How to optimize unidirectional collections with JPA and Hibernate

Introduction Hibernate supports three data mapping types: basic (e.g String, int), Embeddable and Entity. Most often, a database row is mapped to an Entity, each database column being associated to a basic attribute. Embeddable types are more common when combining several field mappings into a reusable group (the Embeddable being merged into the owning Entity mapping structure). Both basic types and Embeddables can be associated to an Entity through the @ElementCollection, in a one-Entity-many-non-Entity relationship. Although we are going to explain these optimizations using an @ElementCollection, the same rules apply to any… Read More

A beginner’s guide to Hibernate Types

The basic mapping concepts When learning Hibernate, many like to jump to Parent – Child associations without mastering the object relation mapping basics. It’s very important to understand the basic mapping rules for individual Entities before starting modelling Entity associations. Hibernate types A Hibernate type is a bridge between an SQL type and a Java primitive/Object type.