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spring-boot-demo/caching/docs/10-transactions.md
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asmhatre 66208bcd97 Add caching: the Spring cache abstraction, keys, eviction timing and the self-invocation trap
A Spring Boot 4.1.1 module whose test suite is the evidence for the article: 19 tests
producing 22 transcripts under docs/output/, plus 12 documentation chapters.

Findings the build pins:
- @EnableCaching has no exposeProxy attribute; the widely-copied
  @EnableCaching(exposeProxy = true) does not compile.
- Two methods sharing a cache name and an argument type share a key space, and one
  silently serves the other's answers.
- beforeInvocation = true is NOT deferred by TransactionAwareCacheManagerProxy on
  7.0.9 - doEvict picks evictIfPresent, which the decorator does not intercept.
- Four of five invalid declarations start a clean context and throw at the first call.
- Caffeine on the classpath silently displaces the simple provider.
2026-09-12 05:19:22 +00:00

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3.8 KiB
Markdown

[← versus Hibernate L2](09-versus-hibernate-l2.md) · [next: diagnostics →](11-diagnostics.md)
# 10. Caching and transactions
## The ordering
The caching interceptor runs **inside** the transaction interceptor. A cache write therefore
happens at method exit — before the commit, and without any knowledge of whether the commit will
succeed.
`docs/output/13-transactions.txt` puts an ordinary write-through update inside an outer
transaction that then fails:
```
nameOf(1) -> Alice
An outer @Transactional method calls the @CachePut update, which succeeds,
and then fails on the next step. The transaction rolls back.
what the cache serves : Alice Cooper
what the database has : Alice
```
The cache is now holding a name no transaction ever committed. Nothing will correct it until the
entry expires or something evicts it — and on the default provider nothing expires.
The same shape with `@CacheEvict` is self-healing:
```
after the rollback, nameOf(2) -> Bob
database loads: 2 <- the entry was evicted, so this one reloaded
```
That asymmetry is the practical takeaway. **An eviction that fires too early costs a lookup; a
put that fires too early costs correctness.** When in doubt, evict.
## `TransactionAwareCacheManagerProxy`
Wrapping the manager defers every put and evict to a post-commit synchronisation:
```java
@Bean
CacheManager cacheManager() {
return new TransactionAwareCacheManagerProxy(new ConcurrentMapCacheManager());
}
```
`docs/output/19-transaction-aware.txt` runs the identical rollback and the cache still says
`Alice`. Several `CacheManager` implementations expose the same thing as
`setTransactionAware(true)` (they extend `AbstractTransactionSupportingCacheManager`);
`TransactionAwareCacheManagerProxy` is the generic wrapper, and it lives in
**`spring-context-support`**, not `spring-context`.
### What it does not cover
- **Reads are never deferred.** A `@Cacheable` lookup inside the transaction sees whatever the
shared cache holds.
- **Outside a transaction it is a pass-through**, so the same method reached from an unmanaged
path writes immediately.
- **It does not make the cache transactional.** Two concurrent transactions still race at commit
time; last writer wins, and it may be the one whose value is older.
### A correction worth recording
`spring-framework#23192` reported that `beforeInvocation = true` was swallowed by the
transaction-aware decorator — the evict got deferred to commit, which is the opposite of what the
attribute asks for. That is widely repeated and, on 7.0.9, **no longer true**. The measurement in
`docs/output/19-transaction-aware.txt` came back the other way round, and
`docs/output/22-decorator-bytecode.txt` shows why:
```
doEvict(cache, key, true) -> Cache.evictIfPresent -> straight to the target cache
doEvict(cache, key, false) -> Cache.evict -> registerSynchronization, runs after commit
```
`AbstractCacheInvoker.doEvict(Cache, Object, boolean)` picks `evictIfPresent` for the immediate
path, and `TransactionAwareCacheDecorator` only registers a synchronisation in `evict`.
`evictIfPresent` delegates straight to the target cache.
This was written the wrong way round first and the run corrected it, which is a reasonable
advertisement for running the thing.
## The pattern that actually holds up
For anything that must not serve uncommitted state:
1. Evict, do not put — `@CacheEvict(beforeInvocation = true)`.
2. Make the cache transaction-aware if you also need the eviction not to happen on rollback.
3. Give every mutable cache a TTL, so the worst case is bounded even when all of the above is
wrong.
Related reading: [`@Transactional`: propagation, isolation and the silent
failures](https://ankurm.com/transactional-propagation-isolation-silent-failures/) covers the
interceptor ordering from the transaction side.