Master Logical Deletion in Spring Boot 3 with JPA and MyBatis

Logical deletion is a flexible data handling method widely used to preserve history and prevent accidental loss.

Reasons include easy data recovery, protection of data integrity, meeting audit and compliance requirements, and reducing the risk of accidental operations.

However, logical deletion may cause data bloat and increased query complexity.

2. Practical Examples

2.1 JPA Logical Deletion

Two approaches are presented.

Using @SQLDelete

<code>@Entity
@Table(name = "t_person")
@SQLDelete(sql = "update t_person p set p.deleted = 1 where p.id = ?")
public class Person {
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
    private Long id;
    private String name;
    private Integer age;
    /**0: normal, 1: deleted*/
    @Column(columnDefinition = "int default 0")
    private Integer deleted = 0;
    // getters, setters
}
</code>

Repository interface:

<code>public interface PersonRepository extends JpaRepository<Person, Long> {
}
</code>

Unit test:

<code>@Test
public void testDelete() {
    this.personRepository.deleteById(2L);
}
</code>

The executed SQL updates the deleted column via the @SQLDelete configuration.

Using @SoftDelete

<code>@SoftDelete(
    strategy = SoftDeleteType.DELETED,
    columnName = "deleted",
    converter = DeletedAttributeConverter.class)
public class Person {
    // No explicit deleted field needed
}
</code>

Converter implementation:

<code>public class DeletedAttributeConverter implements AttributeConverter<Boolean, Integer> {
    @Override
    public Integer convertToDatabaseColumn(Boolean attribute) {
        return attribute == null || !attribute ? 0 : 1;
    }
    @Override
    public Boolean convertToEntityAttribute(Integer dbData) {
        return dbData == null || dbData == 0 ? Boolean.FALSE : Boolean.TRUE;
    }
}
</code>

SQL output shows the update statement generated by @SoftDelete.

2.2 MyBatis Logical Deletion

MyBatis does not provide logical deletion natively; MyBatis‑Plus adds this capability.

Add the dependency:

<code>&lt;dependency&gt;
    &lt;groupId&gt;com.baomidou&lt;/groupId&gt;
    &lt;artifactId&gt;mybatis-plus-spring-boot3-starter&lt;/artifactId&gt;
    &lt;version&gt;3.5.10.1&lt;/version&gt;
&lt;/dependency&gt;
</code>

Configure global settings:

<code>mybatis-plus:
  global-config:
    db-config:
      logic-delete-field: deleted
      logic-delete-value: 1
      logic-not-delete-value: 0
</code>

Entity definition:

<code>@TableName("t_person")
public class Person {
    /**0: normal, 1: deleted*/
    private Integer deleted = 0;
}
</code>

Mapper interface:

<code>public interface PersonMapper extends BaseMapper<Person> {
}
</code>

Unit test:

<code>@Test
public void testMyBatisDelete() {
    this.personMapper.deleteById(2L);
}
</code>

The generated SQL updates the deleted column.

For tables using a different logical‑delete flag, annotate the field with @TableLogic:

<code>public class Person {
    @TableLogic
    private Integer state;
}
</code>

SQL then updates the state column accordingly.