Hibernate version: 2.1.7

I know that this may be very primitive. But I could not find help in the documentation.

For mapping tags such as id, property, etc., one of the attributes is access.

For example:
<property
name="propertyName" (1)
column="column_name" (2)
Hibernate 2.1.6 34
type="typename" (3)
update="true|false" (4)
insert="true|false" (4)
formula="arbitrary SQL expression" (5)
access="field|property|ClassName" (6)
/>


I have following questions on this tag attribute:

Q1. If I set access="field", my guess is that the value is retrieved from the database field. Similarly, if it is set to "property", then hibernate retrieves the value from the class property. Is my understanding correct?

Q2. What is access="ClassName" used for?

Q3. As a designer, when should I use "field", "property", or "ClassName"? How does it impact my code?

Any input in this regard is highly appreciated.

Thanks,

well if you weren't able to find help in the documentation about access let me help you ...

take a look at the reference-doc on page 35 ... end of chapter 5.1.9 - property.

gtx
curio

access describes how hibernate acesses the data in your persistent classes. It has nothing to do with the DB.


If set to

1. field: H assumes that your class has a variable with the given name. H accesses it via reflection no matter what visibility it has.
2. property: H assumes that your class has a get and set method with the given name. H accesses this methods to get/set the values of the persistent classes.
3. ClassName: H useses the class name you specify to access the property. The class must implement the interface PropertyAccessor.

HTH
Ernst

double shot :-)

Thanks to both of you. I was confused with the term field and property.

As in most cases we will have accessors and mutators for the class attributes, it is most appropriate to use "property" as the access strategy.

Thanks again.