java - Why composite-id class must implement Serializable?

Question

If I make a composite-id class which doesn't implement Serializable like:

@Entity
@Table(name = "board")
public class Board {
    @Id
    @Column(name = "keyword_news_id")
    private int id;

    @Id
    @Column(name = "board_no")
    private int boardNo;
....

Errors occur like:

Caused by: org.hibernate.MappingException: composite-id class must implement Serializable: com.estinternet.news.domain.IssueNewsBoard
    at org.hibernate.mapping.RootClass.checkCompositeIdentifier(RootClass.java:263)
    at org.hibernate.mapping.RootClass.validate(RootClass.java:244)
    at org.hibernate.cfg.Configuration.validate(Configuration.java:1362)
    at org.hibernate.cfg.Configuration.buildSessionFactory(Configuration.java:1865)
    at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.LocalSessionFactoryBean.newSessionFactory(LocalSessionFactoryBean.java:860)
    at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.LocalSessionFactoryBean.buildSessionFactory(LocalSessionFactoryBean.java:779)
    at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.AbstractSessionFactoryBean.afterPropertiesSet(AbstractSessionFactoryBean.java:211)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeInitMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1477)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1417)

Hibernate entity classes doesn't need to be Serializable. Then, why does composite-id class must implement Serializable? I read this thread, but it didn't give me enough information.

Answer 1

The session object needs to be serializable hence all objects referenced by it must be serializable as well. The id is used as a key to index loaded objects in the session. In case of CompositeId s the class itself is used as the id.