This illustration shows an Order
class that contains attributes orderId
, lineItems
, and customerId
. The lineItems
attribute is a reference to a collection of dependent LineItem
objects. Without indirection, reading the Order
object also reads the dependent collection of LineItem
objects. With indirection, reading the Order
object does not read the dependent collection of LineItem
objects: the lineItems
attribute refers to an indirection object. You can access other attributes (such as customerId
), but EclipseLink reads the dependent LineItem
objects only if and when you access the lineItems
attribute.