hibernate-008: Unidirectional vs Bidirectional @OneToOne Relationship

🚀 1️⃣ Unidirectional @OneToOne Relationship

✅ In a unidirectional @OneToOne, only one entity knows about the other, and the foreign key is stored in the owning entity.

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📌 Example: A User has a Profile

• A User has exactly one Profile.
• A Profile belongs to exactly one User.
• The foreign key (profile_id) is stored in the User table.

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🔹 Step 1: Define the Owning Side (@OneToOne with @JoinColumn)

@Entity
public class User {
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
    private Long id;
    private String username;

    @OneToOne
    @JoinColumn(name = "profile_id") // ✅ Foreign key stored in User table
    private Profile profile;
}

• @JoinColumn(name = "profile_id") ensures that the User table stores the foreign key.

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🔹 Step 2: Define the Profile Entity (No Reference Back)

@Entity
public class Profile {
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
    private Long id;
    private String bio;
}

• Profile does not reference User (unidirectional).
• User owns the relationship and has the profile_id column.

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🔹 Generated SQL

CREATE TABLE user (
    id BIGINT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    username VARCHAR(255),
    profile_id BIGINT UNIQUE, -- ✅ Foreign key stored here
    FOREIGN KEY (profile_id) REFERENCES profile(id)
);

CREATE TABLE profile (
    id BIGINT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    bio VARCHAR(255)
);

✅ The profile_id foreign key is stored in User, ensuring a one-to-one relationship.

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📌 Saving Data in Hibernate

Profile profile = new Profile();
profile.setBio("Software Engineer");

User user = new User();
user.setUsername("JohnDoe");
user.setProfile(profile); // ✅ Link profile to user

entityManager.persist(profile); // ✅ Save Profile first
entityManager.persist(user); // ✅ Then save User

🚀 Now the User is linked to the Profile.

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📌 Querying Data

User user = entityManager.find(User.class, 1L);
System.out.println(user.getProfile().getBio()); // ✅ Works!

✅ You can access the Profile from User, but not the other way around.

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🚀 2️⃣ Bidirectional @OneToOne Relationship

✅ In a bidirectional @OneToOne, both entities know about each other.

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📌 Example: A User has a Profile, and a Profile belongs to a User

• User owns the relationship (@OneToOne with @JoinColumn).
• Profile has a reference back to User (@OneToOne(mappedBy = "profile")).

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🔹 Step 1: Define the Owning Side (@OneToOne with @JoinColumn)

@Entity
public class User {
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
    private Long id;
    private String username;

    @OneToOne
    @JoinColumn(name = "profile_id") // ✅ Foreign key stored in User
    private Profile profile;
}

✅ User owns the relationship and has the foreign key.

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🔹 Step 2: Define the Inverse Side (@OneToOne(mappedBy = "profile"))

@Entity
public class Profile {
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
    private Long id;
    private String bio;

    @OneToOne(mappedBy = "profile") // ✅ Inverse side
    private User user;
}

✅ mappedBy = "profile" tells Hibernate:

• "The foreign key is already in the User table."
• "Don't create another column in Profile."

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🔹 Generated SQL

CREATE TABLE user (
    id BIGINT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    username VARCHAR(255),
    profile_id BIGINT UNIQUE, -- ✅ Foreign key stored here
    FOREIGN KEY (profile_id) REFERENCES profile(id)
);

CREATE TABLE profile (
    id BIGINT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    bio VARCHAR(255)
);

✅ The foreign key is only in User.profile_id, keeping the relationship correct.

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📌 Saving Data in Hibernate

Profile profile = new Profile();
profile.setBio("Software Engineer");

User user = new User();
user.setUsername("JohnDoe");
user.setProfile(profile);

profile.setUser(user); // ✅ Set reference back

entityManager.persist(profile); // ✅ Save Profile first
entityManager.persist(user); // ✅ Then save User

🚀 Now, both User and Profile reference each other.

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📌 Querying Both Directions

✅ User → Profile

User user = entityManager.find(User.class, 1L);
System.out.println(user.getProfile().getBio()); // ✅ Works!

✅ Profile → User

Profile profile = entityManager.find(Profile.class, 1L);
System.out.println(profile.getUser().getUsername()); // ✅ Works!

✅ Unlike the unidirectional version, now you can access both User → Profile and Profile → User.

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🚀 3️⃣ Summary: Unidirectional vs. Bidirectional @OneToOne

Feature	Unidirectional (@OneToOne)	Bidirectional (@OneToOne + mappedBy)
@OneToOne used?	✅ Yes	✅ Yes (Both Sides)
@JoinColumn used?	✅ Yes (Owning Side)	✅ Yes (Owning Side)
mappedBy used?	❌ No	✅ Yes (Inverse Side)
Foreign key location?	In owning entity's table	In owning entity's table
Reference back?	❌ No	✅ Yes (Both Can Access Each Other)

✅ Best Practice: Use bidirectional @OneToOne if you need to query from both entities.

🚀 Unidirectional @OneToOne is simpler if you only query in one direction.

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🎯 Final Takeaways

• Unidirectional @OneToOne = Only one entity knows about the other (@JoinColumn in the owning side).
• Bidirectional @OneToOne = Both entities reference each other (mappedBy used on the inverse side).
• Always place the foreign key on the entity that owns the relationship.
• Use bidirectional if you need to query both ways.

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