Is only the first save() on a domain object instance persisted?

Environment: Grails 3.3.5, GORM 6.1.9 I believe, PostgreSQL 9.5, JDK 1.8.0\_171, Ubuntu 16.04.

My app creates Recital (domain object) instances based on input from a number of text files. This is a database load, so everything happens in one single controller call, calling a service method. One single transaction.

The service method parses the input streams looking for recitals. When it finds one it tries a *findBy* method (Recitals are numbered). If there is a Recital with the given number, it updates it from the input and does save(). Otherwise it creates a new instance from the input and does save(). *failOnError* everywhere for good measure. Recitals don't *belongTo* anything, no cascading issues.

The program logic has no way of telling if a modification is the last update on an instance. Thus there is a save() after every change. But this does not work. You can only save() once, it seems.

The net result found in the database is that only the first save() is persisted. When debugging the running program I can verify that instances are completely updated in memory.

If this is correct the documentation should say: *The save method informs the persistence context that an instance should be saved or updated* in its current state. Any and all modifications after this point (in the same transaction) will be ignored. *The object will not be persisted immediately unless the flush argument is used*...

P.S. The save() documentation explains "flush: true" as *flushes the persistence context*. This has little explanatory value to a newcomer. Some "flush" synonyms are: cleanse, erase, expunge, purge, sweep, wipe. A database person might get it as ROLLBACK rather than COMMIT. The explanation is, of course, Hibernate terminology. It's nice if the Grails doco is mostly self-contained. (Side issue in the same piece of documentation.)