Hey guys, I have a few general questions regarding annotations.

[*] How do Hibernate annotations relate to javax annotations? When should I use which?
[*] Are annotations preferred now to hbm.xml files?
[*] What is required to have Hibernate annotations running (what kind of server etc. or no server perhaps?)

Best,
Mikey

>>[*] How do Hibernate annotations relate to javax annotations? When should I use which?

Javax-annotations are JPA-standard while Hibernate annotations are non-standard extensions.
If you want to be 'standard' and keep open the possibility to switch in future to another JPA-implementor,
then use javax annotations only. Otherwise don't hesitate to use Hibernate annotations too.

[*] Are annotations preferred now to hbm.xml files?

Both approaches are still supported as I know.
The annotations approach is more modern and is a standard (JPA)

[*] What is required to have Hibernate annotations running (what kind of server etc. or no server perhaps?)

There's no server, as I know.
Just include hiberante-annotations.jar in your classpath (with future version hibernate 3.5 all will be incorporated into hiberante3.jar)

Annotations, or JPA annotations, are available as a separate jar file from the Hibernate core. You just download the jar and put it on your classpath, and you can use the annotations.

And just for not, in Hibernate 3.5, I believe the annotations are all bundled together with the core. Up to 3.4, the core and annotations are downloaded from hibernate.org separately.

Thanks a lot for your answers!