Spring @Transactional - isolation, propagation

A Transaction represents a unit of work with a database.

In spring TransactionDefinition interface that defines Spring-compliant transaction properties. @Transactional annotation describes transaction attributes on a method or class.

@Autowired
private TestDAO testDAO;

@Transactional(propagation=TransactionDefinition.PROPAGATION_REQUIRED,isolation=TransactionDefinition.ISOLATION_READ_UNCOMMITTED)
public void someTransactionalMethod(User user) {

  // Interact with testDAO

}

---

Propagation (Reproduction) : is uses for inter transaction relation. (analogous to java inter thread communication)

+-------+---------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| value |        Propagation        |                                             Description                                              |
+-------+---------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|    -1 | TIMEOUT_DEFAULT           | Use the default timeout of the underlying transaction system, or none if timeouts are not supported. |
|     0 | PROPAGATION_REQUIRED      | Support a current transaction; create a new one if none exists.                                      |
|     1 | PROPAGATION_SUPPORTS      | Support a current transaction; execute non-transactionally if none exists.                           |
|     2 | PROPAGATION_MANDATORY     | Support a current transaction; throw an exception if no current transaction exists.                  |
|     3 | PROPAGATION_REQUIRES_NEW  | Create a new transaction, suspending the current transaction if one exists.                          |
|     4 | PROPAGATION_NOT_SUPPORTED | Do not support a current transaction; rather always execute non-transactionally.                     |
|     5 | PROPAGATION_NEVER         | Do not support a current transaction; throw an exception if a current transaction exists.            |
|     6 | PROPAGATION_NESTED        | Execute within a nested transaction if a current transaction exists.                                 |
+-------+---------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

---

Isolation : Isolation is one of the ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) properties of database transactions. Isolation determines how transaction integrity is visible to other users and systems. It uses for resource locking i.e. concurrency control, make sure that only one transaction can access the resource at a given point.

Locking perception: isolation level determines the duration that locks are held.

+---------------------------+-------------------+-------------+-------------+------------------------+
| Isolation Level Mode      |  Read             |   Insert    |   Update    |       Lock Scope       |
+---------------------------+-------------------+-------------+-------------+------------------------+
| READ_UNCOMMITTED          |  uncommitted data | Allowed     | Allowed     | No Lock                |
| READ_COMMITTED (Default)  |   committed data  | Allowed     | Allowed     | Lock on Committed data |
| REPEATABLE_READ           |   committed data  | Allowed     | Not Allowed | Lock on block of table |
| SERIALIZABLE              |   committed data  | Not Allowed | Not Allowed | Lock on full table     |
+---------------------------+-------------------+-------------+-------------+------------------------+

Read perception: the following 3 kinds of major problems occurs:

• Dirty reads : reads uncommitted data from another tx(transaction).
• Non-repeatable reads : reads committed UPDATES from another tx.
• Phantom reads : reads committed INSERTS and/or DELETES from another tx

Isolation levels with different kinds of reads:

+---------------------------+----------------+----------------------+----------------+
| Isolation Level Mode      |  Dirty reads   | Non-repeatable reads | Phantoms reads |
+---------------------------+----------------+----------------------+----------------+
| READ_UNCOMMITTED          | allows         | allows               | allows         |
| READ_COMMITTED (Default)  | prevents       | allows               | allows         |
| REPEATABLE_READ           | prevents       | prevents             | allows         |
| SERIALIZABLE              | prevents       | prevents             | prevents       |
+---------------------------+----------------+----------------------+----------------+