Enum values are not saved in the database(PostgreSql)

Question

The issue is that the enum values are not being saved in the database, so whenever I register new user it returns user with 0 role size even though I have all the right configurations, so came to the root cause which is enum values of ERole not being saved in the database and the Role table is empty.

ERole enum:

public enum ERole {
    ROLE_USER,
    ROLE_MODERATOR,
    ROLE_ADMIN
}

Role entity:

@EqualsAndHashCode
@NoArgsConstructor
@Getter
@Setter
@Entity
@Table(name = "roles")
public class Role implements Serializable {

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO)
    private Long id;
    @Enumerated(EnumType.STRING)
    @Column(length = 20)
    private ERole role;
    @ManyToMany(mappedBy="roles")
    private List<User> users = new ArrayList<>();
    public Role(ERole role) {
        this.role = role;
    }
}

User entity:

@Getter
@Setter
@NoArgsConstructor
@EqualsAndHashCode
@Entity
@Table(name = "users",
        uniqueConstraints = {
                @UniqueConstraint(columnNames = "name"),
        })
public class User implements Serializable {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO)
    private Long id;
    private String name;
    private String pass;

    @JsonIgnoreProperties("users")
    @ManyToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL, fetch = FetchType.EAGER)
    @JoinTable(name = "user_roles",
            joinColumns = { @JoinColumn(name = "user_id") },
            inverseJoinColumns = { @JoinColumn(name = "role_id") })
    private List<Role> roles = new ArrayList<>();
    public User(String name, String pass) {
        this.name = name;
        this.pass = pass;
    }
}

As you see below in the diagram Role entity has the role column with ERole type

I have seen the oter similar threads where it is suggested to use the @Enumerated(EnumType.STRING) which I've been using in the first place.

Answer 1

I know it's been a while but recently saw this question in my profile without closure and flashed back on how I solved this and moved on.

So as @XtremeBaumer mentioned about varchar I got an idea just to make table roles as a dictionary that will hold static data or rarely modify. So I just inserted the three levels of roles as VARCHAR values and the hibernate many-to-many mapping did the rest of the magic on joining table user_roles.