How to set default boolean value in JPA

I have an attribute

private boolean include;

I would like to set its default value to true, so that in the database it must display True from default. Is this possible in JPA?

As far as i known there is no JPA native solution to provide default values. Here it comes my workaround:

Non database portable solution

@Column(columnDefinition="tinyint(1) default 1")
private boolean include;

Java oriented solution

private boolean include = true;

Java oriented plus Builder pattern

     @Column(nullable = false)
     private Boolean include;
     ...
     public static class Builder {
      private Boolean include = true; // Here it comes your default value
      public Builder include (Boolean include ) {
      this.include = include ;
      return this;
     }
     // Use the pattern builder whenever you need to persist a new entity.
     public MyEntity build() {
       MyEntity myEntity = new MyEntity ();
       myEntity .setinclude (include );
       return myEntity;
      }
...
}

This is my favorite and less intrusive. Basically it delegates the task to define the default value to the Builder pattern in your entity.

Using JPA 2.1 and Oracle 11 this works for me by using Oracle type NUMBER of size 1:

Java:

@Column(name = "ENABLED", nullable = false)
private boolean enabled = true;

Create SQL script:

CREATE TABLE "ACCOUNT"(
"ID" NUMBER(10,0) NOT NULL ENABLE,
"NAME" VARCHAR2(255 CHAR) NOT NULL ENABLE,
"PASSWORD" VARCHAR2(255) NOT NULL ENABLE,
"ENABLED" NUMBER(1,0) DEFAULT 1 NOT NULL ENABLE,
PRIMARY KEY ("ID")
);

For PostgreSQL you can use boolean in definition

@Column(name = "isDeleted", columnDefinition = "boolean default true")
private boolean isDeleted = true;

Maybe will be useful for people who work with Microsoft SQL SERVER

	@Column(columnDefinition="bit default 0")
	private Boolean active;

Possible values: 0 or 1

I've found that adding in the constructor is a good workaround to default new entities to a value:

public EntityName(){
    this.fieldToDefault = default;
}

In my case, for spring boot jpa, having the below syntax in entity class worked.

@Builder.Default
private boolean columnName = false;

or

@NotNull
@Builder.Default
@ColumnDefault("true")
private Boolean columnName = true;

@Builder.Default is to ensure we are having default values while constructing the object for this model, needed only when the entity model class is annotated with @Builder. If otherwise, even without having @Builder.Default, things are working fine as expected.

You can always use annotations @PreUpdate or @PrePersist on method where you will setup what should be done before update or before save into DB.

Or just simply setup the value private boolean include = true;

If you have defined default values in your database, you can choose the column annotation, and as parameter you use insertable = false, in this way when inserting a value it will choose the one that you marked by default in the database. Example: In MySQL I have a person table with a status attribute of boolean type and it has by default the value true. In your java class it would look like this:

//....
public class Person implements Serializable {
    //.....
    @Column(insertable = false)
	private Boolean status;
    //...
}

You can have more information about the column annotation HERE, it is well explained and it helped me a lot.

The easy way to set a default column value is to set it directly as an entity property value:

@Entity
public class Student {
    @Id
    private Long id;
    private String name = "Ousama";
    private Integer age = 30;
    private Boolean happy = false;
}

private boolean include = true;