[Hibernate] descriptions on fields and tables using hibernate

[Mark V. <ma...@ve...>]

Hello all!

I'm new to this maling list and to hibernate so please bear with me (meanin=
g=20
you can flame me but not roast me...). And now to business...

I noticed that the "@Column" annotation does not have a "description"=20
attribute. This is most saddening since such a description could be used in=
=20
many ways. for example:

1. The description could be used for documenting the database structure usi=
ng=20
hibernate-tools.
2. The description could be pushed out to the database itself using "CREATE=
=20
table () description "This is a table to store customers" or the like. Some=
=20
database support this and will actually store the description for you which=
=20
makes it easier to use the database even if you don't have documentation fo=
r=20
it.
3. Many other ways of which I hadn't tought about (probably the most=20
interesting ones).

A few questions:
1. Is such a feature in the works ? Even if this feature will only be=20
supported on some of database engines the documentation could state so and =
it=20
would still be useful...
2. If a feature like this is not in the works would you like me to implemen=
t=20
it ? I'm a java developer and have had my own database persistency system=20
written in perl so I can handle a task like this. I would be able to do it=
=20
only for mysql tough because that is all I have now (maybe for postgresql=20
later on). Other people will need to implement it for other database driver=
s.
3. What about translations of such descriptions to other locales ? I need t=
o=20
think about that some more and your ideas are welcome...
4. I would assume that if hibernate annotations would support it then first=
=20
the change should go in through hibernate core, then support should be adde=
d=20
in the XML files, then at the annotation level and finally at the tools=20
level. Am I right ? BTW: I noticed that <hbm2doc> already creates html page=
s=20
with "description" on them but the descriptions are empty.

Cheers,
	Mark