How to map a JSON column with H2, JPA, and Hibernate

I use in application MySQL 5.7 and I have JSON columns. When I try running my integration tests don't work because the H2 database can't create the table. This is the error:

2016-09-21 16:35:29.729 ERROR 10981 --- [           main] org.hibernate.tool.hbm2ddl.SchemaExport  : HHH000389: Unsuccessful: create table payment_transaction (id bigint generated by default as identity, creation_date timestamp not null, payload json, period integer, public_id varchar(255) not null, state varchar(255) not null, subscription_id_zuora varchar(255), type varchar(255) not null, user_id bigint not null, primary key (id))
2016-09-21 16:35:29.730 ERROR 10981 --- [           main] org.hibernate.tool.hbm2ddl.SchemaExport  : Unknown data type: "JSON"; SQL statement:

This is the entity class.

@Table(name = "payment_transaction")
public class PaymentTransaction extends DomainObject implements Serializable {

    @Convert(converter = JpaPayloadConverter.class)
    @Column(name = "payload", insertable = true, updatable = true, nullable = true, columnDefinition = "json")
    private Payload payload;

    public Payload getPayload() {
        return payload;
    }

    public void setPayload(Payload payload) {
        this.payload = payload;
    }
}

And the subclass:

public class Payload implements Serializable {

    private Long userId;
    private SubscriptionType type;
    private String paymentId;
    private List<String> ratePlanId;
    private Integer period;

    public Long getUserId() {
        return userId;
    }

    public void setUserId(Long userId) {
        this.userId = userId;
    }

    public SubscriptionType getType() {
        return type;
    }

    public void setType(SubscriptionType type) {
        this.type = type;
    }

    public String getPaymentId() {
        return paymentId;
    }

    public void setPaymentId(String paymentId) {
        this.paymentId = paymentId;
    }

    public List<String> getRatePlanId() {
        return ratePlanId;
    }

    public void setRatePlanId(List<String> ratePlanId) {
        this.ratePlanId = ratePlanId;
    }

    public Integer getPeriod() {
        return period;
    }

    public void setPeriod(Integer period) {
        this.period = period;
    }

}

And this converter for insert in database:

public class JpaPayloadConverter implements AttributeConverter<Payload, String> {

    // ObjectMapper is thread safe
    private final static ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();

    private Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(getClass());

    @Override
    public String convertToDatabaseColumn(Payload attribute) {
        String jsonString = "";
        try {
            log.debug("Start convertToDatabaseColumn");

            // convert list of POJO to json
            jsonString = objectMapper.writeValueAsString(attribute);
            log.debug("convertToDatabaseColumn" + jsonString);

        } catch (JsonProcessingException ex) {
            log.error(ex.getMessage());
        }
        return jsonString;
    }

    @Override
    public Payload convertToEntityAttribute(String dbData) {

        Payload payload = new Payload();
        try {
            log.debug("Start convertToEntityAttribute");

            // convert json to list of POJO
            payload = objectMapper.readValue(dbData, Payload.class);
            log.debug("JsonDocumentsConverter.convertToDatabaseColumn" + payload);

        } catch (IOException ex) {
            log.error(ex.getMessage());
        }
        return payload;

    }
}

I just came across this problem working with the JSONB column type - the binary version of the JSON type, which doesn't map to TEXT.

For future reference, you can define a custom type in H2 using CREATE DOMAIN, as follows:

CREATE domain IF NOT EXISTS jsonb AS other;

This seemed to work for me, and allowed me to successfully test my code against the entity.

Source: https://objectpartners.com/2015/05/26/grails-postgresql-9-4-and-jsonb/

Champagne time! 🍾

Starting with the version 2.11.0, the Hibernate Types project now provides a generic JsonType that works auto-magically with:

• Oracle,
• SQL Server,
• PostgreSQL,
• MySQL, and
• H2.

Oracle

@Entity(name = "Book")
@Table(name = "book")
@TypeDef(name = "json", typeClass = JsonType.class)
public class Book {

    @Id
    @GeneratedValue
    private Long id;

    @NaturalId
    @Column(length = 15)
    private String isbn;

    @Type(type = "json")
    @Column(columnDefinition = "VARCHAR2(1000) CONSTRAINT IS_VALID_JSON CHECK (properties IS JSON)")
    private Map<String, String> properties = new HashMap<>();
}

SQL Server

@Entity(name = "Book")
@Table(name = "book")
@TypeDef(name = "json", typeClass = JsonType.class)
public class Book {

    @Id
    @GeneratedValue
    private Long id;

    @NaturalId
    @Column(length = 15)
    private String isbn;

    @Type(type = "json")
    @Column(columnDefinition = "NVARCHAR(1000) CHECK(ISJSON(properties) = 1)")
    private Map<String, String> properties = new HashMap<>();
}

PostgreSQL

@Entity(name = "Book")
@Table(name = "book")
@TypeDef(name = "json", typeClass = JsonType.class)
public class Book {

    @Id
    @GeneratedValue
    private Long id;

    @NaturalId
    @Column(length = 15)
    private String isbn;

    @Type(type = "json")
    @Column(columnDefinition = "jsonb")
    private Map<String, String> properties = new HashMap<>();
}

MySQL

@Entity(name = "Book")
@Table(name = "book")
@TypeDef(name = "json", typeClass = JsonType.class)
public class Book {

    @Id
    @GeneratedValue
    private Long id;

    @NaturalId
    @Column(length = 15)
    private String isbn;

    @Type(type = "json")
    @Column(columnDefinition = "json")
    private Map<String, String> properties = new HashMap<>();
}

H2

@Entity(name = "Book")
@Table(name = "book")
@TypeDef(name = "json", typeClass = JsonType.class)
public class Book {

    @Id
    @GeneratedValue
    private Long id;

    @NaturalId
    @Column(length = 15)
    private String isbn;

    @Type(type = "json")
    @Column(columnDefinition = "json")
    private Map<String, String> properties = new HashMap<>();
}

Works like a charm!

So, no more hacks and workarounds, the JsonType will work no matter what DB you are using.

If you want to see it in action, check out this test folder on GitHub.