I'm new to hibernate and have been exploring the query mechanisms.

When I use HQL like below

Query query = session.createQuery("select cat from Cat as cat where cat.sex = :sex");
query.setCharacter("sex", 'F');
for (Iterator it = query.iterate(); it.hasNext();) {
Cat cat = (Cat) it.next();
out.println("Female Cat: " + cat.getName() );
}

each call of it.next() issues a SQL SELECT to retrieve the row object using the primary key. Is there a way (with HQL) that only a single SQL SELECT (selecting all attributes) is issued (for better performance).
What is the reasoning for such a behaviour - maybe I just do not have the right configuration?

I have also played with the citeria API which seems to issue only a single SQL SELECT to return the complete object set.

I'm using a Firebird 1.x database with the JayBird JDBC Driver/JDK 1.4.x

Thanks
Martin

Use query.list()