Insert master, then details

Question

I'm using JDeveloper 10.1.3.5. I've set up ADF BC EO's and VO's for a master table and a detail table. There is also a 1:* Association, and a 1:* View Link between the master and details and this has all been added to an Application Module. The primary key of the master table is a surrogate PK generated from a sequence in a trigger. So the PK attribute has been designated as a DBSequence and has Refresh after Insert turned on.
I have a jspx page using ADF Faces. It has a Create Form based on the master table. That means that a Create action was added to the page definition, and an invokeAction set to make sure Create is done when the page is first displayed. I added an InputFile component set to an UploadedFile in a backing bean. The files that users will be uploading contain detail records to be associated with this master. So I added an Iterator, Create action named CreateDetail, and AttributeValues for each attribute in the detail table's VO to the page definition. There is also a Commit action in the page definition.
In the backing bean, there is an ActionEvent method tied to a commandButton on the page. It takes the uploaded file and executes CreateDetail for each record in the uploaded file, parses the record and sets the attributes. Then it executes Commit.
Here's the problem:
If I execute Commit before I start creating the detail records from the uploaded file, then Commit again after creating details, this works fine. However, if there is an error when I process the details, the master has already been committed. I'd rather consider master and details as a single transaction to be committed or rolled back as a unit.
If I don't commit before I start creating the detail records, the new primary key for the master record hasn't been retrieved yet. So the detail records don't have the foreign key that points to the master. So the commit fails - missing mandatory field.
I tried changing the Create on the master record to a CreateInsert, hoping that the framework would do the Insert of the master and retrieve its PK before processing the details, but no dice - it still works only if I Commit before processing details.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

In 11g, I've had some issues with compositions automatically maintaining foreign-key relationships for a sequence-based PK correctly if both master and detail are new. Have you tried implementing the (Java) solution provided by the aforementioned section of the dev guide (even though you shouldn't need it for compositions)?
If that doesn't work for you, I've found the "old" method to be successful:
In master:
public void postChanges(TransactionEvent e) {
/* Only references if this is NEW */
RowSet newDetailsBeforePost = null;
if (getPostState() == STATUS_NEW) {
// Store the rowset of details related
// to this new image before calling super
newDetailsBeforePost = (RowSet)getXXX(); // replace "getXXX" with your association accessor method
super.postChanges(e);
if (newDetailsBeforePost != null) {
adjustDetails(newDetailsBeforePost);
private void adjustDetails(RowSet details) {
Number newFkValue = getYYY.getSequenceNumber(); // replace "getYYY" with the getter for your sequence-based PK attribute
while (details.hasNext()) {
DetailImpl detail= (DetailImpl) details.next(); // replace "DetailImpl" with your detail EO class
detail.setZZZ(newFkValue); // replace "setZZZ" with the setter for the detail's FK attribute
In detail:
public void postChanges(TransactionEvent e) {
MasterImpl master = getMaster(); // replace "MasterImpl" with master EO class, "getMaster" with assoc accessor method
if (STATUS_NEW == master.getPostState()) {
master.postChanges(e);
super.postChanges(e);
Even better is to create an EO framework class that just fixes this problem (in general) for you, but that's more complicated--<plug>see the forthcoming JDev11g handbook</plug>.
Hope this helps,
Avrom