Introduction to XML link persistence in hibernate 3

Thanks to the XML persistence feature recently released in hibernate 3, Java developers now have a framework component, which is an easy-to-implement object relationship (OR) XML persistence provides an efficient and consistent method.

The ease of use, high performance, object link persistence, and other advanced features of hibernate bring great surprises to the IT industry.

The latest version of hibernate (released on March 29,) brings an important new feature to the product API: XML persistence. With hibernate 3, Java application developers can easily merge XML documents into relational databases.

This new feature should clearly inform existing hibernate developers, because it also follows the same consistency method of pojo (pure old Java object) and requires the least knowledge to be learned. The advantages of XML persistence should also be introduced to new users. This article describes the persistence method of hibernate 3.

Why is XML persistence important?

Most large commercial databases support some form of local XML persistence. XML persistence is a relatively new mechanism-even for large vendors, standards in this field are constantly emerging. The result is that to integrate the ubiquitous relational persistence mechanism with the increasing XML solutions, architects must rely on vendor-specific features or implement custom XML persistence framework components. Neither of these two choices is too attractive. The vendor-specific features are not universal, because lock-in may occur, and the implementation of customized framework components may consume a lot of time and money, making the code difficult to maintain.

Hibernate XML persistence is a natural solution for or (Object relationship) persistence. It can move across all relational platforms supported by hibernate (such as virtual or real relational platforms, allows free migration of objects, XML-based applications, and integration solutions without worrying about lower-level relational implementation methods.

Detailed information about the architecture

Hibernate is a framework component with a good architecture. It seamlessly utilizes the local environment and does not require any special interference or installation operations. To switch from a database to another database, you usually only need to change the driver and configure hibernate (online configuration settings) to use another database language.

Hibernate uses the dom4j framework component for XML analysis and maintenance. To fully utilize the XML features of hibernate, you must be familiar with dom4j. In general, you will find that dom4j is easier to use than JAXP provided by Java or XML analyzer compatible with JAXP. It requires us to learn less about the relevant knowledge, and you can use hibernate XML persistence efficiently with the least dom4j knowledge.