SpringData neo4j node property not populated - neo4j

Question

I have a simple relationship (Account)-[IdentifiedBy]->(Identity), defined like this
#RelatedTo(type = "IDENTIFIED_BY", direction = Direction.OUTGOING)
private Set<Identity> identities = new HashSet<Identity>();
When I load the Account and access its identities, all the identities are loaded, but all their properties except for ID are null. However, if I annotate the property with #Fetch, then the identities are loaded correctly, with all properties. Is this by design or am I missing something?
#NodeEntity
public class Account {
#GraphId Long nodeId;
#RelatedTo(type = "IDENTIFIED_BY", direction = Direction.OUTGOING)
//#Fetch
private Set<Identity> identities = new HashSet<Identity>();
public Set<Identity> getIdentities() {
return identities;
}
public void setIdentities(Set<Identity> identities) {
this.identities = identities;
}
}
#NodeEntity
public class Identity {
#GraphId Long nodeId;
private String identifier;
public String getIdentifier() {
return identifier;
}
public void setIdentifier(String identifier) {
this.identifier = identifier;
}
}
public interface AccountRepository extends GraphRepository<Account> { }
#RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
#ContextConfiguration({"/test-context.xml"})
#Transactional
public class AccountTests {
#Autowired
protected AccountRepository accountRepository;
#Test
public void accountMustLoadItsIdentities() {
Account acct = accountRepository.save(new Account());
Identity id = new Identity();
id.setIdentifier("merlin");
acct.getIdentities().add(id);
accountRepository.save(acct);
acct = accountRepository.findOne(acct.nodeId);
id = acct.getIdentities().iterator().next();
assertEquals("merlin", id.getIdentifier());
}
}
The unit test fails on the last assertion, but succeeds if #Fetch on Account is uncommented.

Answer 1

Instead of using
account.getIdentities()
you should do something like the following:
this.neo4jTemplate.fetch(account.getIdentities())
Not using the #Fetch keyword does not automatically enable lazy loading. To lazy load your properties use the Neo4jTemplate as plotted above.

Answer 2

This is by design
We try to avoid loading the whole graph into memory by not following relationships eagerly. A dedicated #Fetch annotation controls instead if related entities are loaded or not. Whenever an entity is not fully loaded, then only its id is stored. Those entities or collections of entities can then later be loaded explicitly using the template.fetch() operation.
http://static.springsource.org/spring-data/data-graph/snapshot-site/reference/html/#reference:simple-mapping