Update: I tested the approach suggested below and I couldn't get it working for this particular scenario, Hibernate expects you to select columns for all attributes while we definitely don't want the id. However, using a ResultTransformer did work:

16.1.5. Returning non-managed entities

It is possible to apply a ResultTransformer to native SQL queries, allowing it to return non-managed entities.

sess.createSQLQuery("SELECT NAME, BIRTHDATE FROM CATS")
        .setResultTransformer(Transformers.aliasToBean(CatDTO.class))

This query specified:

• the SQL query string
• a result transformer

The above query will return a list of CatDTO which has been instantiated and injected the values of NAME and BIRTHNAME into its corresponding properties or fields.

The documentation mentions returning non-managed entities but it also work with an entity (there is no reason it wouldn't work) and I could persist the transient entity successfully.

See also

• Hibernate 3.2: Transformers for HQL and SQL

I'm leaving the initial answer for clarity sake.

Maybe the following will help:

16.1.2. Entity queries

The above queries were all about returning scalar values, basically returning the "raw" values from the resultset. The following shows how to get entity objects from a native sql query via addEntity().

sess.createSQLQuery("SELECT * FROM CATS").addEntity(Cat.class);
sess.createSQLQuery("SELECT ID, NAME, BIRTHDATE FROM CATS").addEntity(Cat.class);

This query specified:

• the SQL query string
• the entity returned by the query

Assuming that Cat is mapped as a class with the columns ID, NAME and BIRTHDATE the above queries will both return a List where each element is a Cat entity.

If the entity is mapped with a many-to-one to another entity it is required to also return this when performing the native query, otherwise a database specific "column not found" error will occur. The additional columns will automatically be returned when using the * notation, but we prefer to be explicit as in the following example for a many-to-one to a Dog:

sess.createSQLQuery("SELECT ID, NAME, BIRTHDATE, DOG_ID FROM CATS").addEntity(Cat.class);

This will allow cat.getDog() to function properly.

But I don't think you should set the ID if you want to save it and want Hibernate to perform an insert.