So far we have seen very basic O/R mapping using hibernate but there
are three most important mapping topics which we have to learn in
detail. These are the mapping of collections, the mapping of
associations between entity classes and Component Mappings.
Collections Mappings:
If an entity or class has collection of values for a particular variable, then we can map those values using any one of the collection interfaces available in java. Hibernate can persist instances of java.util.Map, java.util.Set, java.util.SortedMap, java.util.SortedSet, java.util.List, and any array of persistent entities or values.| Collection type | Mapping and Description |
|---|---|
| java.util.Set | This is mapped with a <set> element and initialized with java.util.HashSet |
| java.util.SortedSet | This is mapped with a <set> element and initialized with java.util.TreeSet. The sort attribute can be set to either a comparator or natural ordering. |
| java.util.List | This is mapped with a <list> element and initialized with java.util.ArrayList |
| java.util.Collection | This is mapped with a <bag> or <ibag> element and initialized with java.util.ArrayList |
| java.util.Map | This is mapped with a <map> element and initialized with java.util.HashMap |
| java.util.SortedMap | This is mapped with a <map> element and initialized with java.util.TreeMap. The sort attribute can be set to either a comparator or natural ordering. |
If you want to map a user defined collection interfaces which is not directly supported by Hibernate, you need to tell Hibernate about the semantics of your custom collections which is not very easy and not recommend to be used.
Association Mappings:
The mapping of associations between entity classes and the relationships between tables is the soul of ORM. Following are the four ways in which the cardinality of the relationship between the objects can be expressed. An association mapping can be unidirectional as well as bidirectional.| Mapping type | Description |
|---|---|
| Many-to-One | Mapping many-to-one relationship using Hibernate |
| One-to-One | Mapping one-to-one relationship using Hibernate |
| One-to-Many | Mapping one-to-many relationship using Hibernate |
| Many-to-Many | Mapping many-to-many relationship using Hibernate |
Component Mappings:
It is very much possible that an Entity class can have a reference to another class as a member variable. If the referred class does not have it's own life cycle and completely depends on the life cycle of the owning entity class, then the referred class hence therefore is called as the Component class.The mapping of Collection of Components is also possible in a similar way just as the mapping of regular Collections with minor configuration differences. We will see these two mappings in detail with examples.
| Mapping type | Description |
|---|---|
| Component Mappings | Mapping for a class having a reference to another class as a member variable. |
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