Within Hibernate 2, I am attempting to implement the Configuration and Mappings object
in a Java class so that I don't use hibernate.cfg.xml and Object.hbm.xml
files. I have succeeded with hibernate.cfg.xml:

//***************************************************************************************

import org.hibernate.cfg.*;
import org.hibernate.util.*;

Configuration configuration = new Configuration();
Properties properties = new Properties();
properties.setProperty("hibernate.connection.driver_class","com.mysql.jdbc.Driver");
properties.setProperty("hibernate.connection.url","jdbc:mysql://localhost/hibernatetutorial");
properties.setProperty("hibernate.connection.username","root");
properties.setProperty("hibernate.connection.password","password");
properties.setProperty("hibernate.connection.pool_size","10");
properties.setProperty("show_sql","true");
properties.setProperty("dialect","org.hibernate.dialect.MySQLDialect");
properties.setProperty("hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto","update");
configuration.addProperties(properties);

//...suspected object mapping code
Mappings mappings = configuration.createMappings();
HibernateObjectMapping object = new HibernateObjectMapping();
object.setMappingsObject();
Mappings = object.getMappingsObject();
object.buildMappings();
//...

//....hbm.xml referencing code.
SessionFactory factory = configuration.configure().buildSessionFactory();
Session session = factory.getCurrentSession();
Object object = (Object)session.load(Object.class,1);
//...

// hibernate away...
session.save(object);
factory.close();
//***************************************************************************************

but am having trouble with Object.hbm.xml, upon the Mappings Object.
I want the contents for these xml files in memory from Java code, not the XML files.
Ie. I DO want to hard configuration and mappings in Java code, as per my style above.
I know about what the tutorial says at

http://docs.jboss.org/hibernate/stable/ ... asses.html

and while the javadoc is some help
however, I still struggle to see through this, one xml tag/java code line at a time.
Could someone kindly advise/point me in the right direction
for programming of an Object.hbm.xml in java code?
In other terms, how do I successfully relate in what
one sees, in, say:

//*********************************************************88
- <hibernate-mapping>
- <class name="events.Person" table="PERSON">
- <id name="id" column="PERSON_ID">
<generator class="native" />
</id>
<property name="age" />
<property name="firstname" />
<property name="lastname" />
</class>
</hibernate-mapping>
//*********************************************************88

by programming with the Mappings class, and any other(s)?
[I do NOT want to know how to convert Object.hbm.xml to a Pojo Class,
rather I want to convert the mapping instructions themselves.]

-Is it true that using jdk 5 and up annotations hibernate
removes the need for *.hbm.xml?

-If so, does my Configuration/properties approach still remain valid for hibernate
with annotations? How do I specify things like

<session-factory>
<mapping package = "Name"/>
<mapping class = "Fred"/>
<session-factory>

using Java programming?