What approaches and tools do you use for forming queries when working with Hibernate?

When working with Hibernate to formulate queries, the following approaches and tools are usually used:

1. HQL (Hibernate Query Language) — an object-oriented query language similar to SQL but works with entities and their properties.

2. Criteria API — a programmatic API for building queries dynamically using objects and methods, which is convenient for complex conditions and filters.

3. Native SQL — direct use of SQL queries when you need to execute specific or optimized queries that are difficult to express through HQL or Criteria.

4. JPQL (Java Persistence Query Language) — similar to HQL, used in JPA, on which Hibernate is based.

Example of using Criteria API:

CriteriaBuilder cb = session.getCriteriaBuilder();
CriteriaQuery<User> cq = cb.createQuery(User.class);
Root<User> root = cq.from(User.class);
cq.select(root).where(cb.equal(root.get("status"), "ACTIVE"));
List<User> activeUsers = session.createQuery(cq).getResultList();

The choice of approach depends on the task: for simple queries, HQL is often used; for dynamic queries — Criteria API; for complex optimizations — Native SQL.