I need to create a search screen in my application that works as a report generator. I have to provide the ability for the user to choose return columns, sorting, etc. It appears that I have two choices: HQL or the Criteria API and QBE. The Criteria API is very appealing because it means I won't have to do any query/string manipulation. However, it appears that the Criteria API only returns a specific type of entity (thus the Criteria factory method in Session that takes an entity class as the argument). The other option is to generate HQL on the fly to run the reports that the users ask for. In this situation, which would be the better option? Are there plans in the near future for reporting via the Criteria API?

Thanks!
Patrick

I think it must be better to implement report generator without any hibernate API.

The Criteria API currently is mostly targeted at something like "search forms". I am quite sure it will take quite some time for it to evolve into being usable for generic reporting queries, if it ever will.