#348 - ENH: Add @WhenCreated and @WhenModified ... as alias to existing @CreatedTimestamp and @UpdatedTimstamp

src/main/java/com/avaje/ebean/annotation/WhenCreated.java

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+package com.avaje.ebean.annotation;
+
+import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
+import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
+import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
+import java.lang.annotation.Target;
+
+/**
+ * For a timestamp property that is set to the datetime when the entity is
+ * created/inserted.
+ * <p>
+ * This is effectively an alias for @CreatedTimestamp and added to hint
+ * towards a better naming convention (WhenCreated, WhenModified).
+ * </p>
+ * <p>
+ * An alternative to using this annotation would be to use insertable=false,
+ * updateable=false with @Column and have the DB insert the current time
+ * (default value on the DB column is SYSTIME etc).
+ * </p>
+ * <p>
+ * The downside to this approach is that the inserted entity does not have the
+ * timestamp value after the insert has occurred. You need to fetch the entity
+ * back to get the inserted timestamp if you want to used it.
+ * </p>
+ *
+ * <h3>Example:</h3>
+ * <pre>{@code
+ *
+ *   @WhenCreated
+ *   Timestamp whenCreated;
+ *
+ * }</pre>
+ */
+@Target({ ElementType.FIELD, ElementType.METHOD })
+@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
+public @interface WhenCreated {
+
+}

src/main/java/com/avaje/ebean/annotation/WhenModified.java

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+package com.avaje.ebean.annotation;
+
+import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
+import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
+import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
+import java.lang.annotation.Target;
+
+/**
+ * For a timestamp property that is set to the datetime when the entity was last modified.
+ * <p>
+ * This is effectively an alias for @UpdatedTimestamp and added to hint
+ * towards a better naming convention (WhenCreated, WhenModified).
+ * </p>
+ * </p>
+ */
+@Target({ ElementType.FIELD, ElementType.METHOD })
+@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
+public @interface WhenModified {
+
+}

src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/meta/DeployBeanProperty.java

@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ import javax.persistence.Version;
 
 import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.CreatedTimestamp;
 import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.UpdatedTimestamp;
+import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.WhenCreated;
+import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.WhenModified;
 import com.avaje.ebean.config.ScalarTypeConverter;
 import com.avaje.ebean.config.dbplatform.DbEncrypt;
 import com.avaje.ebean.config.dbplatform.DbEncryptFunction;
@@ -244,9 +246,9 @@ public class DeployBeanProperty {
       return ID_ORDER;
     } else if (undirectionalShadow) {
       return UNIDIRECTIONAL_ORDER;
-    } else if (field.getAnnotation(CreatedTimestamp.class) != null) {
+    } else if (field.getAnnotation(WhenCreated.class) != null || field.getAnnotation(CreatedTimestamp.class) != null) {
       return AUDITCOLUMN_ORDER;
-    } else if (field.getAnnotation(UpdatedTimestamp.class) != null) {
+    } else if (field.getAnnotation(WhenModified.class) != null || field.getAnnotation(UpdatedTimestamp.class) != null) {
       return AUDITCOLUMN_ORDER;
     } else if (field.getAnnotation(Version.class) != null) {
       return VERSIONCOLUMN_ORDER;

src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/parse/AnnotationFields.java

@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.HistoryExclude;
 import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.Index;
 import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.JsonIgnore;
 import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.UpdatedTimestamp;
+import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.WhenCreated;
+import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.WhenModified;
 import com.avaje.ebean.config.EncryptDeploy;
 import com.avaje.ebean.config.EncryptDeploy.Mode;
 import com.avaje.ebean.config.dbplatform.DbEncrypt;
@@ -208,13 +210,11 @@ public class AnnotationFields extends AnnotationParser {
       prop.setFetchType(defaultLobFetchType);
     }
 
-    CreatedTimestamp ct = get(prop, CreatedTimestamp.class);
-    if (ct != null) {
+    if (get(prop, WhenCreated.class) != null || get(prop, CreatedTimestamp.class) != null) {
       generatedPropFactory.setInsertTimestamp(prop);
     }
 
-    UpdatedTimestamp ut = get(prop, UpdatedTimestamp.class);
-    if (ut != null) {
+    if (get(prop, WhenModified.class) != null || get(prop, UpdatedTimestamp.class) != null) {
       generatedPropFactory.setUpdateTimestamp(prop);
     }