When should you use Hibernate?

When should you use Hibernate in Java Project?

Hibernate is ORM framework which is open source and one of the most used ORM framework in Java. Most of the business application is using Hibernate for writing code for interacting with the database. Hibernate ORM framework is very flexible and it supports large number of database. You can use Oracle, MySQL, DB2 and any of supported databases with Hibernate. In this article we are discussing when developer should use the Hibernate framework in Java project.

Hibernate is used in the projects due to following reasons:

Fast Application Development

Hibernate takes the responsibility of generation of sql queries and running it against database to perform database access work. For example if you are writing code to saving data into database Hibernate will generate insert sql, generate appropriate sql query, set the data and execute query with database. It saves a lot of development time and increases developer productivity.

Developers familiar with Hibernate are very comfortable in writing code fast and they concentrate on the business logic rather than coding the JDBC code for data access. Hibernate also provides annotation support which makes developer life much easier.

Error Free application

Hibernate takes care of all the database access related functionality and it provides a tool to developer for writing error free database access layer. Database operations are performed without any error and saves lot of time.

Performance

Hibernate generates efficient sql queries and it also provide caching mechanism. Hibernate knows how to generate efficient query for a database operation, further developer can also provide their own native query.

Cross Database portability

Hibernate support almost all the relational databases and it provides portability across all these databases. You only have to change few configuration settings in xml file and your application will start working with another database server. For example you move your application from MySQL database to Oracle database or SQL Server database by just changing few dialect settings in Hibernate configuration. Hibernate provides portability across a list of many databases.

With JPA

If you have decided to use Java Persistence API in your project for writing data access layer for your application then the Hibernate is the best choice to use as Persistence Provider in the application. On the top you will be using the JPA api for performing database operations and internally Hibernate will work for you. You can use all the advanced features of Hibernate with JPA. JPA with Hibernate is the first tool of choice by developers around the world.

Community Support

Hibernate is used by large group of people and you will easily find solution of issue. You can also discuss your error/problem in many free groups and community will help you in solving your issue fast. There are vast materials on the internet which you can search and learn from it.

Hibernate is free software and it is distributed under  GNU Lesser General Public License 2.1, which means you can use it for open source and commercial applications without any recurring cost.

Many software components

Hibernate is also modular framework and it comes with many modules. These modules are independent and you can use any or some of the modules as per your requirement.

Caching Support

Hibernate provides primary and secondary level caching which increases the performance of the application. You can use Ehcahe or any other commercial cache for your application with Hibernate.

Hibernate Best Tutorials

Here are best tutorials of Hibernate for beginners and experienced programmers. After going through all these tutorials you will master master Hibernate ORM. Learn from these step-by-step tutorials of Hibernate.

Basics of Hibernate

• What is Hibernate in Java?
• Hibernate Examples

Hibernate 4.2.x  Tutorial

Basics:

• Hibernate 4.2.7 Maven dependency
• Hibernate Overview
• Hibernate Architecture
• Setup Hibernate Environment
• Hibernate Configuration files
• First Hibernate Example Step by Step in Eclipse
• Hibernate Save Example
• Hibernate Load Example
• Hibernate save or update method example
• Hibernate Session.delete() Example

Advance topics:

• Hibernate Criteria Query

Hibernate 4 Tutorials

• Hibernate 4 Tutorial
• More tutorials of Hibernate 4

Hibernate 3.0

1. Introduction to Hibernate 3.0
   This lesson introduces you with the Hibernate 3.0 and provides the detailed features of the Hibernate 3.0
    
2. Hibernate Architecture
   In this lesson you will learn the architecture of Hibernate. 
    
3. First Hibernate Application
   This section describes you how to develop sample Hibernate Application. Also see Hibernate Getting Started Tutorial.
     
4. Running the Example in Eclipse
   This section shows you how to run the example in the Eclipse.
    
5. Understanding Hibernate O/R Mapping
   This section describes the each component of the hibernate mapping file..
    
6. Understanding Hibernate <generator> element
   In this lesson you will learn about hibernate <generator> method in detail. Hibernate generator element generates the primary key for new record.
    
7. Using Hibernate <generator> to generate id incrementally
   In this lesson I will show you how to write running program to demonstrate it.
    
8. Hibernate Update Query
   In this tutorial we will show how to update a row with new information by retrieving data from the underlying database using the hibernate. Lets first write a java class to update a row to the database.
     
9. Hibernate Delete Query
   In this lesson we will show how to delete rows from the underlying database using the hibernate. Lets first write a java class to delete a row from the database.
     

Visit Hibernate Tutorials home page to see more tutorials.