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Hibernate version:
3.0rc1

I have noticed that the only way to get results back from a query using the Criteria is to do a list(). We are trying to get some an improvement in performance of our queries and hence looking at the 2nd level cahce. In our application, since all inserts are being done through hibernate, these will be inserted into the 2nd level cache. The only reason why I am using the criteria api is to build up queries programmatically.

Is there a way that I can take advantage of the 2nd level cache using criteria in the same way that Query.iterate() does?

Is there any way to get the HQL string from the criteria object?

No, not possible

Is there any technical issues as to why criteria does not allow iterate?