(Hibernate v3)

I have some problem to define a composite-id on a self-referencing object. Maybe this is just an impossible design, but let me explain the case :

This object ("features") have two properties defining it's own identity:
- its name (a string)
- its father (which is itself a "features" object).

So 2 features are equals if they share the same name, and the same father.

I defined a composite-ID with this two properties such as below:

If I use such an hbm (with matching java classes), I got the message :

which is totaly understandable.

But if I put another column in the key-many-to-one, it does not change a thing since the key-many-to-one will miss the newly put column in its definition.

Does anybody has any clues ? Does it exist a way to use a composite-id self referencing itself ?

I'm quite new to hibernate, so maybe I am missing something obvious.

Any help or pointer will be appreciate,

Maybe my question is not clear since I got no answer yet, so let me know if you need extra explantations.

Thanks,

Hi.

You should give more details regarding what you exactly want to do when you tell us with self referencing.

Self-referencing means that my object "feature" have a relation with another "feature" object (its father). This design does not represent any problem at all. Hibernate create a column to reference its father ID, and everything's alright.

The problem occurs when I want to define a feature by its father. It's not anymore a property ("many-to-one") but a part of a composite-id (a "key-many-to-one").