How to Properly Track Deleted Data in Hibernate Envers with Spring Boot

Learn how to handle deleted records in Hibernate Envers while using Spring Boot. We'll break down the solution step-by-step to ensure you can effectively capture the state of deleted entities.
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This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/70445384/ asked by the user 'dilemunal' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/11246411/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/70692424/ provided by the user 'Naros' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/1572269/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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Understanding the Issue: Deleted Data in Hibernate Envers

When working with Hibernate Envers in a Spring Boot application, many developers encounter challenges with auditing deleted records. The core problem stems from certain methods of deleting records that don't trigger the necessary event listeners required by Envers to log changes. Specifically, when records are deleted using bulk operations, the auditing process fails to capture this change. Let’s dive deeper into the situation and understand how to adequately solve this issue.

The Problem Explained

In the provided scenario, the developer is utilizing Hibernate Envers with specific configurations set up in the application.properties file:

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Despite these settings, deleted records do not appear in the audit table. The developer is performing a bulk delete using a custom SQL query:

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The key takeaway here is that bulk delete operations do not load the entity state, which is essential for triggering event listeners that record changes by Envers.

Solution: Capturing Deleted State in Hibernate Envers

To effectively capture the state of deleted entities, the correct approach involves loading each entity before deletion. Let’s explore the steps to implement this solution effectively.

Step-by-Step Solution

1. Load the Entity

Instead of executing a bulk delete query, you should retrieve the entity you wish to delete first. This ensures that Hibernate knows about the entity's current state.

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2. Remove the Entity

After the entity is loaded, you can safely delete it using the entityManager.remove() method. This way, all necessary event listeners are triggered, allowing Envers to audit the deletion appropriately.

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3. Benefits of This Approach

Complete Auditing: By loading the entity, Envers can now track all changes, including deletions.

Event Listeners Triggered: The technical reason behind this is that Hibernate's internal state management triggers the appropriate listeners to log deletions, ensuring integrity in your audit trails.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the issue of missing deleted records in your audit tables while using Hibernate Envers can be resolved by changing your deletion strategy. Instead of performing bulk deletes, load the entities individually and remove them, allowing Hibernate to effectively manage state changes. By following these steps, you ensure that all deleted records are properly captured and logged in your audit tables.

Remember, in Hibernate Envers, the way you manage entity state directly impacts your auditing capabilities. Don’t overlook the importance of how entities are deleted to maintain the integrity of your audit trails!