hibernate/hibernate-orm · error · CannotForceNonNullableException

Identifier property '" + getPath( holder, data ) + "' cannot

Error message

Identifier property '" + getPath( holder, data ) + "' cannot map to a '@Formula'

What it means

Thrown when an identifier property is mapped to a @Formula instead of a real column. During binding, PropertyBinder.forceColumnsNotNull forces every column backing an id to NOT NULL; a formula is a read-only SQL expression with no column, so CannotForceNonNullableException (an AnnotationException subclass) aborts bootstrap. It only fires when isId() is true for the property being bound.

Source

Thrown at hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/boot/model/internal/PropertyBinder.java:1371

			Nullability nullability,
			MemberDetails property,
			AnnotatedColumns columns) {
		if ( shouldForceNotNull( nullability, isExplicitlyOptional( property ) ) ) {
			forceColumnsNotNull( propertyHolder, inferredData, columns );
		}

		setLazy( isLazy( property ) );
		setColumns( columns );
		makePropertyValueAndBind();
	}

	private void forceColumnsNotNull(
			PropertyHolder holder,
			PropertyData data,
			AnnotatedColumns columns) {
		for ( AnnotatedColumn column : columns.getColumns() ) {
			if ( isId() && column.isFormula() ) {
				throw new CannotForceNonNullableException( "Identifier property '"
						+ getPath( holder, data ) + "' cannot map to a '@Formula'" );
			}
			column.forceNotNull();
		}
	}

	private boolean shouldForceNotNull(Nullability nullability, boolean optional) {
		return isId()
			|| !optional && nullability != Nullability.FORCED_NULL;
	}

	/**
	 * Should this property be considered optional, without considering
	 * whether it is primitive?
	 *
	 * @apiNote Poorly named to a degree.
	 *          The intention is really whether non-optional is explicit
	 */

View on GitHub (pinned to fad1729dce)

Solutions

Remove @Formula from the identifier attribute and map it to a real column with @Column(name = ...).
If the key value is computed in SQL, generate it in the database (generated column, trigger, or default) and map the resulting column normally.
If the id should be synthetic, use @Id @GeneratedValue with a proper id column instead of deriving it from an expression.
Restructure view-backed entities so the id maps to a plain (non-formula) column of the view.

Example fix

// before
@Id
@Formula("regexp_replace(code, 'X', '')")
private Long id;

// after
@Id
@GeneratedValue
@Column(name = "id", nullable = false)
private Long id;

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// CI guard: boot the mapping cheaply and fail fast on bad id formulas
Metadata metadata = new MetadataSources(new StandardServiceRegistryBuilder().build())
        .addAnnotatedClass(Order.class)
        .buildMetadata(); // throws CannotForceNonNullableException here, not in production

Try / catch

try {
    sessionFactory = metadata.buildSessionFactory();
} catch (AnnotationException e) { // CannotForceNonNullableException extends AnnotationException
    throw new IllegalStateException("Mapping rejected: " + e.getMessage(), e);
}

Prevention

Never combine @Id or @EmbeddedId members with @Formula.
Keep a bootstrap smoke test that builds Metadata for every mapped class in CI.
Review any entity mapped to views: ids must reference real columns.

When it happens

Trigger: Entity declares @Id on a field/getter that also carries @Formula("..."), or an @EmbeddedId embeddable whose member uses @Formula. Raised while Hibernate binds the id property and iterates its AnnotatedColumns, never at runtime.

Common situations: Trying to use a computed/derived SQL expression as the primary key; aliasing real columns with @Formula and accidentally applying it to the id; mapping an entity to a database view and marking a view column formula-based; copying @Formula conventions from read-only attributes onto identifiers.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hibernate/hibernate-orm@fad1729dce (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b8fe737aabda6120. Report an issue: GitHub.