Say in an order table, the id is unique and auto incremented by mysql, so when an Order object is prepared for saving, no id is set. How can one get the last inserted (mysql generated) unique id from the table which will be set to the Order object without resorting back to JDBC.

This id will then be used to set the id property in the Order object and the orderId property in a related OrderItem object which will also be saved.

Thanks in advance.

Isn't identity fits your needs. I don't know if it's supported by MySQL however.

At last, write your own IdentityGenerator (id and dialect package). Have a look at the code.

Hibernate does all that for you, thats just what its made for :) Just save away your object and hibernate will set all the ids and associations for you. Simply use the identity generator for mySql auto-increments.

Sorry for the bother. This has tested my patience for a couple of days after focusing wrongly on a different area.

I guess the problem is with mysql. I found out that weird things happen if a table with a name of 'order' exists. I was testing their gui control center to create this table. It was successfully made but when manipulated using straight sql (or tools which use it e.g. hibernate), errors arise. The bad thing is that 'order' is not in the downloaded mysql manual's list of reserved words. Anyway, all unnecessary errors were gone once I changed the name from 'order' to another such as 'orders', 'tblOrder' and the like. And hibernate run smooth as silk.

Yeah hibernate rules. Hibernate shall monopolize! Heeh heeh he!