[hibernate-issues] [Hibernate-JIRA] Commented: (HHH-3455) Component polymorphism (<subclass> within <component>)

Component polymorphism (<subclass> within <component>) ------------------------------------------------------ Key: HHH-3455 URL: http://opensource.atlassian.com/projects/hibernate/browse/HHH-3455 Project: Hibernate Core Issue Type: Improvement Components: core Reporter: Jasper Blues The following feature request occurs on the Hibernate forums from time to time - it would be especially useful in mapping complex legacy schemas: <class name="Critter"> <component name="breathingStrategy" class="BreathingStrategy"> <discriminator column="BREATHING_STRATEGY" type="integer" /> <subclass name="Lungs" discriminator-value="0" > <set name="alveoli"> <key column="CRITTER_ID" /> <one-to-many class="Alveolus" /> </set> </subclass> <subclass name="Gills" discriminator-value="1" > <set name="alveoli"> <key column="CRITTER_ID" /> <one-to-many class="Gill" /> </set> </subclass> </component> </class> Will a patch that implements this feature be accepted? What do you think if there was an option to inherit a discriminator from the owning entity? How about some convention over configuration? By default the discriminator from the owning entity is inherited, unless one is supplied at the component level. Would an equivalent annotation mapping be required?