Module jakarta.persistence
Package jakarta.persistence

Annotation Interface JoinTable

@Target({METHOD,FIELD}) @Retention(RUNTIME) public @interface JoinTable
Specifies the mapping of an association to an intermediate join table. It is applied to the owning side of an association.

A join table is typically used in the mapping of many-to-many and unidirectional one-to-many associations. It may also be used to map bidirectional many-to-one/one-to-many associations, unidirectional many-to-one relationships, and one-to-one associations (both bidirectional and unidirectional).

When a join table is used in mapping a relationship with an embeddable class on the owning side of the relationship, the containing entity rather than the embeddable class is considered the owner of the relationship.

If the JoinTable annotation is missing, the default values of the annotation elements apply. The name of the join table is assumed to be the table names of the associated primary tables concatenated together (owning side first) using an underscore.

Example: 

@JoinTable(
    name = "CUST_PHONE",
    joinColumns = @JoinColumn(name = "CUST_ID", referencedColumnName = "ID"),
    inverseJoinColumns = @JoinColumn(name = "PHONE_ID", referencedColumnName = "ID"))

This annotation may not be applied to a persistent field or property not annotated ManyToOne, OneToOne, ManyToMany, or OneToMany.

Since:
1.0
See Also:

  • Optional Element Summary

    Optional Elements
    Modifier and Type
    Optional Element
    Description
    String
    catalog
    (Optional) The catalog of the table.
    CheckConstraint[]
    check
    (Optional) Check constraints to be applied to the table.
    String
    comment
    (Optional) A comment to be applied to the table.
    ForeignKey
    foreignKey
    (Optional) Used to specify or control the generation of a foreign key constraint for the columns corresponding to the joinColumns() element when table generation is in effect.
    Index[]
    indexes
    (Optional) Indexes for the table.
    ForeignKey
    inverseForeignKey
    (Optional) Used to specify or control the generation of a foreign key constraint for the columns corresponding to the inverseJoinColumns() element when table generation is in effect.
    JoinColumn[]
    inverseJoinColumns
    (Optional) The foreign key columns of the join table which reference the primary table of the entity that does not own the association.
    JoinColumn[]
    joinColumns
    (Optional) The foreign key columns of the join table which reference the primary table of the entity owning the association.
    String
    name
    (Optional) The name of the join table.
    String
    options
    (Optional) A SQL fragment appended to the generated DDL statement which creates this table.
    String
    schema
    (Optional) The schema of the table.
    UniqueConstraint[]
    uniqueConstraints
    (Optional) Unique constraints to be placed on the table.

  • Element Details

    • name

      String name
      (Optional) The name of the join table.

      Defaults to the concatenated names of the two associated primary entity tables, separated by an underscore.

      Default:
      ""

    • catalog

      String catalog
      (Optional) The catalog of the table.

      Defaults to the default catalog.

      Default:
      ""

    • schema

      String schema
      (Optional) The schema of the table.

      Defaults to the default schema for user.

      Default:
      ""

    • joinColumns

      JoinColumn[] joinColumns
      (Optional) The foreign key columns of the join table which reference the primary table of the entity owning the association. (I.e. the owning side of the association).

      Uses the same defaults as for JoinColumn.

      Default:
      {}

    • inverseJoinColumns

      JoinColumn[] inverseJoinColumns
      (Optional) The foreign key columns of the join table which reference the primary table of the entity that does not own the association. (I.e. the inverse side of the association).

      Uses the same defaults as for JoinColumn.

      Default:
      {}

    • foreignKey

      ForeignKey foreignKey
      (Optional) Used to specify or control the generation of a foreign key constraint for the columns corresponding to the joinColumns() element when table generation is in effect. If both this element and the foreignKey element of any of the joinColumns() elements are specified, the behavior is undefined. If no foreign key annotation element is specified in either location, a default foreign key strategy is selected by the persistence provider.
      Since:
      2.1
      Default:
      @jakarta.persistence.ForeignKey(PROVIDER_DEFAULT)

    • inverseForeignKey

      ForeignKey inverseForeignKey
      (Optional) Used to specify or control the generation of a foreign key constraint for the columns corresponding to the inverseJoinColumns() element when table generation is in effect. If both this element and the foreignKey element of any of the inverseJoinColumns() elements are specified, the behavior is undefined. If no foreign key annotation element is specified in either location, a default foreign key strategy is selected by the persistence provider.
      Since:
      2.1
      Default:
      @jakarta.persistence.ForeignKey(PROVIDER_DEFAULT)

    • uniqueConstraints

      UniqueConstraint[] uniqueConstraints
      (Optional) Unique constraints to be placed on the table. These are only used if table generation is in effect.

      Defaults to no additional constraints.

      Default:
      {}

    • indexes

      Index[] indexes
      (Optional) Indexes for the table. These are only used if table generation is in effect.
      Since:
      2.1
      Default:
      {}

    • check

      CheckConstraint[] check
      (Optional) Check constraints to be applied to the table. These are only used if table generation is in effect.
      Since:
      3.2
      Default:
      {}

    • comment

      String comment
      (Optional) A comment to be applied to the table. This is only used if table generation is in effect.
      Since:
      3.2
      Default:
      ""

    • options

      String options
      (Optional) A SQL fragment appended to the generated DDL statement which creates this table. This is only used if table generation is in effect.
      Since:
      3.2
      Default:
      ""