In Hibernate UserType Example using Spring Data JPA we will see how Hibernate allows us to implement and use custom types when built-in types do not satisfy an application’s requirements, or when we want to change the default behavior of a built-in type. As you will see, you can easily implement a custom-type class and then use it in the same way as a built-in one.
Hibernate provides an abstraction of database SQL types to prevent an application from getting mapped to underlying actual database column types. This allow us to develop an application without thinking about the target database column types that the target database supports and we easily develop our application and get involved with mapping Java types to Hibernate types. The database dialect which is a part of Hibernate responsible for mapping Java types to target database column types. If we write HQSL (hibernate query language) then we can easily switch to different database by changing the dialect without changing the application code.
For most of the mappings, Hibernate’s built-in types are enough but, in some situations, you may need to define a custom type. These situations generally happen when we want Hibernate to treat basic Java types or persistent classes differently than Hibernate normally treats them.
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