Explain hibernate architecture.
Hibernate is a popular Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) framework for Java that simplifies database interactions by allowing developers to work with Java objects instead of SQL queries. The architecture of Hibernate is designed to facilitate the mapping of Java classes to database tables and to manage the data persistence lifecycle. Here’s an overview of the key components and layers of Hibernate architecture:
Configuration: This component is responsible for configuring Hibernate settings, such as database connection properties, mapping files, and other settings. It is typically done using a hibernate.cfg.xml
file or programmatically using the Configuration
class.
SessionFactory: This is a thread-safe object that is created once and used to create Session
instances. It is responsible for creating Session
objects and is configured using the Configuration
object. The SessionFactory
is a heavyweight object and should be created only once during the application lifecycle.
Session: A Session
is a lightweight, non-thread-safe object that represents a single unit of work with the database. It is used to perform CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations and to manage the persistence of objects. Each Session
is associated with a single database transaction.
Transaction: This component is used to manage database transactions. It allows developers to begin, commit, and rollback transactions. Transactions ensure data integrity and consistency.
Query: Hibernate provides a powerful query language called HQL (Hibernate Query Language) that allows developers to write database queries using object-oriented syntax. The Query
interface is used to create and execute HQL or native SQL queries.
Mapping Files: Hibernate uses XML mapping files or annotations to define the mapping between Java classes and database tables. These mappings specify how class properties correspond to table columns and how relationships between entities are managed.
Entity: An entity is a persistent object that represents a table in the database. Each instance of an entity corresponds to a row in the table. Entities are typically annotated with @Entity
and other JPA annotations to define their properties and relationships.
Session
to perform CRUD operations and encapsulate the database access logic.First-Level Cache: This is the session cache that is associated with a Session
. It is enabled by default and is used to store entities during the session's lifecycle.
Second-Level Cache: This is an optional cache that can be shared across sessions. It is used to improve performance by reducing the number of database queries. Hibernate supports various caching providers (e.g., Ehcache, Infinispan).
In summary, Hibernate's architecture is designed to provide a robust framework for managing database interactions in Java applications. It abstracts the complexities of JDBC and SQL, allowing developers to focus on their domain model while ensuring efficient data persistence and retrieval. The key components, such as SessionFactory
, Session
, and the mapping mechanism, work together to facilitate seamless integration between Java objects and relational databases.