title: JPA set TIMESTAMP field to CURRENT_TIMESTAMP when persisting
body: <p>I have a TIMESTAMP column on a table that is set to null when a record is initially inserted.  I would like to update the value to the current time.  My generated entity has a set method for the field as such:</p>
  
  <pre><code>setCloseDate(Timestamp closeDate)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However I do not want to generate/specify the timestamp from java code.  Is there any way to annotate the attribute to indicate to use the current time at the database level when persisting the entity?</p>
  
  <p>If not, what would be a good strategy for performing an update like this?</p>
  
  <p>Under the covers the query I want to run is like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>update CASE_FILE set CLOSE_DATE=CURRENT_TIMESTAMP where ID=1
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I'm just getting started with JPA...so could be missing something fairly obvious here.  Thanks!</p>