We are using natural keys in our data model and I was wondering what are healthy best practices? What makes our case a little unique is that we have other entity objects that share common columns in the primary key, plus an additional column or two.

If the child object has reference to its parent, then using the foreign generator would inherit the parents primary key values.

Example:

<id name="key" type="somepackage.Key" >
<column name="column1_id" />
<column name="column1_id" />
<generator class="foreign" >
<param name="property">parent</param>
</generator>
</id>


Thank you,

Generally speaking, if you have influence on your data model, use surrogate keys, which certainly is a best practice.

Best regards
Sven

Good (and there are quite a few restrictions on that) natural keys are fine, even as primary keys. Composite primary keys should be avoided if no good single-column candidate key exists and a surrogate primary key should be used.

In this case we have no choice and to have the database remodeled is not an option. I myself prefer surrogate keys for many reasons. With that being said, what are some good coding standards, designs, etc. when using composite keys? E.g., use a Composite key object, etc

Are there really any good tips related to this subject besides that? I haven’t found anything worth while on the forum.