1.What is ORM ?

ORM stands for object/relational mapping. ORM is the automated persistence of objects in a Java
application to the tables in a relational database.

2.What does ORM consists of ?

An ORM solution consists of the followig four pieces:

API for performing basic CRUD operations

API to express queries refering to classes
Facilities to specify metadata
Optimization facilities : dirty checking,lazy associations fetching

3.What are the ORM levels ?

The ORM levels are:

Pure relational (stored procedure.)

Light objects mapping (JDBC)
Medium object mapping
Full object Mapping (composition,inheritance, polymorphism, persistence by reachability)

4.What is Hibernate?
Hibernate is a pure Java object-relational mapping (ORM) and persistence framework that allows you to
map plain old Java objects to relational database tables using (XML) configuration files.Its purpose is to
relieve the developer from a significant amount of relational data persistence-related programming
tasks.

5.Why do you need ORM tools like hibernate?

The main advantage of ORM like hibernate is that it shields developers from messy SQL. Apart from
this, ORM provides following benefits:

Improved productivity
o High-level object-oriented API
o Less Java code to write
o No SQL to write
Improved performance
o Sophisticated caching
o Lazy loading
o Eager loading
Improved maintainability
o A lot less code to write
Improved portability
o ORM framework generates database-specific SQL for you

6.What Does Hibernate Simplify?

Hibernate simplifies:

Saving and retrieving your domain objects

Making database column and table name changes
Centralizing pre save and post retrieve logic
Complex joins for retrieving related items
Schema creation from object model
7.What is the need for Hibernate xml mapping file?
Hibernate mapping file tells Hibernate which tables and columns to use to load and store objects.
Typical mapping file look as follows:

8.What are the most common methods of Hibernate configuration?

The most common methods of Hibernate configuration are:

Programmatic configuration
XML configuration (hibernate.cfg.xml)

9.What are the important tags of hibernate.cfg.xml?

Following are the important tags of hibernate.cfg.xml:

10.What are the Core interfaces are of Hibernate framework?

The five core interfaces are used in just about every Hibernate application. Using these interfaces, you
can store and retrieve persistent objects and control transactions.

 Session interface
 SessionFactory interface
 Configuration interface
 Transaction interface
 Query and Criteria interfaces

11.What role does the Session interface play in Hibernate?

The Session interface is the primary interface used by Hibernate applications. It is a single-threaded,
short-lived object representing a conversation between the application and the persistent store. It
allows you to create query objects to retrieve persistent objects.

Session session = sessionFactory.openSession();

Session interface role:

 Wraps a JDBC connection

 Factory for Transaction
 Holds a mandatory (first-level) cache of persistent objects, used when navigating the object
graph or looking up objects by identifier

12.What role does the SessionFactory interface play in Hibernate?

The application obtains Session instances from a SessionFactory. There is typically a single
SessionFactory for the whole application—created during application initialization. The SessionFactory
caches generate SQL statements and other mapping metadata that Hibernate uses at runtime. It also
holds cached data that has been read in one unit of work and may be reused in a future unit of work

SessionFactory sessionFactory = configuration.buildSessionFactory();

13.What is the general flow of Hibernate communication with RDBMS?

The general flow of Hibernate communication with RDBMS is :

 Load the Hibernate configuration file and create configuration object. It will automatically
load all hbm mapping files
 Create session factory from configuration object
 Get one session from this session factory
 Create HQL Query
 Execute query to get list containing Java objects

14.What is Hibernate Query Language (HQL)?

Hibernate offers a query language that embodies a very powerful and flexible mechanism to query,
store, update, and retrieve objects from a database. This language, the Hibernate query Language
(HQL), is an object-oriented extension to SQL.

15.How do you map Java Objects with Database tables?

  First we need to write Java domain objects (beans with setter and getter).
 Write hbm.xml, where we map java class to table and database columns to Java class
variables.

Example :
<hibernate-mapping>
  <class name="com.test.User"  table="user">
   <property  column="USER_NAME" length="255"
      name="userName" not-null="true"  type="java.lang.String"/>
   <property  column="USER_PASSWORD" length="255"
name="userPassword" not-null="true"  type="java.lang.String"/>
 </class>
</hibernate-mapping>

16.What’s the difference between load() and get()?

load() vs. get() :-

load()  get() 
Only use the load() method if you are sure that If you are not sure that the object exists,
the object exists.  then use one of the get() methods. 

load() method will throw an exception if the get() method will return null if the unique
unique id is not found in the database.  id is not found in the database. 

load() just returns a proxy by default and

database won’t be hit until the proxy is first get() will hit the database immediately. 
invoked.  

17.What is the difference between and merge and update ?

Use update() if you are sure that the session does not contain an already persistent instance with the
same identifier, and merge() if you want to merge your modifications at any time without
consideration of the state of the session.

18.How do you define sequence generated primary key in hibernate?

Using <generator> tag.
Example:-
<id column="USER_ID" name="id" type="java.lang.Long">
<generator class="sequence">
<param name="table">SEQUENCE_NAME</param>
  <generator>
</id>
19.Define cascade and inverse option in one-many mapping?
cascade - enable operations to cascade to child entities.
cascade="all|none|save-update|delete|all-delete-orphan"

inverse - mark this collection as the "inverse" end of a bidirectional association.

inverse="true|false"
Essentially "inverse" indicates which end of a relationship should be ignored, so when persisting a
parent who has a collection of children, should you ask the parent for its list of children, or ask the
children who the parents are?

20.What do you mean by Named – SQL query?

Named SQL queries are defined in the mapping xml document and called wherever required.
Example:
<sql-query name = "empdetails">
   <return alias="emp" class="com.test.Employee"/>
      SELECT emp.EMP_ID AS {emp.empid},
                 emp.EMP_ADDRESS AS {emp.address},
                 emp.EMP_NAME AS {emp.name}
FROM Employee EMP WHERE emp.NAME LIKE :name
</sql-query>

Invoke Named Query :

List people = session.getNamedQuery("empdetails")
.setString("TomBrady", name)
.setMaxResults(50)
.list();

21.How do you invoke Stored Procedures?

<sql-query name="selectAllEmployees_SP" callable="true">

<return alias="emp" class="employee">
  <return-property name="empid" column="EMP_ID"/>       

<return-property name="name" column="EMP_NAME"/>       

<return-property name="address" column="EMP_ADDRESS"/>
    { ? = call selectAllEmployees() }
</return>
</sql-query>
22.Explain Criteria API
Criteria is a simplified API for retrieving entities by composing Criterion objects. This is a very
convenient approach for functionality like "search" screens where there is a variable number of
conditions to be placed upon the result set.
Example :
List employees = session.createCriteria(Employee.class)
       .add(Restrictions.like("name", "a%") )
         .add(Restrictions.like("address", "Boston"))
.addOrder(Order.asc("name") )
.list();

23.Define HibernateTemplate?
org.springframework.orm.hibernate.HibernateTemplate is a helper class which provides different
methods for querying/retrieving data from the database. It also converts checked HibernateExceptions
into unchecked DataAccessExceptions.

24.What are the benefits does HibernateTemplate provide?

The benefits of HibernateTemplate are :

HibernateTemplate, a Spring Template class simplifies interactions with Hibernate Session.

Common functions are simplified to single method calls.
Sessions are automatically closed.
Exceptions are automatically caught and converted to runtime exceptions.

25.How do you switch between relational databases without code changes?

Using Hibernate SQL Dialects , we can switch databases. Hibernate will generate appropriate hql
queries based on the dialect defined.

26.If you want to see the Hibernate generated SQL statements on console, what should we do?
In Hibernate configuration file set as follows:
<property name="show_sql">true</property>

27.What are derived properties?

The properties that are not mapped to a column, but calculated at runtime by evaluation of an
expression are called derived properties. The expression can be defined using the formula attribute of
the element.

28.What is component mapping in Hibernate?

 A component is an object saved as a value, not as a reference

 A component can be saved directly without needing to declare interfaces or identifier
properties
 Required to define an empty constructor
  Shared references not supported

Example:

29.What is the difference between sorted and ordered collection in hibernate?

sorted collection vs. order collection :-

sorted collection  order collection 

A sorted collection is sorting a collection by
utilizing the sorting features provided by the
Order collection is sorting a collection by
Java collections framework. The sorting occurs
specifying the order-by clause for sorting this
in the memory of JVM which running Hibernate,
collection when retrieval. 
after the data being read from database using
java comparator. 

If your collection is not large, it will be more If your collection is very large, it will be more
efficient way to sort it.  efficient way to sort it . 

31.What is the advantage of Hibernate over jdbc?

Hibernate Vs. JDBC :-

JDBC  Hibernate 
With JDBC, developer has to write code to map Hibernate is flexible and powerful ORM solution
an object model's data representation to a to map Java classes to database tables.
 Hibernate itself takes care of this mapping
relational data model and its corresponding
using XML files so developer does not need to
database schema.  
write code for this. 

Hibernate provides transparent persistence and

With JDBC, the automatic mapping of Java
developer does not need to write code
objects with database tables and vice versa
explicitly to map database tables tuples to
conversion is to be taken care of by the
application objects during interaction with
developer manually with lines of code.  
RDBMS.  

Hibernate provides a powerful query language

Hibernate Query Language (independent from
JDBC supports only native Structured Query
type of database) that is expressed in a familiar
Language (SQL). Developer has to find out the
SQL like syntax and includes full support for
efficient way to access database, i.e. to select
polymorphic queries. Hibernate also supports
effective query from a number of queries to
native SQL statements. It also selects an
perform same task.  
effective way to perform a database
manipulation task for an application.  

Application using JDBC to handle persistent

data (database tables) having database specific
code in large amount. The code written to map Hibernate provides this mapping itself. The
table data to application objects and vice versa actual mapping between tables and application
is actually to map table fields to object objects is done in XML files. If there is change
properties. As table changed or database in Database or in any table then the only need
changed then it’s essential to change object to change XML file properties.  
structure as well as to change code written to
map table-to-object/object-to-table. 

With JDBC, it is developer’s responsibility to Hibernate reduces lines of code by maintaining

handle JDBC result set and convert it to Java object-table mapping itself and returns result
objects through code to use this persistent data to application in form of Java objects. It
in application. So with JDBC, mapping between relieves programmer from manual handling of
Java objects and database tables is done persistent data, hence reducing the
manually.   development time and maintenance cost.  

Hibernate, with Transparent Persistence, cache

is set to application work space. Relational
tuples are moved to this cache as a result of
With JDBC, caching is maintained by hand- query. It improves performance if client
coding.   application reads same data many times for
same write. Automatic Transparent Persistence
allows the developer to concentrate more on
business logic rather than this application code.

In JDBC there is no check that always every user Hibernate enables developer to define version
has updated data. This check has to be added type field to application, due to this defined
by the developer.   field Hibernate updates version field of
database table every time relational tuple is
updated in form of Java class object to that
table. So if two users retrieve same tuple and
then modify it and one user save this modified
tuple to database, version is automatically
updated for this tuple by Hibernate. When
other user tries to save updated tuple to
 database then it does not allow saving it
because this user does not have updated data.  

32.What are the Collection types in Hibernate ?

Bag
Set
List
Array
Map

33.What are the ways to express joins in HQL?

HQL provides four ways of expressing (inner and outer) joins:-

An implicit association join

An ordinary join in the FROM clause
A fetch join in the FROM clause.
A theta-style join in the WHERE clause.

34.Define cascade and inverse option in one-many mapping?

cascade - enable operations to cascade to child entities.
cascade="all|none|save-update|delete|all-delete-orphan"

inverse - mark this collection as the "inverse" end of a bidirectional association.

inverse="true|false"
Essentially "inverse" indicates which end of a relationship should be ignored, so when persisting a
parent who has a collection of children, should you ask the parent for its list of children, or ask the
children who the parents are?

35.What is Hibernate proxy?

The proxy attribute enables lazy initialization of persistent instances of the class. Hibernate will
initially return CGLIB proxies which implement the named interface. The actual persistent object will
be loaded when a method of the proxy is invoked.

36.How can Hibernate be configured to access an instance variable directly and not through a
setter method ?
By mapping the property with access="field" in Hibernate metadata. This forces hibernate to bypass the
setter method and access the instance variable directly while initializing a newly loaded object.

37.How can a whole class be mapped as immutable?

Mark the class as mutable="false" (Default is true),. This specifies that instances of the class are (not)
mutable. Immutable classes, may not be updated or deleted by the application.

38.What is the use of dynamic-insert and dynamic-update attributes in a class mapping?

Criteria is a simplified API for retrieving entities by composing Criterion objects. This is a very
convenient approach for functionality like "search" screens where there is a variable number of
conditions to be placed upon the result set.

dynamic-update (defaults to false): Specifies that UPDATE SQL should be generated at

runtime and contain only those columns whose values have changed
dynamic-insert (defaults to false): Specifies that INSERT SQL should be generated at
runtime and contain only the columns whose values are not null.

39.What do you mean by fetching strategy ?

A fetching strategy is the strategy Hibernate will use for retrieving associated objects if the application
needs to navigate the association. Fetch strategies may be declared in the O/R mapping metadata, or
over-ridden by a particular HQL or Criteria query.

40.What is automatic dirty checking?

Automatic dirty checking is a feature that saves us the effort of explicitly asking Hibernate to update
the database when we modify the state of an object inside a transaction.

41.What is transactional write-behind?

Hibernate uses a sophisticated algorithm to determine an efficient ordering that avoids database
foreign key constraint violations but is still sufficiently predictable to the user. This feature is called
transactional write-behind.

42.What are Callback interfaces?

Callback interfaces allow the application to receive a notification when something interesting happens
to an object—for example, when an object is loaded, saved, or deleted. Hibernate applications don't
need to implement these callbacks, but they're useful for implementing certain kinds of generic
functionality.

43.What are the types of Hibernate instance states ?

Three types of instance states:

 Transient -The instance is not associated with any persistence context

 Persistent -The instance is associated with a persistence context
 Detached -The instance was associated with a persistence context which has been closed –
currently not associated

44.What are the differences between EJB 3.0 & Hibernate

Hibernate Vs EJB 3.0 :-

Hibernate  EJB 3.0 

Persistence Context-Set of entities that can
Session–Cache or collection of loaded objects
be managed by a given EntityManager is
relating to a single unit of work 
defined by a persistence unit 

XDoclet Annotations used to support Attribute Java 5.0 Annotations used to support
 Oriented Programming  Attribute Oriented Programming 

Defines HQL for expressing queries to the

Defines EJB QL for expressing queries 
database 

Supports Entity Relationships through mapping Support Entity Relationships through Java 5.0
files and annotations in JavaDoc  annotations 

Provides a Persistence Manager API exposed via

Provides and Entity Manager Interface for
the Session, Query, Criteria, and Transaction
managing CRUD operations for an Entity 
API 

Provides callback support through lifecycle, Provides callback support through Entity
interceptor, and validatable interfaces  Listener and Callback methods 

Entity Relationships are unidirectional.

Entity Relationships are bidirectional or
Bidirectional relationships are implemented by
unidirectional 
two unidirectional relationships 

45.What are the types of inheritance models in Hibernate?

There are three types of inheritance models in Hibernate:

 Table per class hierarchy

 Table per subclass
 Table per concrete class

What will happened if level 2 cache is enable and query cache is diabled in Hibernate?

Query cache depends on L2 cache.

L2 cache does not depend on query cache.

So nothing would happen.

Alternatively:

What will happened if level 2 cache is disabled and query cache is enabled in
Hibernate?

Answer: Hibernate query can return both value types and entity types.

Query cache saves the id of entity types and complete value types.

When the same query is executed again value types and entity type ids are
fetched from query cache.

From L2 cache entity types are fetched using the ids.

so if L2 cache is disabled the entities are looked up from the database using
SQL queries using the IDs.

How to invoke a stored procedure in Hibernate and pass in a parameter?

By this process you can write hibernate procedure:

<sql-query name="selectAllEmployees_SP" callable="true">

<return alias="emp" class="employee">
   <return-property name="empid" column="EMP_ID"/>       

  <return-property name="name" column="EMP_NAME"/>       

  <return-property name="address" column="EMP_ADDRESS"/>
    { ? = call selectAllEmployees() }
</return>
</sql-query>

(OR)

Get java.sql.Connection from Hibernate Session and then play with that connection by call
callablestatement.

Connection con = null;

try {
con = session.connection();

CallableStatement st = con
.prepareCall("{call your_sp(? ?)}");
st.registerOutParameter(2 Types.INTEGER);
st.setString(1 "some_Seq");

st.executeUpdate();

What are different fetching strategies in hibernate?

Hibernate defines following fetching strategies:

1. Join Fetching : retrieval of assosiated obects or collections are done by OUTER JOIN in the same
SELECT.

2. Select Fetching : A second select is used to retrieve the associated instance or collection.

3. Subselect Fetching : It is almost same as select fetching.

4. Batch Fetching : Hibernate retrieves a batch of entity instance or collections ina single SELECT.

Hibernate also distinguishes between:

1. Immediate fetching.
2. Lazy collection fetching.
3. "Extra-lazy collection fetching.
4. Proxy fetching.
5."No-proxy" fetching.
6. Lazy attribute fetching.

what is lazy fetching in hibernate

There are two types of Loading in application. Eager loading and Lazy
loading. In eager loading we will fetch all the values from the Persistent storage
and cache it. It will make serious performance issues. There we use lazy
loading to avoid that scenario.

Some times we don't need to load the child

table values In that case we have to us lazy = true in .hbm file. so hibernate
will fetch only parent table values. Internally it will load the wrapper class
but it does not cache all the values till we perform operation.
Main
Advantage: It will avoid caching unnecessary values and improve performances.

Which persistent technology can be used instead of Hibernate which is as compatible as Hibernate
(not JDBC nor EJB) any parallel technology?

JDO and Toplink can be used

User java persistance API it is the best and can work on any ORM model.

One can use iBatis.. its also good ORM technology.

Hibernate is an ORM tool. There are various other tools available in industry to achieve the
functionalities provided by the Hibernate. JPA (Java Persistent API) is one of them.

What is component mapping in hibernate?

A component is a contained object that is persisted as a value type not an entity reference.eg)

public class person{

private Name name;

public Name getName(){ return name;}

public void setName(Name name){this.name=name;}

.....

public class Name

{chat initial;
String first;

String last;

public char getInitial(){return initial;}

public void setInitial(char initial){this.initial=initial;}

.......//first last

Now 'Name' may be persited to the component of 'person'

in hbm:

<class name= eg.Person table= person >

<id name= Key column= pid type= string >
<generator class= uuid />
</id>
<property name= birthday type= date />
<component name= Name class= eg.Name >
<!-- class attribute optional -->
<property name= initial />
<property name= first />
<property name= last />
</component></class>

The person table would have the columns pid birthday initial first and last.

What is the difference between sorted and orderd collection in hibernate?

For Sorted Collection:

A sorted collection is sorting a collection by utilizing the sorting features provided by the Java
collections framework. The sorting occurs in the memory of JVM which running Hibernate after the
data being read from database using java comparator.
If your collection is not large it will be more efficient way to sort it.

For Ordered Collection:

Order collection is sorting a collection by specifying the order-by clause for sorting this collection when
retrieval.
If your collection is very large it will be more efficient way to sort it .