Entity Callbacks

The Spring Data infrastructure provides hooks for modifying an entity before and after certain methods are invoked. Those so called EntityCallback instances provide a convenient way to check and potentially modify an entity in a callback fashioned style.
An EntityCallback looks pretty much like a specialized ApplicationListener. Some Spring Data modules publish store specific events (such as BeforeSaveEvent) that allow modifying the given entity. In some cases, such as when working with immutable types, these events can cause trouble. Also, event publishing relies on ApplicationEventMulticaster. If configuring that with an asynchronous TaskExecutor it can lead to unpredictable outcomes, as event processing can be forked onto a Thread.

Entity callbacks provide integration points with both synchronous and reactive APIs to guarantee in-order execution at well-defined checkpoints within the processing chain, returning a potentially modified entity or an reactive wrapper type.

Entity callbacks are typically separated by API type. This separation means that a synchronous API considers only synchronous entity callbacks and a reactive implementation considers only reactive entity callbacks.

The Entity Callback API has been introduced with Spring Data Commons 2.2. It is the recommended way of applying entity modifications. Existing store specific ApplicationEvents are still published before the invoking potentially registered EntityCallback instances.

Implementing Entity Callbacks

An EntityCallback is directly associated with its domain type through its generic type argument. Each Spring Data module typically ships with a set of predefined EntityCallback interfaces covering the entity lifecycle.

Anatomy of an EntityCallback

@FunctionalInterface
public interface BeforeSaveCallback<T> extends EntityCallback<T> {

	/**
	 * Entity callback method invoked before a domain object is saved.
	 * Can return either the same or a modified instance.
	 *
	 * @return the domain object to be persisted.
	 */
	(1)
	T onBeforeSave(T entity, (2)
		String collection); (3)
}

1	`BeforeSaveCallback` specific method to be called before an entity is saved. Returns a potentially modifed instance.
2	The entity right before persisting.
3	A number of store specific arguments like the collection the entity is persisted to.

Anatomy of a reactive EntityCallback

@FunctionalInterface
public interface ReactiveBeforeSaveCallback<T> extends EntityCallback<T> {

	/**
	 * Entity callback method invoked on subscription, before a domain object is saved.
	 * The returned Publisher can emit either the same or a modified instance.
	 *
	 * @return Publisher emitting the domain object to be persisted.
	 */
	(1)
	Publisher<T> onBeforeSave(T entity, (2)
		String collection); (3)
}

1	`BeforeSaveCallback` specific method to be called on subscription, before an entity is saved. Emits a potentially modifed instance.
2	The entity right before persisting.
3	A number of store specific arguments like the collection the entity is persisted to.

Optional entity callback parameters are defined by the implementing Spring Data module and inferred from call site of EntityCallback.callback().

Implement the interface suiting your application needs like shown in the example below:

Example BeforeSaveCallback

class DefaultingEntityCallback implements BeforeSaveCallback<Person>, Ordered {      (2)

	@Override
	public Object onBeforeSave(Person entity, String collection) {                   (1)

		if(collection == "user") {
		    return // ...
		}

		return // ...
	}

	@Override
	public int getOrder() {
		return 100;                                                                  (2)
	}
}

1	Callback implementation according to your requirements.
2	Potentially order the entity callback if multiple ones for the same domain type exist. Ordering follows lowest precedence.

Registering Entity Callbacks

EntityCallback beans are picked up by the store specific implementations in case they are registered in the ApplicationContext. Most template APIs already implement ApplicationContextAware and therefore have access to the ApplicationContext

The following example explains a collection of valid entity callback registrations:

Example EntityCallback Bean registration

@Order(1)                                                           (1)
@Component
class First implements BeforeSaveCallback<Person> {

	@Override
	public Person onBeforeSave(Person person) {
		return // ...
	}
}

@Component
class DefaultingEntityCallback implements BeforeSaveCallback<Person>,
                                                           Ordered { (2)

	@Override
	public Object onBeforeSave(Person entity, String collection) {
		// ...
	}

	@Override
	public int getOrder() {
		return 100;                                                  (2)
	}
}

@Configuration
public class EntityCallbackConfiguration {

    @Bean
    BeforeSaveCallback<Person> unorderedLambdaReceiverCallback() {   (3)
        return (BeforeSaveCallback<Person>) it -> // ...
    }
}

@Component
class UserCallbacks implements BeforeConvertCallback<User>,
                                        BeforeSaveCallback<User> {   (4)

	@Override
	public Person onBeforeConvert(User user) {
		return // ...
	}

	@Override
	public Person onBeforeSave(User user) {
		return // ...
	}
}

1	`BeforeSaveCallback` receiving its order from the `@Order` annotation.
2	`BeforeSaveCallback` receiving its order via the `Ordered` interface implementation.
3	`BeforeSaveCallback` using a lambda expression. Unordered by default and invoked last. Note that callbacks implemented by a lambda expression do not expose typing information hence invoking these with a non-assignable entity affects the callback throughput. Use a `class` or `enum` to enable type filtering for the callback bean.
4	Combine multiple entity callback interfaces in a single implementation class.