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3.4.5.2. @Any

The @Any annotation defines a polymorphic association to classes from multiple tables. This type of mapping always requires more than one column. The first column holds the type of the associated entity. The remaining columns hold the identifier. It is impossible to specify a foreign key constraint for this kind of association, so this is most certainly not meant as the usual way of mapping (polymorphic) associations. You should use this only in very special cases (eg. audit logs, user session data, etc).
The @Any annotation describes the column holding the metadata information. To link the value of the metadata information and an actual entity type, The @AnyDef and @AnyDefs annotations are used. 
    @Any( metaColumn = @Column( name = "property_type" ), fetch=FetchType.EAGER )
    @AnyMetaDef( 
        idType = "integer", 
        metaType = "string", 
        metaValues = {
            @MetaValue( value = "S", targetEntity = StringProperty.class ),
            @MetaValue( value = "I", targetEntity = IntegerProperty.class )
        } )
    @JoinColumn( name = "property_id" )
    public Property getMainProperty() {
        return mainProperty;
    }
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idType represents the target entities identifier property type and metaType the metadata type (usually String).
Note that @AnyDef can be mutualized and reused. It is recommended to place it as a package metadata in this case. 
//on a package
@AnyMetaDef( name="property" 
    idType = "integer", 
    metaType = "string", 
    metaValues = {
        @MetaValue( value = "S", targetEntity = StringProperty.class ),
        @MetaValue( value = "I", targetEntity = IntegerProperty.class )
    } )
package org.hibernate.test.annotations.any;


//in a class
    @Any( metaDef="property", metaColumn = @Column( name = "property_type" ), fetch=FetchType.EAGER )
    @JoinColumn( name = "property_id" )
    public Property getMainProperty() {
        return mainProperty;
    }
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