Hi,

what i would like is to have the functionality provided by the <subclass> mapping, but where the properties defined for each subclass are specified in different tables.

For example:
Table MICROCHIPPED_CAT extends Table CAT
Table MICROCHIPPED_CAT has the property MICROCHIP_TAG_ID

I would like to define hibernate <class> mappings for both tables, and then within the CAT table use <subclass name="MicroChippedCat" discriminator-value="MCCat"/>.
The problem with this, is that Hibernate complains i'm tryin to map MicroChippedCat twice :(

I could move the MICROCHIP_TAG_ID property to the CAT Table, but that doesn't logically fit because of course not all cats have to or have been microchipped.

Also i do not want to use the <join-subclass> mapping, because i don't want Hibernate to join the two classes every time i query the CAT table.

Any suggestions/ideas on this subject?

cheers,
chico.

joined-classes does not join classes, it join tables to get the appropriate class hierarchy.

The join is mandatory because Hibernate has to know the (sub-)type of this instance.

sorry, I meant join tables not classes.

I guess what i really want is to have a <joined-subclass> which maps to a defined column of it's superclass (not the superclass primary key column) and to have an associated discriminator-value for that <joined-subclass>.

cheers,
chico