I was wondering if it would be possible to make more information available in the ClassMetadata class, such as the property's column length, or all the columns if more than one associated with a property. This way, the app could validate the length of a string before it was submitted to the database.

In a similar vein, it would be nice if we could define our own metadata that could be accessed through the ClassMetadata too. Then, for example, you could add a regular expression for a property, which could be used on a Web page to do client-side Javascript validation.

Obviously this is a pretty specific suggestion, but a flexible metadata api would allow users to extend the mapping file to suit their purposes.

Just a thought.

Digby

Look at the meta attribute in the reference doco. It does precisely what you want.

In fact, we use it (among other things) for exactly what you are talking about, validating string lengths before putting them in the DB.

This topic provides a little more info: http://forum.hibernate.org/viewtopic.ph ... light=meta

You're right. That's exactly what I want.

I was getting misled down the Classmetadata route, rather than the PersistentClass route.

There must be something Hibernate doesn't do!! ;-)

I haven't been able to make coffee with it...