Upgrading from spring-boot-starter-data-jpa 0.5.0.M6 to 0.5.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT causes "TransactionRequiredException: no transaction is in progress"

Question

I'm using the sample code from the Spring Batch tutorial http://spring.io/guides/gs/batch-processing/ in which I swapped the implementation for ItemWriter from JdbcBatchItemWriter to JpaItemWriter as an experiment with JPA. The sample application runs without errors when I use spring-boot-starter-parent:0.5.0.M6 in the POM.

<parent>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
    <version>0.5.0.M6</version>
</parent>

When I switch to spring-boot-starter-parent:0.5.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT as shown below,

<parent>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
    <version>0.5.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT</version>
</parent>

I get the following runtime error:

javax.persistence.TransactionRequiredException: no transaction is in progress
    at org.hibernate.ejb.AbstractEntityManagerImpl.flush(AbstractEntityManagerImpl.java:993)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
    at org.springframework.orm.jpa.ExtendedEntityManagerCreator$ExtendedEntityManagerInvocationHandler.invoke(ExtendedEntityManagerCreator.java:334)
    at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy45.flush(Unknown Source)
    at org.springframework.batch.item.database.JpaItemWriter.write(JpaItemWriter.java:85)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.step.item.SimpleChunkProcessor.writeItems(SimpleChunkProcessor.java:175)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.step.item.SimpleChunkProcessor.doWrite(SimpleChunkProcessor.java:151)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.step.item.SimpleChunkProcessor.write(SimpleChunkProcessor.java:274)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.step.item.SimpleChunkProcessor.process(SimpleChunkProcessor.java:199)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.step.item.ChunkOrientedTasklet.execute(ChunkOrientedTasklet.java:75)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.step.tasklet.TaskletStep$ChunkTransactionCallback.doInTransaction(TaskletStep.java:395)
    at org.springframework.transaction.support.TransactionTemplate.execute(TransactionTemplate.java:133)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.step.tasklet.TaskletStep$2.doInChunkContext(TaskletStep.java:267)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.scope.context.StepContextRepeatCallback.doInIteration(StepContextRepeatCallback.java:77)
    at org.springframework.batch.repeat.support.RepeatTemplate.getNextResult(RepeatTemplate.java:368)
    at org.springframework.batch.repeat.support.RepeatTemplate.executeInternal(RepeatTemplate.java:215)
    at org.springframework.batch.repeat.support.RepeatTemplate.iterate(RepeatTemplate.java:144)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.step.tasklet.TaskletStep.doExecute(TaskletStep.java:253)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.step.AbstractStep.execute(AbstractStep.java:195)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.job.SimpleStepHandler.handleStep(SimpleStepHandler.java:137)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.job.flow.JobFlowExecutor.executeStep(JobFlowExecutor.java:64)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.job.flow.support.state.StepState.handle(StepState.java:60)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.job.flow.support.SimpleFlow.resume(SimpleFlow.java:152)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.job.flow.support.SimpleFlow.start(SimpleFlow.java:131)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.job.flow.FlowJob.doExecute(FlowJob.java:135)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.job.AbstractJob.execute(AbstractJob.java:301)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.launch.support.SimpleJobLauncher$1.run(SimpleJobLauncher.java:134)
    at org.springframework.core.task.SyncTaskExecutor.execute(SyncTaskExecutor.java:50)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.launch.support.SimpleJobLauncher.run(SimpleJobLauncher.java:127)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
    at org.springframework.aop.support.AopUtils.invokeJoinpointUsingReflection(AopUtils.java:317)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.ReflectiveMethodInvocation.invokeJoinpoint(ReflectiveMethodInvocation.java:190)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.ReflectiveMethodInvocation.proceed(ReflectiveMethodInvocation.java:157)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.configuration.annotation.SimpleBatchConfiguration$PassthruAdvice.invoke(SimpleBatchConfiguration.java:117)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.ReflectiveMethodInvocation.proceed(ReflectiveMethodInvocation.java:179)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.JdkDynamicAopProxy.invoke(JdkDynamicAopProxy.java:207)
    at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy39.run(Unknown Source)
    at org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.batch.JobLauncherCommandLineRunner.executeLocalJobs(JobLauncherCommandLineRunner.java:113)
    at org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.batch.JobLauncherCommandLineRunner.launchJobFromProperties(JobLauncherCommandLineRunner.java:90)
    at org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.batch.JobLauncherCommandLineRunner.run(JobLauncherCommandLineRunner.java:83)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.runCommandLineRunners(SpringApplication.java:586)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.afterRefresh(SpringApplication.java:351)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:327)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:797)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:786)
    at hello.Application.main(Application.java:19)

Prior to the upgrade the sample was working, so something has changed to the dependent code that introduced this error. My Spring configuration is listed below:

package hello;

import javax.persistence.EntityManagerFactory;
import javax.sql.DataSource;

import org.springframework.batch.core.Job;
import org.springframework.batch.core.Step;
import org.springframework.batch.core.configuration.annotation.EnableBatchProcessing;
import org.springframework.batch.core.configuration.annotation.JobBuilderFactory;
import org.springframework.batch.core.configuration.annotation.StepBuilderFactory;
import org.springframework.batch.core.launch.support.RunIdIncrementer;
import org.springframework.batch.item.ItemProcessor;
import org.springframework.batch.item.ItemReader;
import org.springframework.batch.item.ItemWriter;
import org.springframework.batch.item.database.JpaItemWriter;
import org.springframework.batch.item.file.FlatFileItemReader;
import org.springframework.batch.item.file.mapping.BeanWrapperFieldSetMapper;
import org.springframework.batch.item.file.mapping.DefaultLineMapper;
import org.springframework.batch.item.file.transform.DelimitedLineTokenizer;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource;
import org.springframework.jdbc.core.JdbcTemplate;

@Configuration
@EnableBatchProcessing
public class BatchConfiguration {

    // tag::readerwriterprocessor[]
    @Bean
    public ItemReader<Person> reader() {
        FlatFileItemReader<Person> reader = new FlatFileItemReader<Person>();
        reader.setResource(new ClassPathResource("sample-data.csv"));
        reader.setLineMapper(new DefaultLineMapper<Person>() {{
            setLineTokenizer(new DelimitedLineTokenizer() {{
                setNames(new String[] { "personId", "firstName", "lastName" });
            }});
            setFieldSetMapper(new BeanWrapperFieldSetMapper<Person>() {{
                setTargetType(Person.class);
            }});
        }});
        return reader;
    }

    @Bean
    public ItemProcessor<Person, Person> processor() {
        return new PersonItemProcessor();
    }

//    @Bean
//    public ItemWriter<Person> writer(DataSource dataSource) {
//        JdbcBatchItemWriter<Person> writer = new JdbcBatchItemWriter<Person>();
//        writer.setItemSqlParameterSourceProvider(new BeanPropertyItemSqlParameterSourceProvider<Person>());
//        writer.setSql("INSERT INTO people (first_name, last_name) VALUES (:firstName, :lastName)");
//        writer.setDataSource(dataSource);
//        return writer;
//    }
//
    @Bean
    public ItemWriter<Person> writer(EntityManagerFactory entityManagerFactory) throws Exception {
        JpaItemWriter<Person> writer = new JpaItemWriter<Person>();
        writer.setEntityManagerFactory(entityManagerFactory);
        writer.afterPropertiesSet();
        return writer;
    }
    // end::readerwriterprocessor[]

    // tag::jobstep[]
    @Bean
    public Job importUserJob(JobBuilderFactory jobs, Step s1) {
        return jobs.get("importUserJob")
                .incrementer(new RunIdIncrementer())
                .flow(s1)
                .end()
                .build();
    }

    @Bean
    public Step step1(StepBuilderFactory stepBuilderFactory, ItemReader<Person> reader,
            ItemWriter<Person> writer, ItemProcessor<Person, Person> processor) {
        return stepBuilderFactory.get("step1")
                .<Person, Person> chunk(10)
                .reader(reader)
                .processor(processor)
                .writer(writer)
                .build();
    }
    // end::jobstep[]

    @Bean
    public JdbcTemplate jdbcTemplate(DataSource dataSource) {
        return new JdbcTemplate(dataSource);
    }

}

I haven't explicitly defined a transaction manager, and I'm wondering if that what is needed here. I'm puzzled because the sample worked previously.

UPDATE: With the latest Spring Boot updates, now I'm getting the error:

Caused by: org.springframework.transaction.InvalidIsolationLevelException: Standard JPA does not support custom isolation levels - use a special JpaDialect for your JPA implementation
at org.springframework.orm.jpa.DefaultJpaDialect.beginTransaction(DefaultJpaDialect.java:63)
at org.springframework.orm.jpa.vendor.HibernateJpaDialect.beginTransaction(HibernateJpaDialect.java:109)
at org.springframework.orm.jpa.JpaTransactionManager.doBegin(JpaTransactionManager.java:380)
at org.springframework.transaction.support.AbstractPlatformTransactionManager.getTransaction(AbstractPlatformTransactionManager.java:373)
at org.springframework.transaction.interceptor.TransactionAspectSupport.createTransactionIfNecessary(TransactionAspectSupport.java:420)
at org.springframework.transaction.interceptor.TransactionAspectSupport.invokeWithinTransaction(TransactionAspectSupport.java:257)
at org.springframework.transaction.interceptor.TransactionInterceptor.invoke(TransactionInterceptor.java:95)
at org.springframework.aop.framework.ReflectiveMethodInvocation.proceed(ReflectiveMethodInvocation.java:179)
at org.springframework.aop.framework.JdkDynamicAopProxy.invoke(JdkDynamicAopProxy.java:207)
at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy38.getLastJobExecution(Unknown Source)
at org.springframework.batch.core.launch.support.SimpleJobLauncher.run(SimpleJobLauncher.java:97)

I no longer have JpaTransactionManager configured in my BatchConfiguration, and I am allowing Spring Boot to configure as much as it can.

Answer 1

I suspect it was this change that made that happen. It looks like you are getting the wrong transaction manager by default. You can raise an issue in github if you want, but the workaround should be easy - just define a JpaTransactionManager.

The DataSourceTransactionManager is actually created in Spring Batch. You can override this behaviour by adding a custom BatchConfigurer. We can look into doing that in Boot automatically, but for now, that's a second workaround.

Update: should be fixed out of the box in snapshots of Spring Boot.