Hello hibernate bunch, I have the dubious task of migrating a large web app with a complicated business model (bio-high-tech/animal science). I have a working framework with Wicket and hibernate and I am able to return all the records from a couple of tables (as expected). I am using appropriately created Object Class files (Java) using the @-sign annotations. I am guessing at the use of some of the annotations. My Eclipse IDE shows a mixed bag in the autocomplete for the annotations. Here is a list of my concerns:

* The Eclipse autocomplete shows annotations for both JPA and hibernate. Somewhat confusing. I cannot find doco on JPA except for Sun JavaDoc. I have not seen what hibernate has to offer yet.
* I noticed hibernate is adding columns to one of my tables as part of what looks like a hibernate Join to return the data as prescribed from the Object classes and the annotations. It is disturbing that hibernate is writing into my existing tables. Is this normal hibernate behaviour to take over existing tables as needed? Can I use hibernate such that if new columns are needed that a view or a new table can be created such that my original schema is untouched?
* My current schema is heavily constrained with the use of foreign keys. It appears hibernate will work well with foreign keys but at the expense of adding out join type extra columns to one or more of my existing tables. How can I make hibernate work as if I was not using ORM but instead the usual way of creating DAOs and using JDBC? I am not expecting complete answers and treatises. I just want some guidance as where I can go with hibernate and where I cannot.

I'm new to developing web applications and I am attempting a similar task to what you've already accomplished. I understand Wicket and I understand Hibernate, but I have not yet figured out how to implement a persistence layer such as Hibernate in a Wicket application. I know how to annotate my objects or write a metadata file with that information, but I need help on what sorts of other descriptor files I need, and how to package the whole thing so I can deploy it as a web application on a web server (I am using Glassfish).

This may be the wrong forum to ask, but I figured either the poster or someone else may be able to help me out. What sort of persistence java classes do I need to create? How do I manage a Hibernate Session from within a Wicket framework - do I write in the Session/Transaction information into my HomePage.java class, Application.java class, or what?

I'm a novice, so any input would be greatly appreciated.