@ManyToAny allows polymorphic associations to classes from multiple tables. This type of mapping always requires more than one column. The first column holds the type of the associated entity. The remaining columns hold the identifier. It is impossible to specify a foreign key constraint for this kind of association, so this is most certainly not meant as the usual way of mapping (polymorphic) associations. You should use this only in very special cases (eg. audit logs, user session data, etc).
@ManyToAny(
metaColumn = @Column( name = "property_type" ) )
@AnyMetaDef(
idType = "integer",
metaType = "string",
metaValues = {
@MetaValue( value = "S", targetEntity = StringProperty.class ),
@MetaValue( value = "I", targetEntity = IntegerProperty.class ) } )
@Cascade( { org.hibernate.annotations.CascadeType.ALL } )
@JoinTable( name = "obj_properties", joinColumns = @JoinColumn( name = "obj_id" ),
inverseJoinColumns = @JoinColumn( name = "property_id" ) )
public List<Property> getGeneralProperties() {