JPA JsonManagedReference with lombok - jpa

Question

This is a two part question:
I saw some tutorials saying you should add JsonManagedReference / JsonBackReference to the getters instead of the actual property, like so:
public class Post {
#ManyToOne
#JoinColumn(name = "user_id")
private User user;
#JsonBackReference
public getUser() {
return user;
}
}
public class User {
#OneToMany(mappedBy = "user")
private List<Post> posts;
#JsonManagedReference
public List<Post> getPosts() {
return posts;
}
}
Can someone confirm this? If true, this leads to my second question, if using lombok, do I need to create a custom getter for these properties and add the annotation, or can it be added to the actual property and lombok is smart enough to auto add them to getters generated getters?

Answer 1

No and no. If there is a reason suggested to place annotation to getter by some tutorial maybe the reason is explained in that tutorial also.
However, if there is a real reason to do this with #Getter Lombok provides a way to add these annotations while not being very flexible in a sense that you need then to code "almost as much" as coding the getter by yourself. It is attribute onMethod (also onConstructor etc..)
Have a look at this simple example class:
#Getter(onMethod = #__(#Deprecated))
public class LombokExample {
#JsonBackReference
private User userProperty;
#Getter(onMethod = #__(#JsonBackReference))
private User userGetter;
}
A tool called delombok reveals the code that is generated. Explanation in comments:
public class LombokExample {
#JsonBackReference
private User userProperty;
private User userGetter;
#Deprecated // class level getter onMethod adds this
// but not #JsonBackReference
#java.lang.SuppressWarnings("all")
public User getUserProperty() {
return this.userProperty;
}
#JsonBackReference // Method level getter onMethod adds this
// and since overridden the #Deprecated
// is not added
#java.lang.SuppressWarnings("all")
public User getUserGetter() {
return this.userGetter;
}
}