I have several tables in my database that contain lots of columns.

For example, I have a table that contains 50 columns and let's say 1000 records. If I have a need to query this table for all of its records but require just two of the columns, is Hibernate the best approach to getting this data? This is assuming that I also have a need to get all 50 columns in some instances.

Basically I see a class with 50 members, and getting and setter methods for all of these members.

How would I configure Hibernate to just request the two columns that I want in one situation, but all 50 in another?

Thanks for the help in advance.

You'd map all 50 columns normally. So a regular query would be something like:



If you want just a subset of the columns (especially a small one), you can use this method (discussed in chapter 14 of the manual):



You'd need to provide a constructor for Foo with those two parameters in that order. Now, this assumes that calling programs know that they are getting half-baked Foo instances. I'm not totally cool with this so I tend to create another class for this purpose, but you can do what fits in your application. Note that nothing else will be populated on these Foo intances and associations won't lazy load, etc. They're ONLY what you select. Document what you're doing if you expose these guys to calling programs.