Infinite Recursion with Jackson JSON and Hibernate JPA issue

When trying to convert a JPA object that has a bi-directional association into JSON, I keep getting

org.codehaus.jackson.map.JsonMappingException: Infinite recursion (StackOverflowError)

All I found is this thread which basically concludes with recommending to avoid bi-directional associations. Does anyone have an idea for a workaround for this spring bug?

------ EDIT 2010-07-24 16:26:22 -------

Codesnippets:

Business Object 1:
@Entity
@Table(name = "ta_trainee", uniqueConstraints = {@UniqueConstraint(columnNames = {"id"})})
public class Trainee extends BusinessObject {

@Id
@GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.TABLE)
@Column(name = "id", nullable = false)
private Integer id;

@Column(name = "name", nullable = true)
private String name;

@Column(name = "surname", nullable = true)
private String surname;

@OneToMany(mappedBy = "trainee", fetch = FetchType.EAGER, cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
@Column(nullable = true)
private Set bodyStats;

@OneToMany(mappedBy = "trainee", fetch = FetchType.EAGER, cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
@Column(nullable = true)
private Set trainings;

@OneToMany(mappedBy = "trainee", fetch = FetchType.EAGER, cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
@Column(nullable = true)
private Set exerciseTypes;

public Trainee() {
super();
}

//... getters/setters ...
}


Business Object 2:
`import javax.persistence.*;
import java.util.Date;

@Entity
@Table(name = "ta_bodystat", uniqueConstraints = {@UniqueConstraint(columnNames = {"id"})})
public class BodyStat extends BusinessObject {

@Id
@GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.TABLE)
@Column(name = "id", nullable = false)
private Integer id;

@Column(name = "height", nullable = true)
private Float height;

@Column(name = "measuretime", nullable = false)
@Temporal(TemporalType.TIMESTAMP)
private Date measureTime;

@ManyToOne(fetch = FetchType.EAGER, cascade = CascadeType.ALL

You may use @JsonIgnore to break the cycle (reference).

You need to import org.codehaus.jackson.annotate.JsonIgnore (legacy versions) or com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonIgnore (current versions).

Stack Overflow Q#3325387, score: 361