Major Description
This is a two-fold issue with "invisible" attributes that are possible to map via the Modeler, and that are causing runtime problems.. Scenario to reproduce:
- Open the modeler
- Create new DataMap
- Create new DbEntity with a PK column
- Create new ObjEntity based on DbEntity above and map meaningful PK
- Create another ObjEntity that is a subclass of the ObjEntity above
- Add ObjAttribute to subclass and use the same name as the meaningful PK attribute. Hit "Enter" in the name field - attribute disappears. The user assumes this was because the attribute is already defined in the superclass..
- Save the project - subclass ObjAttribute appears in the XML:
<data-map xmlns="http://cayenne.apache.org/schema/3.0/modelMap"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://cayenne.apache.org/schema/3.0/modelMap http://cayenne.apache.org/schema/3.0/modelMap.xsd"
project-version="6">
<db-entity name="db_entity">
<db-attribute name="untitledAttr" type="INTEGER" isPrimaryKey="true" isMandatory="true"/>
</db-entity>
<obj-entity name="DbEntity" dbEntityName="db_entity">
<obj-attribute name="untitledAttr" type="java.lang.Integer" db-attribute-path="untitledAttr"/>
</obj-entity>
<obj-entity name="ObjEntity" superEntityName="DbEntity">
<obj-attribute name="untitledAttr"/>
</obj-entity>
</data-map>
I.e. subclass attribute is there, but it is invisible in the Modeler.
Now problem number two is caused by invisible attribute in runtime. A SelectQuery against super that fetches some sub entities , returns NULL elements in the result list.
Fix ideas...
As a minor improvement we may kill such "shadow" attribute in runtime and print a warning, but I guess the real fix should be on the Modeler end - complain about a name that matches super name. And if the super was renamed to create sub conflict, display a validation error on save. And do not hide the attribute if it was added - the user should be able to see it and remove/rename if needed.