5.2.3. Entity beans

Entity beans can function as a Seam component when bound to a context variable. Because entities have a persistent identity in addition to their contextual identity, entity instances are usually bound explicitly in Java code, rather than being instantiated implicitly by Seam.

Entity bean components do not support bijection or context demarcation. Nor does invocation of an entity bean trigger validation.

Entity beans are not usually used as JSF action listeners, but often function as backing beans to provide properties to JSF components for display or form submission. They are commonly used as a backing bean coupled with a stateless session bean action listener to implement create/update/delete-type functionality.

By default, entity beans are bound to the conversation context, and can never be bound to the stateless context.

Seam entity bean components are instantiated with Component.getInstance() or @In(create=true), or directly instantiated with the new operator.