What is Hibernate entity versioning?

What is Hibernate entity versioning?

Hibernate entity versioning is a mechanism to manage concurrent updates to entities in a database. It helps prevent lost updates by ensuring that only one transaction can modify an entity at a time.

How does it work in practice?

In practice, Hibernate uses a version field in the entity class. Each time an entity is updated, the version number is incremented. If another transaction tries to update the same entity, it checks the version number to ensure it matches the current version in the database.

What happens if the version doesn't match?

If the version doesn't match, Hibernate throws an OptimisticLockException, indicating that the entity has been modified by another transaction since it was last read.

Can I customize the versioning strategy?

Yes, you can customize the versioning strategy by using different types of version fields, such as integers or timestamps, depending on your application's requirements.