Is there a way to pass a DataSource object directly to a Configuration or AnnotationConfiguration object rather than via a JNDI context? If not, how should this be approached when writing a stand-alone application where you want to use Hibernate Annotations? Please do help.

Hibernate version: 3.2.3
Hibernate Annotations version: 3.3.0

Thanks,
Daniel

For stand alone operation Hibernate can connect to the database directly rather than using a data source. You can still use a connection pool to get decent performance.

Check out the [JDBC Connections|http://www.hibernate.org/hib_docs/v3/reference/en/html/session-configuration.html#configuration-hibernatejdbc] section of the documentation.

This is unfortunate, and quite a limitation as I see it. I'm familiar with the linked docs. Note this quote from that section:



So it looks like I'm going to slap together a really cheap and hacky java.naming.Context just for passing this object. Very sad.

Thanks for the answer none the less.

Daniel

Read a little further. The built in connection pool is not intended for production use, but hibernate integrates with several connection pools that are. The usage of C3PO is documented right below the stuff on the hibernate connection pool

If you use one of these pools rather than hibernate's built in one then hibernate can be used stand alone without having to hack up a naming context.

Of course if you really want a stand alone naming context, the Tomcat one is easy to deploy stand alone.

Ahh, cool, thanks! :) Then again, I've been using the oracle.jdbc.pool.OracleDataSource. I presume it's of high quality, although I don't know it very well and have had problems with connection leaks (could be my fault though). Either way, my application is internal anyway and only takes a few hits per minute.

Too bad we can't use a BeanFactory like you can do in Tomcat's config files, where you can instantiated and initialize arbitrary bean objects.

Thanks again for your help

Daniel