spring-projects / spring-projects/spring-data-jpa

Explore property to SQL column name mapping for using `Sort.by(…)` with native queries

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@mp911de is already working on this.

Since Aug 19, 2025.

status: pending-design-work type: enhancement
Dominant language
Java
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Description

I'm encountering an error Unknown column 'createdAt' in 'order clause' error when passing "createdAt" property with Spring Data's PageRequest.
The createdAt field is inherited from a @MappedSuperclass. I'm correctly using the entity property name, not the column name. The strange part is that the error often goes away after a few application restarts, only to reappear later.
Why does Spring Data JPA/Hibernate intermittently fail to resolve the correct column name for an inherited property during sorting, and what is the correct way to prevent this from happening?

Problematic Code:

Pageable pageable = PageRequest.of(request.getPageNumber(), request.getPageSize(), Sort.by("createdAt").ascending());
Page<Submission> page = submissionRepo.findAll(pageable);

The Error:

[http-nio-8080-exec-2] DEBUG org.hibernate.SQL - SELECT * FROM submissions WHERE user_id = ? order by createdAt asc limit ?
[http-nio-8080-exec-2] WARN  o.h.e.jdbc.spi.SqlExceptionHelper - SQL Error: 1054, SQLState: 42S22
[http-nio-8080-exec-2] ERROR o.h.e.jdbc.spi.SqlExceptionHelper - Unknown column 'createdAt' in 'order clause'

Entity class and its Parent

@EqualsAndHashCode(callSuper = true)
@Entity
@Table(name = "submissions")
@Data
@Builder
@NoArgsConstructor
@AllArgsConstructor
@SQLRestriction("is_deleted = false")
public class Submission extends BaseAuditableEntity<UUID> {
    @Column(name = "full_name", nullable = false)
    private String fullName;

    @Column(name = "order_id")
    private String orderId;

    @Column(name = "phone_number", nullable = false)
    private String phoneNumber;

    @Column(name = "address", nullable = false, columnDefinition = "TEXT")
    private String address;

    @Column(name = "registration_email", nullable = false)
    private String registrationEmail;

    @Column(name = "id_card_back_path", nullable = false)
    private String idCardBackPath;

    @Column(name = "id_card_front_path", nullable = false)
    private String idCardFrontPath;

    @Column(name = "portrait_photo_path", nullable = false)
    private String portraitPhotoPath;

    @Column(name = "status", nullable = false, length = 20)
    @Enumerated(EnumType.STRING)
    private SubmissionStatus status;

    @ManyToOne(fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
    @JoinColumn(name = "user_id")
    private AppUser user;
}


@MappedSuperclass
@Data
@EqualsAndHashCode(callSuper = true)
@EntityListeners(AuditingEntityListener.class)
public class BaseAuditableEntity<K> extends BaseEntity<K> implements Auditable, SoftDeletable {
    @CreatedDate
    @Column(name = "created_at", updatable = false, nullable = false)
    private LocalDateTime createdAt;

    @LastModifiedDate
    @Column(name = "updated_at")
    private LocalDateTime updatedAt;

    @Column(name = "is_deleted")
    private boolean isDeleted;

    @Column(name = "deleted_at")
    private LocalDateTime deletedAt;
}

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