Spring nested transactions

Question

In my Spring Boot project I have implemented following service method:

@Transactional
public boolean validateBoard(Board board) {
    boolean result = false;
    if (inProgress(board)) {
        if (!canPlayWithCurrentBoard(board)) {
            update(board, new Date(), Board.AFK);
            throw new InvalidStateException(ErrorMessage.BOARD_TIMEOUT_REACHED);
        }
        if (!canSelectCards(board)) {
            update(board, new Date(), Board.COMPLETED);
            throw new InvalidStateException(ErrorMessage.ALL_BOARD_CARDS_ALREADY_SELECTED);
        }
        result = true;
    }
    return result;
}

inside of this method I use another service method which is called update:

@Transactional(propagation = Propagation.REQUIRES_NEW)
public Board update(Board board, Date finishedDate, Integer status) {
    board.setStatus(status);
    board.setFinishedDate(finishedDate);

    return boardRepository.save(board);
}

I need to commit changes to database in update method independently of the owner transaction which is started in validateBoard method. Right now any changes is rolling back in case of any exception.

Even with @Transactional(propagation = Propagation.REQUIRES_NEW) it doesn't work.

How to correctly do this with Spring and allow nested transactions ?

Answer 1

This documentation covers your problem - https://docs.spring.io/spring-framework/docs/current/spring-framework-reference/data-access.html#transaction-declarative-annotations

In proxy mode (which is the default), only external method calls coming in through the proxy are intercepted. This means that self-invocation, in effect, a method within the target object calling another method of the target object, will not lead to an actual transaction at runtime even if the invoked method is marked with @Transactional. Also, the proxy must be fully initialized to provide the expected behaviour so you should not rely on this feature in your initialization code, i.e. @PostConstruct.

However, there is an option to switch to AspectJ mode