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|  | <title>3.  Meet-in-the-Middle Mapping</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="css/docbook.css" type="text/css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.72.0"><link rel="start" href="manual.html" title="Apache OpenJPA User's Guide"><link rel="up" href="ref_guide_mapping.html" title="Chapter 7.  Mapping"><link rel="prev" href="ref_guide_pc_reverse.html" title="2.  Reverse Mapping"><link rel="next" href="ref_guide_mapping_defaults.html" title="4.  Mapping Defaults"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">3.  | 
|  | Meet-in-the-Middle Mapping | 
|  | </th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="ref_guide_pc_reverse.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 7.  | 
|  | Mapping | 
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|  | Meet-in-the-Middle Mapping | 
|  | </h2></div></div></div><a class="indexterm" name="d0e24709"></a><a class="indexterm" name="d0e24712"></a><a class="indexterm" name="d0e24717"></a><p> | 
|  | In the <span class="emphasis"><em>meet-in-the-middle</em></span> | 
|  | mapping approach, you control both the relational model and the object model. It | 
|  | is up to you to define the mappings between these models.  The mapping | 
|  | tool's <code class="literal">validate</code> action is useful to meet-in-the-middle | 
|  | mappers. This action verifies that the mapping information for a class matches | 
|  | the class definition and the existing schema. It throws an informative exception | 
|  | when your mappings are incorrect. | 
|  | </p><div class="example"><a name="ref_guide_mapping_mappingtool_validate"></a><p class="title"><b>Example 7.11.  | 
|  | Validating Mappings | 
|  | </b></p><div class="example-contents"><pre class="programlisting"> | 
|  | java org.apache.openjpa.jdbc.meta.MappingTool -action validate Magazine.java | 
|  | </pre></div></div><br class="example-break"><p> | 
|  | The <code class="literal">buildSchema</code> action we discussed in | 
|  | <a href="ref_guide_mapping.html#ref_guide_mapping_mappingtool" title="1.  Forward Mapping">Section 1, “ | 
|  | Forward Mapping | 
|  | ”</a> is also somewhat useful | 
|  | during meet-in-the-middle mapping. Unlike the <code class="literal">validate</code> | 
|  | action, which throws an exception if your mapping data does not match the | 
|  | existing schema, the <code class="literal">buildSchema</code> action assumes your mapping | 
|  | data is correct, and modifies the schema to match your mappings. This lets you | 
|  | modify your mapping data manually, but saves you the hassle of using your | 
|  | database's tools to bring the schema up-to-date. | 
|  | </p></div><div class="navfooter"><hr><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="ref_guide_pc_reverse.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="ref_guide_mapping.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="ref_guide_mapping_defaults.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">2.  | 
|  | Reverse Mapping | 
|  |  </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="manual.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 4.  | 
|  | Mapping Defaults | 
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