Difference between Criteria API and HQL Queries?

[Samanthi perera]

what is the different between Criteria Query and HQL Query ?

[Christian Dillinger]

It's explained in the Hibernate docu which should be read before building a real life application...

HQL is a little bit like SQL. Some kind of textual representation of your query. Criteria can be used in a more OO- and dynamic way.

[Cameron Wallace McKenzie]

HQL is a query language, not totally dissimilar from SQL.

String hql = "SELECT loginName from User";

Quick Tutorial on HQL

The Criteria API allows you to build database queries in an object oriented manner using your domain model.

User user = new User();
  user.setEmailAddress(".com");
  Example example = Example.create(user);
  example.enableLike(MatchMode.END);
  Session session = HibernateUtil.beginTransaction();
  Criteria criteria = session.createCriteria(User.class);
  criteria.add(example);  List results = criteria.list();
  for (int i = 0; i<results.size(); i++) {
    System.out.println(results.get(i).toString());
  }
  HibernateUtil.commitTransaction();    

Creating Queries using the Hibernate Criteria API Tutorial

-Cameron McKenzie