Spring batch not inserting values into the DB via JPA

Question

I have a spring-batch-boot application geared toward an SqlServer DB.
The spring-boot part consists of repositories (for instance:

@Repository
public interface **Repository extends CrudRepository<***Entity, Long> {
}

)

and corresponding entities (for instance:

@Data
@Entity
@Generated
@NoArgsConstructor
@AllArgsConstructor
@RequiredArgsConstructor
@Accessors(chain = true)
@Table(name = "DYN_***")
@JsonIgnoreProperties({"hibernateLazyInitializer", "handler"})
public class ***Entity extends FileStructure{
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue
    private Long id;

    @NonNull
    @Column(name = "***", length = 2, nullable = false)
    private String recordId;
...

)

If I run the app, the correct tables are created. But if I call save, only this is printed:

Hibernate: select next_val as id_val from ***.dbo.hibernate_sequence with (updlock, rowlock)  
Hibernate: update ***.dbo.hibernate_sequence set next_val= ? where next_val=?

meaning the entity is not saved!

This happens if my Repository is a CrudRepository. If it is a JpaRepository and I call saveAndFlush, I get the exception: Caused by: javax.persistence.TransactionRequiredException: no transaction is in progress, even if the method/class/both are annotated by @Transactional

The entire config is:

@Slf4j
@Configuration
@EnableBatchProcessing
public class BatchConfig extends DefaultBatchConfigurer {
    @Autowired
    public JobBuilderFactory jobBuilderFactory;
    @Autowired
    public StepBuilderFactory stepBuilderFactory;
    @Resource
    ***Repository ***Repository;

    @Autowired
    private Writer itemWriter;

    @Bean
    public Job processJob() {
        return jobBuilderFactory.get("processJob")
                .incrementer(new RunIdIncrementer())
                .flow(orderStep1()).end().build();
    }

    @Bean
    public Step orderStep1() {
        return stepBuilderFactory.get("orderStep1").<String, String>chunk(1)
                .reader(new Reader()).processor(new Processor())
                .writer(itemWriter).build();
    }
}

With the yml:

spring:
  batch:
    auto-commit: true
    initialize-schema: always
    job:
        enabled: true
  main:
    allow-bean-definition-overriding: true
  devtools:
    add-properties: false
  profiles: dev
  datasource:
    url: jdbc:sqlserver://*****:**;DatabaseName=****;integratedSecurity=true
    #driver_class_name: com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver
    driverClassName: com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver
    hikari:
      maximum-pool-size: 50
      connection-test-query: SELECT 1
      validation-timeout: 30000
      minimum-idle: 5
      max-lifetime: 300
  jpa:
    database: SQL_SERVER
    database-platform: org.hibernate.dialect.SQLServerDialect
    show-sql: true
    hibernate:
      ddl-auto: update
      naming:
        physical-strategy: org.hibernate.boot.model.naming.PhysicalNamingStrategyStandardImpl
    properties:
      hibernate:
        default_schema: dbo
        default_catalog: ***
        #generate_statistics: true
        order_inserts: true
        jdbc:
          batch_size=4:
  batch:
    initialize-schema: always

server:
  servlet:
    context-path: *****
  port: 12345
  max-http-header-size: 50000

My writer class where the save is called:

@Slf4j
@Service
@Component
@Configuration
@Transactional
public class Writer implements ItemWriter<String> {
...

And the startup class is simply:

@SpringBootApplication
@EnableBatchProcessing
public class SpringBatchApplication {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(SpringBatchApplication.class, args);
    }
}

What can be the problem?

• I have to say that this log is written at the start of the application: No database type set, using meta data indicating: SQLSERVER [traceId=/spanId=]

EDIT: It seems there are a few other answers, but I haven't found one answer that suits me, with good JPA and yml support.