View source for EclipseLink/UserGuide/JPA/Basic JPA Development/Entities/Ids/TableGenerator

{{EclipseLink_UserGuide
|info=y
|toc=n
|eclipselink=y
|eclipselinktype=JPA}}

=@TableGenerator Annotation=
If you use the [[EclipseLink/UserGuide/JPA/Basic JPA Development/Mapping/Entity/GeneratedValue|<tt>@GeneratedValue</tt> annotation]] to specify a primary key generator of type <tt>TABLE</tt>, then you can use the <tt>@TableGenerator</tt> annotation to fine-tune this primary key generator to do the following:
* change the name of the primary key generator's table, because the name is awkward, a reserved word, incompatible with a preexisting data model, or invalid as a table name in your database;
* change the allocation size to match your application requirements or database performance parameters;
* change the initial value to match an existing data model (for example, if you are building on an existing data set, for which a range of primary key values has already been assigned or reserved);
* configure the primary key generator's table with a specific catalog or schema;
* configure a unique constraint on one or more columns of the primary key generator's table;
{{EclipseLink_Spec|section=Section 11.1.46 "TableGenerator Annotation"}}
{{EclipseLink_AttributeTable
|caption=@TableGenerator Attributes
|content=<tr>
 <td>'''<tt>name</tt>'''</td>
 <td>The name of the generator must match the name of a <tt>GeneratedValue</tt> with its <tt>strategy</tt> attribute set to <tt>TABLE</tt>. The scope of the generator name is global to the persistence unit (across all generator types).</td>
 <td></td>
 <td>Yes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
 <td>'''<tt>allocationSize</tt>'''</td>
 <td>An <tt>int</tt> value to match your your application requirements or database performance parameters.
 <td>50</td>
 <td>No</td>
</tr>
<tr>
 <td>'''<tt>catalog</tt>'''</td>
 <td>A <tt>String</tt> catalog name.
 <td>Default catalog for database</td>
 <td>No</td>
</tr>
<tr>
 <td>'''<tt>initialValue</tt>'''</td>
 <td>An <tt>int</tt> initial primary key value. 
 <td>0</td>
 <td>No</td>
</tr>
<tr>
 <td>'''<tt>pkColumnName</tt>'''</td> 
 <td>A <tt>String</tt> name for the primary key column in the generator table. 
 <td>SEQ_NAME</td>
 <td>No</td>
</tr>
<tr>
 <td>'''<tt>pkColumnValue</tt>'''</td>
 <td><tt>String</tt> primary key value for the primary key column in the generator table. </td>
 <td>TableGenereator.name</td>
 <td>No</td>
</tr>
<tr>
 <td>'''<tt>schema</tt>'''</td>
 <td>The <tt>String</tt> name of the schema.</td>
 <td>Default schema of the database</td>
 <td>No</td>
</tr>
<tr>
 <td>'''<tt>table</tt>'''</td>
 <td>A <tt>String</tt> name of the table in which to store the generated ID values.</td>
 <td>SEQUENCE</td>
 <td>No</td>
</tr>
<tr>
 <td>'''<tt>uniqueConstraints</tt>'''</td>
 <td>By default, EclipseLink persistence provider assumes that none of the columns in the primary key generator table have unique constraints.<br>If unique constraints do apply to one or more columns in this table, set the value of this attribute to an array of one or more <tt>UniqueConstraint</tt> instances. 
{{EclipseLink_Spec|section=Section 11.1.49 "UniqueConstraint Annotation"}}</td>
 <td>No additional constraints</td>
 <td>No</td>
</tr>
<tr>
 <td>'''<tt>valueColumnName</tt>'''</td>
 <td>A <tt>String</tt> name of the column that stores the generated ID values.
 <td>SEQ_COUNT</td>
 <td>No</td>
</tr>
}}


The following example shows how to use this annotation to specify the allocation size for the <tt>TABLE</tt> primary key generator named <tt>Emp_Gen</tt>.

<span id="Example: @TableGenerator"></span>
======''Example: Using @TableGenerator''======
<source lang="java">
 @Entity
 public class Employee implements Serializable {
     ...
     @Id
     @TableGenerator(name="Emp_Gen", allocationSize=1)
     @GeneratorValue(strategy=TABLE, generator="Emp_Gen")
     @Column(name="CUST_ID")
     public Long getId() {
         return id;
     }
     ...
 }
</source>

Every table that you use for id generation should have two columns – if there are more columns, only two will be used. The first column is of a string type and is used to identify the particular generator sequence. It is the primary key for all of the generators in the table. The name of this column is specified by the <tt>pkColumnName</tt> attribute. The second column is of an integer type and stores the actual id sequence that is being generated. The value stored in this column is the last identifier that was allocated in the sequence. The name of this column is specified by the <tt>valueColumnName</tt> attribute.

Each defined generator represents a row in the table. The name of the generator becomes the value stored in the <tt>pkColumnName</tt> column for that row and is used by EclipseLink persistence provider to look up the generator to obtain its last allocated value.




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