Using Hibernate-2.1 Beta 1, I tried to define a named sql query
in the mapping file with a sql-query element.

There were two problems with this.

1. http://hibernate.sourceforge.net/hibern ... ng-2.0.dtd
doesn't deifne this element and as a result fails to validate the
document. I couldn't find a 2.1 dtd anywhere in the installation base.

2. I'm getting an error at run-time, the error happens during the
parsing of the xml, also a result of the above.

Is this not an intended use of SQL queries? I know they can be
created dynamically from the Session, however it seems that what
I'm trying to do should work as well.

Thanks.

The DTD most definitely does include a query element. Maybe you can include the snippet of the xml file where you are trying to attempt this? Then we can show you what you are doing incorrectly.

Yes, it does define a query element, however, I'm trying to use
native sql query instead.
Here's a snippet.

<hibernate-mapping auto-import="true">

<class name="MyClass" table="MY_TABLE">
...
</class>

<sql-query name="myQuery">
<return alias="c" class="MyClass"/>
SELECT {c}.ID AS {c.id}
FROM MY_TABLE {c}
</sql-query>

</hibernate-mapping>

Thank you.

This is not yet implemented. Check the Road Map.