(yourjson, Roles.class);

public class Roles {
#Id
#GeneratedValue
Long id;
#JsonIdentityInfo(generator = ObjectIdGenerators.PropertyGenerator.class, property = "id")
#JsonIdentityReference(alwaysAsId = true)
#OneToOne
User user;
String role;
public Roles(){}
}

Spring MVC, Hibernate : Lazy initialization exception

I am working on a Spring-MVC appplication in which I have 3 classes, GroupCanvas, GroupSection, GroupNotes. GroupCanvas has one-to-many mapping with GroupSection and GroupSection has one-to-many mapping with GroupNotes. I am trying to retrieve notes based upon GroupCanvas's primary key, but I am getting a Hibernate Lazy Initialization Exception. I tried out the recommendations on net, mostly SO, but none of them seem to help. Here is code.
DAO Method throwing error :
#Override
public List<GroupNotes> searchNotesByDays(int days, int mcanvasid) {
Session session = this.sessionFactory.getCurrentSession();
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.add(Calendar.DAY_OF_YEAR, -days);
long daysAgo = cal.getTimeInMillis();
Timestamp nowMinusDaysAsTimestamp = new Timestamp(daysAgo);
Query query = session.createQuery("from GroupSection as n where n.currentcanvas.mcanvasid=:mcanvasid");
query.setParameter("mcanvasid", mcanvasid);
List<GroupSection> sectionList = query.list();
List<GroupNotes> notesList = new ArrayList<GroupNotes>();
for (GroupSection e : sectionList) {
Query query1 = session.createQuery("from GroupNotes as n where n.ownednotes.msectionid=:msectionid and n.noteCreationTime >:limit");
query1.setParameter("limit", nowMinusDaysAsTimestamp);
query1.setParameter("msectionid",e.getMsectionid());
notesList.addAll(query1.list());
}
return notesList;
}
GroupCanvas model :
#Entity
#Table(name = "membercanvas")
public class GroupCanvas{
variables, getters, setters ignored
#OneToMany(mappedBy = "currentcanvas",fetch=FetchType.LAZY, cascade = CascadeType.REMOVE)
#JsonIgnore
private Set<GroupSection> ownedsection = new HashSet<>();
public Set<GroupSection> getOwnedsection() {
return this.ownedsection;
}
public void setOwnedsection(Set<GroupSection> ownedsection) {
this.ownedsection = ownedsection;
}
}
GroupSection model class :
#Entity
#Table(name = "membersection")
public class GroupSection {
#ManyToOne
#JoinColumn(name = "groupcanvasid",nullable = false)
#JsonIgnore
private GroupCanvas currentcanvas;
public GroupCanvas getCurrentcanvas() {
return this.currentcanvas;
}
public void setCurrentcanvas(GroupCanvas currentcanvas) {
this.currentcanvas = currentcanvas;
}
public int getCurrentCanvasId(){
return this.currentcanvas.getMcanvasid();
}
#OneToMany(mappedBy = "ownednotes", fetch = FetchType.EAGER,cascade = CascadeType.REMOVE)
#JsonIgnore
private Set<GroupNotes> sectionsnotes = new HashSet<>();
public Set<GroupNotes> getSectionsnotes(){
return this.sectionsnotes;
}
public void setSectionsnotes(Set<GroupNotes> sectionsnotes){
this.sectionsnotes=sectionsnotes;
}
}
GroupNotes :
#Entity
#Table(name="groupnotes")
public class GroupNotes{
#ManyToOne
#JoinColumn(name = "msectionid")
#JsonIgnore
private GroupSection ownednotes;
public GroupSection getOwnednotes(){return this.ownednotes;}
public void setOwnednotes(GroupSection ownednotes){this.ownednotes=ownednotes;}
}
Error log :
org.springframework.http.converter.HttpMessageNotWritableException: Could not write JSON: failed to lazily initialize a collection of role: com.journaldev.spring.model.GroupCanvas.ownedsection, could not initialize proxy - no Session (through reference chain: java.util.ArrayList[0]->com.journaldev.spring.model.GroupNotes["ownednotes"]->com.journaldev.spring.model.GroupSection["currentcanvas"]->com.journaldev.spring.model.GroupCanvas["ownedsection"]); nested exception is com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException: failed to lazily initialize a collection of role: com.journaldev.spring.model.GroupCanvas.ownedsection, could not initialize proxy - no Session (through reference chain: java.util.ArrayList[0]->com.journaldev.spring.model.GroupNotes["ownednotes"]->com.journaldev.spring.model.GroupSection["currentcanvas"]->com.journaldev.spring.model.GroupCanvas["ownedsection"])
org.springframework.http.converter.json.MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter.writeInternal(MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter.java:256)
What am I doing wrong, kindly let me know. If there is any more information required, kindly put a comment.

Your JSON converter is executed after the Hibernate session is completed. The JSON converter is blindly accessing all the getters and setters, even the lazy ones. So when Hibernate tries to initialize GroupCanvas#ownedSection, there is no session available and hence this exception is thrown.
Possible solutions:
Do not directly execute JSON converter on the Hibernate managed objects. Create DTO objects to do this job. DTO objects have no logic and are pure java beans and fit this role well. But the drawback is you have to maintain another class hierarchy. The benefits do outweigh the drawbacks. The following post can help with this approach:
DTO pattern : Best way to copy properties between two Objects
Use annotations to mark certain fields as not serializable. For example, JsonIgnore. The drawback with this is that if this field is ever needed in a different API, then you cannot use this.
If one of the back-ref can be eliminated from your model (notes->section/section->canvas), then that makes it "friendlier" to serialization. In other works, JSON does not work well with cyclic references, so the lesser the amount of bi-directional/loop constructs the better it is. If it were not for the possibility of a cyclic reference, then you could initialize all the data necessary for serialization including GroupCanvas.

Using transient for both Gson and Hibernate in the same file

I have entity that I need some of the fields not to be persisted and some of the fields not to be serialized.
I am using the #Transient on some of the fields but when I want to mark transient for the Gson. The issue is that hibernate picks it up and also not persist it since its also a keyword in Hibernate .
I use Hibernate-jpa-2.1-api javax.persistence.Transient
I am trying prevent addresses from being serialized and getDefaultAddress should not be saved.
Code:
#Entity
#Table(name="Business")
public class Business{
#OneToMany(mappedBy="business")
private transient List<Phone> addresses;
#Transient
public Phone getDefaultPhone() {
return phones.get(0);
}
}
Any solution?

You can use #Expose
#Expose(serialize = false)
#OneToMany(cascade=CascadeType.ALL, mappedBy="business")
private List<Address> addresses;
In order to be able to work with this annotation,
final GsonBuilder builder = new GsonBuilder();
builder.excludeFieldsWithoutExposeAnnotation();
final Gson gson = builder.create();
Source : http://www.javacreed.com/gson-annotations-example/

I am using Play Framework's implementation of JPA, and Gson.
I got it working with JPA class as follows, which involved constructing the embedded object dynamically before marshalling to json, and no changes were required for the GSON builder, as modifying GSONBuilder will change the strategy globally for other classes as well.
public class DBServiceDefinition {
#Transient
#Expose(serialize = true)
#SerializedName("serviceStatus")
public ServiceDefinitionStatus status = new
ServiceDefinitionStatus(201,"SUCCESS","","Test");
}

How to solve circular reference in json serializer caused by hibernate bidirectional mapping?

I am writing a serializer to serialize POJO to JSON but stuck in circular reference problem. In hibernate bidirectional one-to-many relation, parent references child and child references back to parent and here my serializer dies. (see example code below)
How to break this cycle? Can we get owner tree of an object to see whether object itself exists somewhere in its own owner hierarchy? Any other way to find if the reference is going to be circular? or any other idea to resolve this problem?

I rely on Google JSON To handle this kind of issue by using The feature
Excluding Fields From Serialization and Deserialization
Suppose a bi-directional relationship between A and B class as follows
public class A implements Serializable {
private B b;
}
And B
public class B implements Serializable {
private A a;
}
Now use GsonBuilder To get a custom Gson object as follows (Notice setExclusionStrategies method)
Gson gson = new GsonBuilder()
.setExclusionStrategies(new ExclusionStrategy() {
public boolean shouldSkipClass(Class<?> clazz) {
return (clazz == B.class);
}
/**
* Custom field exclusion goes here
*/
public boolean shouldSkipField(FieldAttributes f) {
return false;
}
})
/**
* Use serializeNulls method if you want To serialize null values
* By default, Gson does not serialize null values
*/
.serializeNulls()
.create();
Now our circular reference
A a = new A();
B b = new B();
a.setB(b);
b.setA(a);
String json = gson.toJson(a);
System.out.println(json);
Take a look at GsonBuilder class

Jackson 1.6 (released september 2010) has specific annotation-based support for handling such parent/child linkage, see http://wiki.fasterxml.com/JacksonFeatureBiDirReferences. (Wayback Snapshot)
You can of course already exclude serialization of parent link already using most JSON processing packages (jackson, gson and flex-json at least support it), but the real trick is in how to deserialize it back (re-create parent link), not just handle serialization side. Although sounds like for now just exclusion might work for you.
EDIT (April 2012): Jackson 2.0 now supports true identity references (Wayback Snapshot), so you can solve it this way also.

Can a bi-directional relationship even be represented in JSON? Some data formats are not good fits for some types of data modelling.
One method for dealing with cycles when dealing with traversing object graphs is to keep track of which objects you've seen so far (using identity comparisons), to prevent yourself from traversing down an infinite cycle.

In addressing this problem, I took the following approach (standardizing the process across my application, making the code clear and reusable):
Create an annotation class to be used on fields you'd like excluded
Define a class which implements Google's ExclusionStrategy interface
Create a simple method to generate the GSON object using the GsonBuilder (similar to Arthur's explanation)
Annotate the fields to be excluded as needed
Apply the serialization rules to your com.google.gson.Gson object
Serialize your object
Here's the code:
1)
import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
import java.lang.annotation.Target;
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
#Target({ElementType.FIELD, ElementType.METHOD})
public #interface GsonExclude {
}
2)
import com.google.gson.ExclusionStrategy;
import com.google.gson.FieldAttributes;
public class GsonExclusionStrategy implements ExclusionStrategy{
private final Class<?> typeToExclude;
public GsonExclusionStrategy(Class<?> clazz){
this.typeToExclude = clazz;
}
#Override
public boolean shouldSkipClass(Class<?> clazz) {
return ( this.typeToExclude != null && this.typeToExclude == clazz )
|| clazz.getAnnotation(GsonExclude.class) != null;
}
#Override
public boolean shouldSkipField(FieldAttributes f) {
return f.getAnnotation(GsonExclude.class) != null;
}
}
3)
static Gson createGsonFromBuilder( ExclusionStrategy exs ){
GsonBuilder gsonbuilder = new GsonBuilder();
gsonbuilder.setExclusionStrategies(exs);
return gsonbuilder.serializeNulls().create();
}
4)
public class MyObjectToBeSerialized implements Serializable{
private static final long serialVersionID = 123L;
Integer serializeThis;
String serializeThisToo;
Date optionalSerialize;
#GsonExclude
#ManyToOne(fetch=FetchType.LAZY, optional=false)
#JoinColumn(name="refobj_id", insertable=false, updatable=false, nullable=false)
private MyObjectThatGetsCircular dontSerializeMe;
...GETTERS AND SETTERS...
}
5)
In the first case, null is supplied to the constructor, you can specify another class to be excluded - both options are added below
Gson gsonObj = createGsonFromBuilder( new GsonExclusionStrategy(null) );
Gson _gsonObj = createGsonFromBuilder( new GsonExclusionStrategy(Date.class) );
6)
MyObjectToBeSerialized _myobject = someMethodThatGetsMyObject();
String jsonRepresentation = gsonObj.toJson(_myobject);
or, to exclude the Date object
String jsonRepresentation = _gsonObj.toJson(_myobject);

If you are using Jackon to serialize, just apply #JsonBackReference to your bi-directinal mapping
It will solve the circular reference problem.
Note : #JsonBackReference is used to solve the Infinite recursion (StackOverflowError)

Used a solution similar to Arthur's but instead of setExclusionStrategies I used
Gson gson = new GsonBuilder()
.excludeFieldsWithoutExposeAnnotation()
.create();
and used #Expose gson annotation for fields which I need in the json, other fields are excluded.

if you are using spring boot,Jackson throws error while creating response from circular/bidirectional data, so use
#JsonIgnoreProperties
to ignore circularity
At Parent:
#OneToMany(mappedBy="dbApp")
#JsonIgnoreProperties("dbApp")
private Set<DBQuery> queries;
At child:
#ManyToOne
#JoinColumn(name = "db_app_id")
#JsonIgnoreProperties("queries")
private DBApp dbApp;

If you are using Javascript, there's a very easy solution to that using the replacer parameter of JSON.stringify() method where you can pass a function to modify the default serialization behavior.
Here's how you can use it. Consider the below example with 4 nodes in a cyclic graph.
// node constructor
function Node(key, value) {
this.name = key;
this.value = value;
this.next = null;
}
//create some nodes
var n1 = new Node("A", 1);
var n2 = new Node("B", 2);
var n3 = new Node("C", 3);
var n4 = new Node("D", 4);
// setup some cyclic references
n1.next = n2;
n2.next = n3;
n3.next = n4;
n4.next = n1;
function normalStringify(jsonObject) {
// this will generate an error when trying to serialize
// an object with cyclic references
console.log(JSON.stringify(jsonObject));
}
function cyclicStringify(jsonObject) {
// this will successfully serialize objects with cyclic
// references by supplying #name for an object already
// serialized instead of passing the actual object again,
// thus breaking the vicious circle :)
var alreadyVisited = [];
var serializedData = JSON.stringify(jsonObject, function(key, value) {
if (typeof value == "object") {
if (alreadyVisited.indexOf(value.name) >= 0) {
// do something other that putting the reference, like
// putting some name that you can use to build the
// reference again later, for eg.
return "#" + value.name;
}
alreadyVisited.push(value.name);
}
return value;
});
console.log(serializedData);
}
Later, you can easily recreate the actual object with the cyclic references by parsing the serialized data and modifying the next property to point to the actual object if it's using a named reference with a # like in this example.

This is how i finally solved it in my case. This works at least with Gson & Jackson.
private static final Gson gson = buildGson();
private static Gson buildGson() {
return new GsonBuilder().addSerializationExclusionStrategy( getExclusionStrategy() ).create();
}
private static ExclusionStrategy getExclusionStrategy() {
ExclusionStrategy exlStrategy = new ExclusionStrategy() {
#Override
public boolean shouldSkipField(FieldAttributes fas) {
return ( null != fas.getAnnotation(ManyToOne.class) );
}
#Override
public boolean shouldSkipClass(Class<?> classO) {
return ( null != classO.getAnnotation(ManyToOne.class) );
}
};
return exlStrategy;
}

Jackson provides JsonIdentityInfo annotation to prevent circular references. You can check the tutorial here.

This error can appened when you have two objects :
class object1{
private object2 o2;
}
class object2{
private object1 o1;
}
With using GSon for serialization, i have got this error :
java.lang.IllegalStateException: circular reference error
Offending field: o1
To solved this, just add key word transient :
class object1{
private object2 o2;
}
class object2{
transient private object1 o1;
}
As you can see here : Why does Java have transient fields?
The transient keyword in Java is used to indicate that a field should not be serialized.

If you use GSON to convert Java class in JSON you can avoid the fields that cause the circular reference and the infinitive loop, you only have to put the annotation #Expose in the fields that you want to appear in the JSON, and the fields without the annotation #Expose do not appear in the JSON.
The circular reference appears for example if we try to serialize the class User with the field routes of class Route, and the class Route have the field user of the class User, then GSON try to serialize the class User and when try to serialize routes, serialize the class Route and in the class Route try to serialize the field user, and again try to serialize the class User, there is a circular reference that provoke the infinitive loop. I show the class User and Route that mentioned.
import com.google.gson.annotations.Expose;
Class User
#Entity
#Table(name = "user")
public class User {
#Column(name = "name", nullable = false)
#Expose
private String name;
#OneToMany(mappedBy = "user", fetch = FetchType.EAGER)
#OnDelete(action = OnDeleteAction.CASCADE)
private Set<Route> routes;
#ManyToMany(fetch = FetchType.EAGER)
#OnDelete(action = OnDeleteAction.CASCADE)
#JoinTable(name = "like_", joinColumns = #JoinColumn(name = "id_user"),
inverseJoinColumns = #JoinColumn(name = "id_route"),
foreignKey = #ForeignKey(name = ""),
inverseForeignKey = #ForeignKey(name = ""))
private Set<Route> likes;
Class Route
#Entity
#Table(name = "route")
public class Route {
#ManyToOne()
#JoinColumn(nullable = false, name = "id_user", foreignKey =
#ForeignKey(name = "c"))
private User user;
To avoid the infinitive loop, we use the annotation #Expose that offer GSON.
I show in format JSON the result of serialize with GSON the class User.
{
"name": "ignacio"
}
We can see that the field route and likes do not exist in the format JSON, only the field name. Because of this, the circular reference is avoid.
If we want to use that, we have to create an object GSON on a specific way.
Gson converterJavaToJson = new GsonBuilder().setPrettyPrinting().excludeFieldsWithoutExposeAnnotation().create();
In the end, we transform the java class of the model of hibernate user using the conversor GSON created.
User user = createUserWithHibernate();
String json = converterJavaToJson.toJson(user);

the answer number 8 is the better, i think so if you know what field is throwing a error the you only set the fild in null and solved.
List<RequestMessage> requestMessages = lazyLoadPaginated(first, pageSize, sortField, sortOrder, filters, joinWith);
for (RequestMessage requestMessage : requestMessages) {
Hibernate.initialize(requestMessage.getService());
Hibernate.initialize(requestMessage.getService().getGroupService());
Hibernate.initialize(requestMessage.getRequestMessageProfessionals());
for (RequestMessageProfessional rmp : requestMessage.getRequestMessageProfessionals()) {
Hibernate.initialize(rmp.getProfessional());
rmp.setRequestMessage(null); // **
}
}
To make the code readable a big comment is moved from the comment // ** to below.
java.lang.StackOverflowError [Request processing failed; nested exception is org.springframework.http.converter.HttpMessageNotWritableException: Could not write JSON: Infinite recursion (StackOverflowError) (through reference chain: com.service.pegazo.bo.RequestMessageProfessional["requestMessage"]->com.service.pegazo.bo.RequestMessage["requestMessageProfessionals"]

For example, ProductBean has got serialBean. The mapping would be bi-directional relationship. If we now try to use gson.toJson(), it will end up with circular reference. In order to avoid that problem, you can follow these steps:
Retrieve the results from datasource.
Iterate the list and make sure the serialBean is not null, and then
Set productBean.serialBean.productBean = null;
Then try to use gson.toJson();
That should solve the problem