Create JPA EntityManager without persistence.xml configuration file

Is there a way to initialize the EntityManager without a persistence unit defined?

You should define at least one persistence unit in the persistence.xml deployment descriptor.

Can you give all the required properties to create an Entitymanager?

• The name attribute is required. The other attributes and elements are optional. (JPA specification). So this should be more or less your minimal persistence.xml file:

<persistence>
    <persistence-unit name="[REQUIRED_PERSISTENCE_UNIT_NAME_GOES_HERE]">
        SOME_PROPERTIES
    </persistence-unit>
</persistence>

In Java EE environments, the jta-data-source and non-jta-data-source elements are used to specify the global JNDI name of the JTA and/or non-JTA data source to be used by the persistence provider.

So if your target Application Server supports JTA (JBoss, Websphere, GlassFish), your persistence.xml looks like:

<persistence>
    <persistence-unit name="[REQUIRED_PERSISTENCE_UNIT_NAME_GOES_HERE]">
        <!--GLOBAL_JNDI_GOES_HERE-->
        <jta-data-source>jdbc/myDS</jta-data-source>
    </persistence-unit>
</persistence>

If your target Application Server does not support JTA (Tomcat), your persistence.xml looks like:

<persistence>
    <persistence-unit name="[REQUIRED_PERSISTENCE_UNIT_NAME_GOES_HERE]">
        <!--GLOBAL_JNDI_GOES_HERE-->
        <non-jta-data-source>jdbc/myDS</non-jta-data-source>
    </persistence-unit>
</persistence>

If your data source is not bound to a global JNDI (for instance, outside a Java EE container), so you would usually define JPA provider, driver, url, user and password properties. But property name depends on the JPA provider. So, for Hibernate as JPA provider, your persistence.xml file will looks like:

<persistence>
    <persistence-unit name="[REQUIRED_PERSISTENCE_UNIT_NAME_GOES_HERE]">
        <provider>org.hibernate.ejb.HibernatePersistence</provider>
        <class>br.com.persistence.SomeClass</class>
        <properties>
            <property name="hibernate.connection.driver_class" value="org.apache.derby.jdbc.ClientDriver"/>
            <property name="hibernate.connection.url" value="jdbc:derby://localhost:1527/EmpServDB;create=true"/>
            <property name="hibernate.connection.username" value="APP"/>
            <property name="hibernate.connection.password" value="APP"/>
        </properties>
    </persistence-unit>
</persistence>

Transaction Type Attribute

In general, in Java EE environments, a transaction-type of RESOURCE_LOCAL assumes that a non-JTA datasource will be provided. In a Java EE environment, if this element is not specified, the default is JTA. In a Java SE environment, if this element is not specified, a default of RESOURCE_LOCAL may be assumed.

• To insure the portability of a Java SE application, it is necessary to explicitly list the managed persistence classes that are included in the persistence unit (JPA specification)

I need to create the EntityManager from the user’s specified values at runtime

So use this:

Map addedOrOverridenProperties = new HashMap();

// Let's suppose we are using Hibernate as JPA provider
addedOrOverridenProperties.put("hibernate.show_sql", true);

Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory(<PERSISTENCE_UNIT_NAME_GOES_HERE>, addedOrOverridenProperties);