Hibernate
Introduction
Hibernate is an open source object/relational mapping tool for Java. Hibernate lets you develop persistent classes following common Java idiom - including association, inheritance, polymorphism, composition and the Java collections framework.

Hibernate makes use of persistent objects commonly called as POJO (POJO = "Plain Old Java Object".) along with XML mapping documents for persisting objects to the database layer. The term POJO refers to a normal Java objects that does not serve any other special role or implement any special interfaces of any of the Java frameworks (EJB, JDBC, DAO, JDO, etc...). Hibernate uses runtime reflection to determine the persistent properties of a class. The objects to be persisted are defined in a mapping document, which serves to describe the persistent fields and associations, as well as any subclasses or proxies of the persistent object. The mapping documents are compiled at application startup time and provide the framework with necessary information for a class. Additionally, they are used in support operations, such as generating the database schema or creating stub Java source files.
In order to provide a clean POJO programming model, Hibernate hides itself inside of your POJO by using either its own implementation of the JDK collections or by using a CGLIB proxy to surround an object reference, depending on the type of association it is managing. Since object graphs can be quite large, and in some cases infinite, it is mandatory to draw the line somewhere when loading an object and claim these associations as lazy. This deferral means that at some later point, it may be necessary to fetch the associated objects from the database when this line is crossed.
Startup
If there is a file named import.sql e.g. in the root directory of an EJB jar file and hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto in the persistence.xml the file is imported at startup of a JBoss application server.
Libraries
- ejb3-persistance.jar (javax.persistance.*)
- hibernate3.jar (org.hibernate.*)
Associations
EJB CMP 2.0 also manages associations/relationships (CMR). Associations in CMP are inherently bidirectional, a change to one side is instantly reflected at the other side. Hibernate don't implement managed associations.
Annotations
In addition to the standard JPA annotation set, Hibernate has its own 'vendor' annotations to support additional mapping features and association types that aren’t part of the JPA specificationTo use annotations the java file has to (s. JPA Annotations)
import javax.persistance.*;
and the configuration file has to list all annotated classes like
<mapping class="<Package>.<Classname>" />
Length
@org.hibernate.validator.Length(min=<Number>, max=<Number>) <attribute declaration>
for length validation.
NotNull
@org.hibernate.validator.NotNull <attribute declaration>
for validation.
Patterns
Ordererd unidirectional OneToMany Association
Class A has many Bs, B has one A, but doesn't know about it:
class A
{
@OneToMany([<fetching>|<cascading>])
@IndexColumn(name = <name>) // list order
private List<B> bs = new ArrayList<B>;
Merkwürdigerweise liegt dies eine zusätzliche Mapping-Tabelle namens A_B an, die man eigentlich vermeiden könnte, aber es funktioniert. Es muss immer das Objekt der Klasse A gespeichert werden. Auf der Seite von B steht nich
Non Ordered bedirectional OneToMany Association
Class A has many Bs, B has one A:
class A
{
@OneToMany(mappedBy = "<MemberOfB>")
private <Collection><B> bs = new <ConcreteCollection>();
public void addB(B b)
{
b.setA(this); // neccessary, that the relationship can be handled only by the other end
bs.add(b);
}
mappedBy signals that the associations is managed by the member of B (foreign key of table of B).
Ordered biderectional OneToMany Association
in the one class:
@OneToMany(cascade = {CascadeType.ALL})
@JoinColumn(name = "menu_id", nullable = false)
@IndexColumn(name = "menu_list_position") // list order
private List<Urlx> urls = new ArrayList<Urlx>()
in the many class:
@ManyToOne @JoinColumn(name = "menu_id", nullable = false, updatable = false, insertable = false) private Menux menu;
s. also compare http://forum.hibernate.org/viewtopic.php?t=974127
Ordered biderectional ZeroToMany Association
in the zero or one class:
@OneToMany(cascade = {CascadeType.ALL})
@JoinColumn(name = "parent_id", nullable = true) // nullable is true
@IndexColumn(name = "parent_list_position") // list order
private List<Menux> menus = new ArrayList<Menux>();
in the many class:
@ManyToOne @JoinColumn(name = "parent_id", nullable = true, updatable = false, insertable = false) private Menux parent;
Development Process
- copy the following libs to the application lib directory (hibernate core, hibernate annotations, hibernate validation):
ant-antlr-1.6.5.jar
asm-attrs.jar
asm.jar
cglib-2.1.3.jar
commons-collections-2.1.1.jar
commons-logging-1.0.4.jar
dom4j-1.6.1.jar
ejb3-persistence.jar
hibernate-annotations.jar
hibernate-commons-annotations.jar
hibernate-validator.jar
hibernate3.jar
jta.jar
log4j-1.2.11.jar
<JDBCDriver>.jar - create the annotated class e.g. Action.java
- create the Hibernate configuration file hibernate.cfg.xml
- use the persistance classes
Designing the domain model
Entitity Types vs. Value Types
Hibernate supports a fine-grained domain model (more classes than tables). An object of entity type has its own identity (primary key value). An object reference to an entity ist persisted as a reference in the database (a foreign key value). An entity has its own life cylce, it may exist independently of other entities. Criteria for an entity is:
- shared references
- lifecycle dependencies
- identity
An object of value type has no database identity, it belongs to an entity instance and its persistent state ist embedded in the table row of its owning entity.
Associations
To specifiy the multiplicity it is neccessary to ask:
- can there be more than one object of class A for a particular object of class B
- can there be more than one object of class B for a particular object of class A
For a many-end association end the propertie must be of an interface type like java.util.set or java.util.List.
Hibernate Infrastructure
SessionFactory
In most hibernate applications SessionFactory should be instantiated once during application initialization (s. example uweheuer application server.HibernateUtil).
Reverse Engineer a Database
For reverse engineering perform the following steps in eclipse:
- create a Hibernate Console Configuration via File->New->Other->Hibernate->Hibernate Console Configuration (edit it by changing to the perspective Hibernate) and double click in the Hibernate Configurations view
- specify Database Connection, Property file, Configuration file Hibernate configuration file. The rest seems to be unneccessary.
- Run->Hibernate Code Generation...->Open Hibernate Code Generation Dialog...
- Create a new Code Generation Configuration or edit an existing
- specify the existing output directory
- specify via the reveng.xml setup dialog the tables for reverse engineering
- select the exporters
- press Run or later Run->Hibernate Code Generation-><Code Generation Configuration>
Storing new or detached objects
org.hibernate.Session session = server.HibernateUtil.getSessionFactory().openSession(); Transaction tx = session.beginTransaction(); session.save(vocable); // update() for detached objects tx.commit(); session.close();
Debugging Concepts
The best way is to enabling logging via log4j:
Log4j
special entries in log4j.properties:
### log the sql inclusive values log4j.logger.org.hibernate.SQL=debug log4j.logger.org.hibernate.type=debug
ConfigurationFiles
Add the following entries:
<property name="show_sql">true</property> <property name="format_sql">true</property> <property name="use_sql_comments">true</property>
then all SQL statements are written to stdout.
Hibernate Configuration
Location and Startup
Bei Web Application ist die Ablage unter \WEB-INF\classes. It is read during startup of the web application.
Configuration Files
The name of the configuration file is normally hibernate.cfg.xml. Its possible to have more than one for multiple databases, one for each database (e.g. project 'uweheuer', files uweheuer.hibernate.cfg.xml and uweswiki.hibernate.cfg.xml). Normally the configuration files are read during startup by e.g. project 'uweheuer' in HibernateUtil.java:
uweheuerSessionFactory = new AnnotationConfiguration().configure("uweheuer.hibernate.cfg.xml").buildSessionFactory();
<hibernate-configuration> <session-factory> <property name="hbm2ddl.auto">[update|create]</property>
update scheint die beste Einstellung, Änderungen an der Klasse bewirken beim Initialisieren der Anwendung (Reload for a web application) eine Änderung in der zugehörigen Tabelle. Daten gehen nicht verloren.
Literatur
- Java Persistance with Hibernate
- Online-Buch zu Annotations
