I was wondering if it is possible to map a Java List to individual columns in a database table.

For example, a Java bean has an 'emails' property as a List, but the database table only has single 'email' and 'alt_email' fields.

Is there a way to do this?

I've looked a bit into using a Custom value type, and this might be a feasible option, but I would rather handle everything within the mapping file if possible.

Thanks.

Take a look at the "dynamic-component" element, it should do exactly what you want. It works basically exactly like a component, with the property being of Map type. Take a look at http://www.hibernate.org/hib_docs/reference/html/or-mapping.html#or-mapping-s1-10 and experiment some.

Thanks a lot, that looks interesting.

However, on the JavaBean side there are no real distinctions between the items in the List, apart from there order. Therefore, would it be appropriate to leave the public JavaBean property as a List, but have a private Map property using Integers as keys?

Yes, if you really just have a List, mapping a private Map property which somehow delegates to the List is currently the only solution I can think of.

Great.

Yeah, the system is built to work with different backend configurations. So in some integrations there might be a true one-to-many relationships while on others there might only be individual named fields.

Thanks again for the help.