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Difference between EntityManager and SessionFactory [message #726935]

Tue, 20 September 2011 01:54

Sridhar Baratam

Messages: 22
Registered: September 2011

Junior Member

Hello All:

I am new to JPA and often while reading documentation, I see different mechanisms to create queries. One with EntityManager and the other mechanism deals with Sessions. Which is the preferred mechanism?

Session example:
---------------
ReadAllQuery query = new ReadAllQuery(Employee.class);
query.setJPQLString("SELECT OBJECT(emp) FROM Employee emp");
...
List employees = (List)session.executeQuery(query);

Entity Manager example:
----------------------
factory = Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory(PERSISTENCE_UNIT_NAME);
EntityManager em = factory.createEntityManager();
// Read the existing entries and write to console
Query q = em.createQuery("select t from Todo t");
List<Todo> todoList = q.getResultList();
for (Todo todo : todoList) {
System.out.println(todo);
}

What is the preferred mechanism? Can someone throw somelight?

Thanks
Sridhar

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Re: Difference between EntityManager and SessionFactory [message #728085 is a reply to message #726935]

Thu, 22 September 2011 14:06

James Sutherland

Messages: 1939
Registered: July 2009
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Senior Member

JPA defines the EntityManager interface and it should be used with JPA whenever possible.

The Session API is EclipseLink's native API that existed pre-JPA.

Using JPA is recommend, as it is the standard. If required, you can still access the EclipseLink Session from the JPA EntityManager to access advanced functionality.

James : Wiki : Book : Blog : Twitter

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