# Cannot create Relationship

**URL:** <https://community.neo4j.com/t/cannot-create-relationship/48300>\
**Category:** Spring Data Neo4j & Neo4j-OGM\
**Created:** [December 1, 2021, 10:30am UTC](https://community.neo4j.com/t/cannot-create-relationship/48300 "2021-12-01T10:30:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AERTurtle](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex021/user_avatar/community.neo4j.com/aerturtle/32/21162_2.png) [@AERTurtle](https://community.neo4j.com/u/AERTurtle)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 10:30am UTC](https://community.neo4j.com/t/cannot-create-relationship/48300/1 "2021-12-01T10:30:46Z")

</div>

Hi,  
this is our first Neo4J-Project, so sorry if I'm missing something obvious.

We use Spring Boot 2.6.0 with Spring Data Neo4J 6.2.0 and a remote Neo Aura DB (the free version 4.3.0). I also tested it with a local server (4.3.5 and 4.3.3), this doesn't work either.

I have 2 classes (User, MindMapNode) to which I want to add a Relationship from User to MindMapNode. When using curl, it adds a new Node, but it doesn't add the Relationship. There is no Exception or HTTP-Status Code other than 200 or something logged in the console, nothing.

```auto
// imports...
@Node
@Data
@ToString
@Builder
@NoArgsConstructor
@RequiredArgsConstructor
@AllArgsConstructor
public class User {
    @Id @GeneratedValue private Long id;

    @Property
    @Getter @Setter @NonNull
    private String username;

    @Getter @Setter
    @Relationship(type = "OWNS", direction = Relationship.Direction.OUTGOING)
    private List<MindMapNode> graphs;

    public void saveGraphForUser(MindMapNode root) {
        if (graphs == null) graphs = new ArrayList<>();
        graphs.add(root);
    }

    public User withId(Long id){
        if (this.getId() == null) {
            return new User(id, this.username, this.password, this.graphs);
        }
        else if (this.getId().equals(id)) {
            return this;
        } else {
            return new User(id, this.username, this.password, this.graphs);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object o) {
        if (this == o) return true;
        if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;
        User user = (User) o;
        return id.equals(user.id) && username.equals(user.username);
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        return Objects.hash(id, username);
    }
}

```

```auto
//imports...
@Node
@AllArgsConstructor
public class MindMapNode {
    @Getter
    @Id @GeneratedValue
    private final Long id;

    @Getter @Setter @NonNull
    private String title;
   // other properties...

    public MindMapNode withId(Long id){
        if (this.getId() == null) {
            return new MindMapNode(id, this.getTitle(), this.getDescription(), this.getWeight(), this.getNeighbors());
        }
        else if (this.getId().equals(id)) {
            return this;
        } else {
            return new MindMapNode(id, this.getTitle(), this.getDescription(), this.getWeight(), this.getNeighbors());
        }
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object o) {
        if (this == o) return true;
        if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;
        MindMapNode that = (MindMapNode) o;
        return id.equals(that.id);
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        return Objects.hash(id);
    }
}

```

```auto
@Service
public class MindMapNodeService {

    @Autowired
    private MindMapNodeRepository mindMapNodeRepository;
    @Autowired
    private UserService userService;

    public MindMapNode saveMindMap(Long userid, String name) {
        Optional<User> optuser = userService.getUserById(userid);
        if (optuser.isEmpty()) throw new IllegalArgumentException("Userid is not known");
        MindMapNode res = saveMindMapNode(new MindMapRoot("New Title", "", 50, new HashSet<>(), name));
        optuser.get().saveGraphForUser(res);
        return res;
    }
}

```

```auto
//imports...
@RestController
@RequestMapping("/mindmap")
@RequiredArgsConstructor
public class MindMapController {
    @Autowired
    private MindMapNodeService mindMapNodeService;

    @PostMapping("/add")
    public MindMapNode addMindMap(@RequestParam Long userid, @RequestParam String name) {
        return mindMapNodeService.saveMindMap(userid, name);
    }
}

```

And finally the curl-command:

```auto
curl -X POST -F "userid=<id here>" -F "name=newMindMap" http://localhost:8080/mindmap/add

```

What am I missing?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gerrit.meier](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex021/user_avatar/community.neo4j.com/gerrit.meier/32/27374_2.png) [@gerrit.meier](https://community.neo4j.com/u/gerrit.meier)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 2:09pm UTC](https://community.neo4j.com/t/cannot-create-relationship/48300/2 "2021-12-02T14:09:12Z")

</div>

Just a wild guess...you are not saving the `User`.  
I can see in the `MindMapNodeService`:

1. load user
2. create and save(? assuming `saveMindMapNode` does only this) a new `MindMapRoot`/`MindMapNode`
3. add the `MindMapNode` to the `User`

But after 3. you have to save the `User` to persist the change to the collection.  
For completeness, you can skip the save of the `MindMapNode`, just add it to the `User` and persist it. On save SDN will cascade into all relationships and create the related nodes if needed.  
Also you should add a `@Transactional` around the `saveMindMap` method to create one logical Spring transaction. _If_ you would keep the code as it is, you might run into a race condition between the transactions of the save of the `MindMapNode` and the `User`.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AERTurtle](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex021/user_avatar/community.neo4j.com/aerturtle/32/21162_2.png) [@AERTurtle](https://community.neo4j.com/u/AERTurtle)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 3:59pm UTC](https://community.neo4j.com/t/cannot-create-relationship/48300/3 "2021-12-02T15:59:17Z")

</div>

Hi there,

it took a while, but your tip was the right clue :)  
Adding a userService.saveUser(user) did the trick. We will look at your tip for completeness next and try this out. I also added the @Transactional, but will need to dive a little further into what it actually means.

Thank you!