Support AutoGeneratedTimestamp and UpdateBehavior annotation in nested objects by roamariei · Pull Request #6109 · aws/aws-sdk-java-v2

roamariei · 2025-05-15T09:50:38Z

Description

Added support for @DynamoDbAutoGeneratedTimestampAttribute and @DynamoDbUpdateBehavior on attributes within nested objects. The @DynamoDbUpdateBehavior annotation will only take effect for nested attributes when using IgnoreNullsMode.SCALAR_ONLY.

Motivation and Context

@DynamoDbUpdateBehavior and @DynamoDbAutoGeneratedTimestampAttribute to work on nested objects too.

Modifications

The AutoGeneratedTimestampRecordExtension has been enhanced to support detection of the timestamp annotation on nested objects. Depending on the operation and the IgnoreNullsMode setting, nested attributes may either be treated as complete maps or flattened using the NESTED_ATTR_UPDATE convention (handled in transformItemToMapForUpdateExpression within UpdateItemOperation). Both scenarios are now supported, and the same generated timestamp is applied consistently across top-level and nested fields.

In parallel, the handling of the IgnoreNullsMode parameter within update requests was reviewed. As a result, UpdateExpressionUtils has been updated to evaluate the @DynamoDbUpdateBehavior annotation only when IgnoreNullsMode.SCALAR_ONLY is used, targeting flattened nested attributes identified via NESTED_ATTR_UPDATE.
When applied to a list of nested objects, the annotation is not supported, as individual elements cannot be updated — the entire list is replaced during an update operation.

Testing

Existing tests were updated, and new tests were added to validate the extended functionality.

Screenshots (if appropriate)

Types of changes

Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)

Checklist

I have read the CONTRIBUTING document
Local run of mvn install succeeds
My code follows the code style of this project
My change requires a change to the Javadoc documentation
I have updated the Javadoc documentation accordingly
I have added tests to cover my changes
All new and existing tests passed
I have added a changelog entry. Adding a new entry must be accomplished by running the scripts/new-change script and following the instructions. Commit the new file created by the script in .changes/next-release with your changes.
My change is to implement 1.11 parity feature and I have updated LaunchChangelog

License

I confirm that this pull request can be released under the Apache 2 license

Test Coverage Checklist

Scenario	Done	Comments if Not Done
1. Different TableSchema Creation Methods		Not impacted, existing tests passed
a. TableSchema.fromBean(Customer.class)	[ ]
b. TableSchema.fromImmutableClass(Customer.class) for immutable classes	[ ]
c. TableSchema.documentSchemaBuilder().build()	[ ]
d. StaticTableSchema.builder(Customer.class)	[ ]
2. Nesting of Different TableSchema Types
a. @DynamoDbBean with nested @DynamoDbBean as NonNull	[x]
b. @DynamoDbBean with nested @DynamoDbImmutable as NonNull	[ ]
c. @DynamoDbImmutable with nested @DynamoDbBean as NonNull	[ ]
d. @DynamoDbBean with nested @DynamoDbBean as Null	[x]
e. @DynamoDbBean with nested @DynamoDbImmutable as Null	[ ]
f. @DynamoDbImmutable with nested @DynamoDbBean as Null	[ ]
3. CRUD Operations		Existing tests passed
a. scan()	[ ]
b. query()	[ ]
c. updateItem()	[x]
d. putItem()	[x]
e. getItem()	[x]
f. deleteItem()	[ ]
g. batchGetItem()	[ ]
h. batchWriteItem()	[ ]
i. transactGetItems()	[ ]
j. transactWriteItems()	[ ]
4. Data Types and Null Handling
a. top-level null attributes	[x]
b. collections with null elements	[ ]
c. maps with null values	[ ]
d. conversion between null Java values and AttributeValue	[ ]
e. full serialization/deserialization cycle with null values	[ ]
5. AsyncTable and SyncTable		Existing tests passed
a. DynamoDbAsyncTable Testing	[ ]
b. DynamoDbTable Testing	[ ]
6. New/Modification in Extensions
a. Tables with Scenario in ScenarioSl No.1 (All table schemas are Must)	[x]
b. Test with Default Values in Annotations	[x]
c. Combination of Annotation and Builder passes extension	[x]
7. New/Modification in Converters		Not impacted, existing tests passed
a. Tables with Scenario in ScenarioSl No.1 (All table schemas are Must)	[ ]
b. Test with Default Values in Annotations	[ ]
c. Test All Scenarios from 1 to 5	[ ]

L-Applin · 2025-05-29T17:20:52Z

Please run the checkstyle plugin on dynamodb-enhanced, there is some checkstyle violations.

When I do it by runing the following command mvn org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-checkstyle-plugin:3.1.2:check -pl :dynamodb-enhanced I get these violations:

[ERROR] /Users/olapplin/Develop/GitHub/aws-sdk-java-v2/services-custom/dynamodb-enhanced/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/enhanced/dynamodb/internal/update/UpdateExpressionUtils.java:93:80: WhitespaceAround: '-' is not followed by whitespace. Empty blocks may only be represented as {} when not part of a multi-block statement. [WhitespaceAround]
[ERROR] /Users/olapplin/Develop/GitHub/aws-sdk-java-v2/services-custom/dynamodb-enhanced/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/enhanced/dynamodb/internal/update/UpdateExpressionUtils.java:93:80: WhitespaceAround: '-' is not preceded with whitespace. [WhitespaceAround]
[ERROR] /Users/olapplin/Develop/GitHub/aws-sdk-java-v2/services-custom/dynamodb-enhanced/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/enhanced/dynamodb/internal/update/UpdateExpressionUtils.java:95:17: 'for' is not followed by whitespace. [WhitespaceAfter]
[ERROR] /Users/olapplin/Develop/GitHub/aws-sdk-java-v2/services-custom/dynamodb-enhanced/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/enhanced/dynamodb/internal/update/UpdateExpressionUtils.java:95:17: WhitespaceAround: 'for' is not followed by whitespace. Empty blocks may only be represented as {} when not part of a multi-block statement. [WhitespaceAround]
[ERROR] /Users/olapplin/Develop/GitHub/aws-sdk-java-v2/services-custom/dynamodb-enhanced/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/enhanced/dynamodb/internal/update/UpdateExpressionUtils.java:95:67: ')' is preceded with whitespace. [ParenPad]
[ERROR] /Users/olapplin/Develop/GitHub/aws-sdk-java-v2/services-custom/dynamodb-enhanced/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/enhanced/dynamodb/internal/update/UpdateExpressionUtils.java:102: Line is longer than 130 characters (found 135). [LineLength]
[ERROR] /Users/olapplin/Develop/GitHub/aws-sdk-java-v2/services-custom/dynamodb-enhanced/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/enhanced/dynamodb/extensions/AutoGeneratedTimestampRecordExtension.java:158: Line is longer than 130 characters (found 189). [LineLength]
[ERROR] /Users/olapplin/Develop/GitHub/aws-sdk-java-v2/services-custom/dynamodb-enhanced/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/enhanced/dynamodb/extensions/AutoGeneratedTimestampRecordExtension.java:168: Line is longer than 130 characters (found 134). [LineLength]
[ERROR] /Users/olapplin/Develop/GitHub/aws-sdk-java-v2/services-custom/dynamodb-enhanced/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/enhanced/dynamodb/extensions/AutoGeneratedTimestampRecordExtension.java:206: Line is longer than 130 characters (found 143). [LineLength]
[ERROR] /Users/olapplin/Develop/GitHub/aws-sdk-java-v2/services-custom/dynamodb-enhanced/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/enhanced/dynamodb/extensions/AutoGeneratedTimestampRecordExtension.java:256:33: WhitespaceAround: '!=' is not preceded with whitespace. [WhitespaceAround]
[ERROR] /Users/olapplin/Develop/GitHub/aws-sdk-java-v2/services-custom/dynamodb-enhanced/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/enhanced/dynamodb/extensions/AutoGeneratedTimestampRecordExtension.java:271: Line is longer than 130 characters (found 142). [LineLength]
[ERROR] /Users/olapplin/Develop/GitHub/aws-sdk-java-v2/services-custom/dynamodb-enhanced/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/enhanced/dynamodb/extensions/AutoGeneratedTimestampRecordExtension.java:274: Line is longer than 130 characters (found 199). [LineLength]

L-Applin · 2025-05-29T17:21:53Z

The test coverage checklist is not complete, could you comment on the test that aren't run to validate they are not required for this change?

L-Applin · 2025-06-03T15:25:27Z

UpdateExpressionUtils has been updated to evaluate the @DynamoDbUpdateBehavior annotation only when IgnoreNullsMode.SCALAR_ONLY is used

Could you explain why are we also making this change? Could this impact existing customers usingIgnoreNullsMode.DEFAULT (the default value if IgnoreNullsMode is not not specified) with UpdateBehavior.WRITE_IF_NOT_EXISTS, is there any breaking behaviour change here we should be concerned about?

roamariei · 2025-06-06T15:57:59Z

UpdateExpressionUtils has been updated to evaluate the @DynamoDbUpdateBehavior annotation only when IgnoreNullsMode.SCALAR_ONLY is used

Could you explain why are we also making this change? Could this impact existing customers usingIgnoreNullsMode.DEFAULT (the default value if IgnoreNullsMode is not not specified) with UpdateBehavior.WRITE_IF_NOT_EXISTS, is there any breaking behaviour change here we should be concerned about?

Based on my understanding while debugging the code, there are two distinct ways of handling nested objects during the update flow, which depend on the IgnoreNullsMode parameter. This influences whether or not the transformItemToMapForUpdateExpression() method is invoked to flatten the request.

For IgnoreNullsMode.MAPS_ONLY, the entire nested object is expected to be set as a map. In this case, UpdateExpressionUtils cannot apply if_not_exists() to individual fields annotated with @DynamoDbUpdateBehavior, since the update is applied at the object level. However, in IgnoreNullsMode.SCALAR_ONLY, where nested fields are flattened using NESTED_ATTR_UPDATE as a delimiter, if_not_exists() can be applied to each individual attribute in the final update expression. That’s how I interpret the current behavior from the code.

The existing logic for parent-level attributes remains unaffected by this behavior—regardless of the IgnoreNullsMode used. This is a limitation that applies only to annotated nested fields, which were not previously supported by this extension. As such, I don’t see any breaking changes for existing use cases involving parent-level attributes.

sonarqubecloud · 2025-06-06T17:38:12Z

Quality Gate passed

Issues
9 New issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
89.7% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud

L-Applin · 2025-08-27T18:45:15Z

Builds fail with :


[ERROR] Failures:
--
[ERROR]   PackageContainmentTest.internalAPIs_shouldResideInInternalPackage:74 
Architecture Violation [Priority: MEDIUM] - Rule 'classes that are annotated with @SdkInternalApi and 
are not nested classes and are not package private should reside in any package ['..internal..'], 
because Internal APIs MUST reside in internal subpackage' was violated (1 times):

Class <software.amazon.awssdk.enhanced.dynamodb.extensions.utility.NestedRecordUtils> 
does not reside in any package ['..internal..'] in (NestedRecordUtils.java:0)

NestedRecordUtils should be in the internal package if it's intended to be used only by the SDK

anasatirbasa · 2025-08-28T18:50:03Z

Hello @L-Applin,

The issue should be fixed now. We are waiting for the workflows to be approved from a maintainer.
Can you please review the Pull Request again and let us know if there is any additional change needed?

Thank you!

L-Applin · 2025-08-28T19:49:32Z

Hello @L-Applin,

The issue should be fixed now. We are waiting for the workflows to be approved from a maintainer. Can you please review the Pull Request again and let us know if there is any additional change needed?

Thank you!

re-running tests now

L-Applin · 2025-08-29T15:39:39Z

there is still some checkstyle violations:

[ERROR] /codebuild/output/src4268556524/src/github.com/aws/aws-sdk-java-v2/services-custom/dynamodb-enhanced/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/enhanced/dynamodb/extensions/AutoGeneratedTimestampRecordExtension.java:21:1: 
Wrong lexicographical order for 'software.amazon.awssdk.enhanced.dynamodb.internal.EnhancedClientUtils.getNestedSchema' import. Should be before 'software.amazon.awssdk.enhanced.dynamodb.internal.extensions.utility.NestedRecordUtils.resolveSchemasPerPath'.

You can run the checkstyle plugin locally with mvn org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-checkstyle-plugin:3.1.2:check -pl :dynamodb-enhanced
You can also make sure all compile time checks pass by building locally with the test target mvn test -pl :dynamodb-enhanced which should run all the checks like checkstyle, findbugs, etc as well as all unit tests.

Could you try to build locally to verify all these compile time checks pass when submitting new changes? Thanks!

…d objects

andreas-grafenberger · 2025-09-01T14:49:43Z

Hello @L-Applin ,

Sorry for that rule violation. We executed the checkstyle plugin locally and tests (incl. it tests).
All of them passed.

Could you please re-run it?

L-Applin · 2025-09-02T14:23:58Z

Hello @L-Applin ,

Sorry for that rule violation. We executed the checkstyle plugin locally and tests (incl. it tests). All of them passed.

Could you please re-run it?

Thanks! Rerunning unit & integ tests

sonarqubecloud · 2025-09-02T15:12:53Z

Quality Gate passed

Issues
14 New issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
89.5% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud

andreas-grafenberger · 2025-09-04T13:42:28Z

Hello @L-Applin / @alextwoods,

Thank you for review!

I see the bot removed the pull request from the merge queue due to failed status check.
Could you please let me know if we can do anything from our end in order to complete the merge? Don't have access to (all) checks details...

L-Applin · 2025-09-04T21:31:47Z

Hello @L-Applin / @alextwoods,

Thank you for review!

I see the bot removed the pull request from the merge queue due to failed status check. Could you please let me know if we can do anything from our end in order to complete the merge? Don't have access to (all) checks details...

I have queued to merge again, but there seems to be an issue related to the maven version in Codebuild which triggers a build failure in an unrelated module of the sdk. This has affected other builds, and is not related to this PR, we are looking into it

…in nested objects (#6109)" This reverts commit 356f65d.

* Revert "Support AutoGeneratedTimestamp and UpdateBehavior annotation in nested objects (#6109)" This reverts commit 356f65d. * Add changelog entry

roamariei requested a review from a team as a code owner May 15, 2025 09:50

debora-ito mentioned this pull request May 19, 2025

Feature/support auto generated timestamp in nested objects #5960

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12 tasks

roamariei force-pushed the feature/support-autoGeneratedTimestamp-and-updateBehavior-annotations-in-nested-objects branch 3 times, most recently from eed3945 to e2225c5 Compare May 21, 2025 14:29

L-Applin self-requested a review May 29, 2025 15:47

L-Applin self-assigned this May 29, 2025

L-Applin suggested changes Jun 3, 2025

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Comment thread ...ftware/amazon/awssdk/enhanced/dynamodb/extensions/AutoGeneratedTimestampRecordExtension.java Outdated

S-Saranya1 added 1.x Parity and removed 1.x Parity labels Jun 6, 2025

roamariei force-pushed the feature/support-autoGeneratedTimestamp-and-updateBehavior-annotations-in-nested-objects branch from 3d9ab1a to 71c57d5 Compare June 6, 2025 13:16

alextwoods reviewed Jun 6, 2025

View reviewed changes

roamariei force-pushed the feature/support-autoGeneratedTimestamp-and-updateBehavior-annotations-in-nested-objects branch from 16cbb77 to 94cdb91 Compare June 11, 2025 14:46

anasatirbasa force-pushed the feature/support-autoGeneratedTimestamp-and-updateBehavior-annotations-in-nested-objects branch 3 times, most recently from 1ac0232 to 5de94c3 Compare August 7, 2025 13:19

andreas-grafenberger force-pushed the feature/support-autoGeneratedTimestamp-and-updateBehavior-annotations-in-nested-objects branch from 551a797 to 88a7002 Compare August 28, 2025 16:39

anasatirbasa force-pushed the feature/support-autoGeneratedTimestamp-and-updateBehavior-annotations-in-nested-objects branch 3 times, most recently from 15b54dc to f1a9f76 Compare August 28, 2025 18:34

Support AutoGeneratedTimestamp and UpdateBehavior annotation in neste…

ad13d33

…d objects

andreas-grafenberger force-pushed the feature/support-autoGeneratedTimestamp-and-updateBehavior-annotations-in-nested-objects branch from 6ebdd7e to ad13d33 Compare September 1, 2025 14:26

L-Applin added the no-api-surface-area-change Indicate there is no API surface area change and thus API surface area review is not required label Sep 2, 2025

L-Applin approved these changes Sep 2, 2025

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alextwoods approved these changes Sep 2, 2025

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L-Applin added this pull request to the merge queue Sep 3, 2025

github-merge-queue bot removed this pull request from the merge queue due to failed status checks Sep 3, 2025

L-Applin added this pull request to the merge queue Sep 4, 2025

github-merge-queue bot removed this pull request from the merge queue due to failed status checks Sep 4, 2025

L-Applin added this pull request to the merge queue Sep 5, 2025

Merged via the queue into aws:master with commit 356f65d Sep 5, 2025
18 of 36 checks passed

debora-ito mentioned this pull request Sep 9, 2025

AutoGeneratedTimestampRecordExtension doesn't take into account manually provided schema for nested attributes. #6410

Closed

1 task

zoewangg added a commit that referenced this pull request Sep 9, 2025

Revert "Support AutoGeneratedTimestamp and UpdateBehavior annotation …

18f1e01

…in nested objects (#6109)" This reverts commit 356f65d.

zoewangg mentioned this pull request Sep 9, 2025

Revert recent AutoGeneratedTimestamp change #6412

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Description

Motivation and Context

Modifications

Testing

Screenshots (if appropriate)

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Checklist

License

Test Coverage Checklist

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L-Applin commented May 29, 2025

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