Don't do this, call save when you want to update or save

Updating without calling save explicitly

package demo

class Note {
    String msg
}

package demo

import grails.gorm.transactions.ReadOnly
import grails.gorm.transactions.Transactional
import groovy.transform.CompileStatic

@CompileStatic
class NoteService {

    @ReadOnly
    Note read(Serializable id) {
        Note.read(id)
    }

    @Transactional
    Note saveNote(String msg) {
        Note note = new Note(msg: msg)
        note.save()
    }

    @Transactional
    Note updateMsg(Serializable id, String msg) {
        Note note = Note.get(id)
        note.msg = msg
        note
    }
}


package demo

import grails.testing.mixin.integration.Integration
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired
import spock.lang.Specification

@Integration
class NoteSpec extends Specification {

    @Autowired
    NoteService noteService

    def "test without calling save"() {
        when:
        Note note = noteService.saveNote('Note A')
        Serializable noteId = note.id

        then:
        noteService.read(noteId).msg == 'Note A'

        when:
        noteService.updateMsg(noteId, 'Note B')

        then:
        noteService.read(noteId).msg == 'Note B'
    }

}