Java Persistence API

Inheritance

Entity classes can extend other entity classes

Entity Inheritance Example

  @Entity
  public abstract class Employee { // Queryable!
    ...
  }

  @Entity
  public class PartTimeEmployee extends Employee { // Queryable!
    ...
  }

  @Entity
  public class FullTimeEmployee extends Employee { // Queryable!
    ...
  }

Non-entity superclasses having the @MappedSuperclass annotation will have their persistent state stored

@MappedSuperclass Inheritance Example

Non-entity superclasses should be used to inherit behavior only, as their state is not persisted

Non-Entity Inheritance Example