Hibernate hbm2ddl.auto schema generation - options & uses

In this text, we are going to know how the Hibernate hbm2ddl. auto schema generation tool works, and when it’s appropriate to use it.

Hibernate schema generation strategies:-

When working with JPA and Hibernate, you have two options to manage the underlying database schema:

• You can encapsulate schema changes in migration scripts and use a tool, like Flyway, to apply the migration scripts upon starting the application.
• You can generate or update the database schema from the JPA and Hibernate entity mappings using the hbm2ddl.auto tool.

Even as the previous alternative is the satisfactory approach when it comes to applying the database schema migrations, the latter approach can also be useful for some very particular use instances.

For instance, the hibernate middle integration checks make heavy use of the hbm2ddl.auto tool to manage the underlying database schema. Since integration tests ought to run in isolation, each integration check defines its very own set of JPA and hibernate entities, which, in flip, are mapped to a database schema.

To keep away from developing database scripts for all supported relational databases, and thinking about which are over 10k integration assessments, the hbm2ddl.auto the device permits the hibernate venture to generate the DDL scripts mechanically. This is extraordinarily convenient for the hibernate improvement group because it lets them to recognition at the test functionality.

Hibernate hbm2ddl.auto schema generation options:-

The hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto-configuration property is used to customize the Hibernate database schema generation process, and it can take the following values:

• none – This option disables the hbm2ddl.auto tool, so Hibernate is not going to take any action for managing the underlying database schema.
• create-only – This option instructs Hibernate to generate the database schema from the entity model.
• drop – This option instructs Hibernate to drop the database schema using the entity model as a reference for the DDL DROP statements.
• create – This option instructs Hibernate to drop the database schema and recreate it afterward using the entity model as a reference.
• create-drop – This option instructs Hibernate to drop the database schema and recreate it afterward using the entity model as a reference. And, upon closing the JPA EntityManagerFactory or the Hibernate SessionFactory, the database schema will be dropped again.
• validate – This option instructs Hibernate to validate the underlying database schema against the entity mappings.
• update – This option instructs Hibernate to update the database schema by comparing the existing schema with the entity mappings and generating the appropriate schema migration scripts.

Which Hibernate hbm2ddl.auto options to use:-

In case you need to create the schema migration scripts manually, then you ought to no longer set the hibernate.Hbm2ddl.Automobile-configuration belongings considering none is the default schema era method.

In case you are the use of a schema migration tool, like Flyway, and need to generate the preliminary migration script from the JPA and hibernate entities, you then ought to use the create-most effective and drop options and log the auto-generated sq. Statements to extract the DDL statements.

The create-and-create-drop options make sense for the hibernate-core integration exams but are not appropriate for an end-user assignment due to the fact you must use the identical schema migration scripts you are the usage of for the production system to generate the database schema needed for going for walks the mixing exams.

The update option is to be avoided as you are better off handling the schema migrations with a tool like Flyway.

The validate option could be useful whilst strolling integration checks to ensure that the underlying schema is compatible with the JPA entity mappings. However, when you have integration tests protecting all read and write data access paths, you then shouldn’t need the validate choice in any respect.

The JPA schema generation options:-

The Hibernate-specific hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto configuration has been standardized by JPA via the following two settings:

• javax.persistence.schema-generation.database.action
• javax.persistence.schema-generation.scripts.action

The javax.persistence.schema-generation.database.action configuration tells Hibernate whether to apply the schema migration against the underlying database upon bootstrapping the EntityManagerFactory.

The javax.Endurance.Schema-technology.Scripts.Action configuration tells hibernate whether or not to generate the schema migration DDL statements to an outside report. The created DDL statements are written to the record given by way of the javax.Patience.Schema-generation.Scripts.Create-target configuration property whilst the drop DDL statements are written to the file given by using the javax.Persistence.Schema-generation.Scripts.Drop-goal configuration assets.

The JPA javax.persistence.schema-generation.database.action and javax.persistence.schema-generation.scripts.action configuration property can take the following values:

• none – This is the default option, and it disables the schema generation tool.
• create – This option instructs Hibernate to generate the database schema from the entity model. It’s equivalent to the create-only hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto strategy.
• drop – This option is equivalent to the drop hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto strategy.
• drop-and-create – This option instructs Hibernate to drop the database schema and recreate it afterward using the entity model as a reference. It’s equivalent to the create hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto strategy.

As you can see, there’s no JPA equivalent for the create-drop, validate, and update hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto strategies.

Conclusion:-

First of all, the hbm2ddl.auto schema generation tool is very useful for the Hibernate project because it allows creating integration tests that can run on any of the supported relation database systems.

Although your project should use a tool like Flyway to manage the schema migration scripts, you can nonetheless use hbm2ddl.auto to generate both the preliminary script or maybe migration scripts, with the remark that you must manually assess them and perhaps decorate them according to your utility necessities.