I know the EJB 3.0 spec supports annotations, but alternatively also supports old fashioned xml files for configuration.

The site doc says that Hibernate Annotations are required to use Hibernate EntityManager - is that definitely true? In other words, could you use EntityManager and use xml files for configuration instead of annotations as supported in the EJB 3 spec? (I know it is doc'd that you could can use Hibernate Annotations without EntityManager, but is the reverse true?)

Also, is Java 5 still required to use Hibernate EntityManager if annotations are not used?

Thanks in advance,
Matt

You probably can use only XML files to configure an EMF and hence use an EM without annotated classes. But what's the point in doing that? If you are not going to use the best feature of EJB3 persistence, why not simply use Hibernate API all the way? JDK5 is required in all cases, except for pure Hibernate.

Thanks for the response.

We are currently at JRE 1.4.2 - 5 is not yet an option for us yet. I think EJB 3 will be strategic for us when our app server does support JRE 5 - in the meantime, I am trying to determine a good tactical solution for people that want to build something today and still be aligned as much as possible with the strategic direction.

Straight Hibernate is of course an option today that we use, however I am trying to see if there is anything we can do now to better align with EJB 3.0 (such as somehow coding to the EJB 3 persistence API in the 1.4.2 world) so that there will be fewer code changes for people down the road. Sounds like beyond using pure Hibernate, there are not any options.

Thanks,
Matt