Hello,

I have been reading about Hibernate and have concluded that using it in my project would be overkill. The purpose of this query is to provide an overview of my App and to determine if using Hibernate would be helpful.

I am developing a Stand Alone Java “Form Centric” Application. Currently I write the data entered into each Form into a HDD file. Soon I will be changing this process to read / write to / from a MySql data base. Each Form shall be written to an associated Table of the MySql DB.

Eventually each client shall upload their MySql DB file to my Server where the individual files shall be considered as records to the Server Side MySql DB. The clients shall then access their data and various Application Reports over the Internet after using a User Name / Password Authentication process.

Two questions:

1) I currently write the Form data to the HDD file only when the End User does a save operation. The app performs a check if a new Form or an Exit App is requested but there is unsaved data in the present form. I also have a process where the App End User can revert back to the Form HDD File that existed when the App was loaded.

If I understand data “persistence” properly this approach is not good in that data entries may be lost if the computer goes down before the save is processed.

Is this poor programming and, if so, would the usage of Hibernate help?

Note that each Form is a Java Class. I mention this because I do not understand how Hibernate “maps data” of a Java Class. Currently I maintain the entered data in a Java Collection and write it to the HDD file as a delimited String.

I used the “delimited String” approach because I did not trust the Java Object Serialization and was also concerned about the size to the Form Data file if I saved the Class Object. Also, I have a tendency to micro manage my data and feel more comfortable with this approach.

2) The Data Entry processing shall always be done on the Client computer. The Application Reports may be produced from the Client computer using an Internet Browser or via the Internet after the MySql file is uploaded to the Server.

The Server Side MySql file Report Generation process shall be read only.

Is there any need, given the above requirements, for me to use Hibernate?