Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) with Sybase Data Entities in Java

You can use Hibernate to map object-oriented domain models to a traditional relational database. The tutorial below shows how to use the CData JDBC Driver for Sybase to generate an ORM of your Sybase repository with Hibernate.

Though Eclipse is the IDE of choice for this article, the CData JDBC Driver for Sybase works in any product that supports the Java Runtime Environment. In the Knowledge Base you will find tutorials to connect to Sybase data from IntelliJ IDEA and NetBeans.

Install Hibernate

Follow the steps below to install the Hibernate plug-in in Eclipse.

1. In Eclipse, navigate to Help -> Install New Software.
2. Enter "http://download.jboss.org/jbosstools/neon/stable/updates/" in the Work With box.
3. Enter "Hibernate" into the filter box.
4. Select Hibernate Tools.

Start A New Project

Follow the steps below to add the driver JARs in a new project.

1. Create a new project. Select Java Project as your project type and click Next. Enter a project name and click Finish.
2. Right-click the project and click Properties. Click Java Build Path and then open the Libraries tab.
3. Click Add External JARs to add the cdata.jdbc.sybase.jar library, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.

Add a Hibernate Configuration File

Follow the steps below to configure connection properties to Sybase data.

1. Right-click on the new project and select New -> Hibernate -> Hibernate Configuration File (cfg.xml).
2. Select src as the parent folder and click Next.

3. Input the following values:

   • Hibernate version:: 5.2
   • Database dialect: Derby
   • Driver class: cdata.jdbc.sybase.SybaseDriver

   • Connection URL: A JDBC URL, starting with jdbc:sybase: and followed by a semicolon-separated list of connection properties.

     To connect to Sybase, specify the following connection properties:

     • Server: Set this to the name or network address of the Sybase database instance.
     • Database: Set this to the name of the Sybase database running on the specified Server.

     Optionally, you can also secure your connections with TLS/SSL by setting UseSSL to true.

     Sybase supports several methods for authentication including Password and Kerberos.

     Connect Using Password Authentication

     Set the AuthScheme to Password and set the following connection properties to use Sybase authentication.

     • User: Set this to the username of the authenticating Sybase user.
     • Password: Set this to the username of the authenticating Sybase user.

     Connect using LDAP Authentication

     To connect with LDAP authentication, you will need to configure Sybase server-side to use the LDAP authentication mechanism.

     After configuring Sybase for LDAP, you can connect using the same credentials as Password authentication.

     Connect Using Kerberos Authentication

     To leverage Kerberos authentication, begin by enabling it setting AuthScheme to Kerberos.

   See the Using Kerberos section in the Help documentation for more information on using Kerberos authentication.

   You can find an example connection string below: Server=MyServer;Port=MyPort;User=SampleUser;Password=SamplePassword;Database=MyDB;Kerberos=true;KerberosKDC=MyKDC;KerberosRealm=MYREALM.COM;KerberosSPN=server-name

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Sybase JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.sybase.jar

   Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   A typical JDBC URL is below:

   jdbc:sybase:User=myuser;Password=mypassword;Server=localhost;Database=mydatabase;Charset=iso_1;

Connect Hibernate to Sybase Data

Follow the steps below to select the configuration you created in the previous step.

1. Switch to the Hibernate Configurations perspective: Window -> Open Perspective -> Hibernate.
2. Right-click on the Hibernate Configurations panel and click Add Configuration.
3. Set the Hibernate version to 5.2.
4. Click the Browse button and select the project.
5. For the Configuration file field, click Setup -> Use Existing and select the location of the hibernate.cfg.xml file (inside src folder in this demo).
6. In the Classpath tab, if there is nothing under User Entries, click Add External JARS and add the driver jar once more. Click OK once the configuration is done.
7. Expand the Database node of the newly created Hibernate configurations file.

Reverse Engineer Sybase Data

Follow the steps below to generate the reveng.xml configuration file. You will specify the tables you want to access as objects.

1. Switch back to the Package Explorer.
2. Right-click your project, select New -> Hibernate -> Hibernate Reverse Engineering File (reveng.xml). Click Next.
3. Select src as the parent folder and click Next.
4. In the Console configuration drop-down menu, select the Hibernate configuration file you created above and click Refresh.
5. Expand the node and choose the tables you want to reverse engineer. Click Finish when you are done.

Configure Hibernate to Run

Follow the steps below to generate plain old Java objects (POJO) for the Sybase tables.

1. From the menu bar, click Run -> Hibernate Code Generation -> Hibernate Code Generation Configurations.
2. In the Console configuration drop-down menu, select the Hibernate configuration file you created in the previous section. Click Browse by Output directory and select src.
3. Enable the Reverse Engineer from JDBC Connection checkbox. Click the Setup button, click Use Existing, and select the location of the hibernate.reveng.xml file (inside src folder in this demo).
4. In the Exporters tab, check Domain code (.java) and Hibernate XML Mappings (hbm.xml).
5. Click Run.

One or more POJOs are created based on the reverse-engineering setting in the previous step.

Insert Mapping Tags

For each mapping you have generated, you will need to create a mapping tag in hibernate.cfg.xml to point Hibernate to your mapping resource. Open hibernate.cfg.xml and insert the mapping tags as so:

Execute SQL

Using the entity you created from the last step, you can now search and modify Sybase data: import java.util.*; import org.hibernate.Session; import org.hibernate.cfg.Configuration; import org.hibernate.query.Query; public class App { public static void main(final String[] args) { Session session = new Configuration().configure().buildSessionFactory().openSession(); String SELECT = "FROM Products P WHERE ProductName = :ProductName"; Query q = session.createQuery(SELECT, Products.class); q.setParameter("ProductName","Konbu"); List<Products> resultList = (List<Products>) q.list(); for(Products s: resultList){ System.out.println(s.getId()); System.out.println(s.getProductName()); } } }