16.2. Named SQL queries

Named SQL queries can be defined in the mapping document and called in exactly the same way as a named HQL query. In this case, you do not need to call addEntity(). 
<sql-query name="persons">
    <return alias="person" class="eg.Person"/>
    SELECT person.NAME AS {person.name},
           person.AGE AS {person.age},
           person.SEX AS {person.sex}
    FROM PERSON person
    WHERE person.NAME LIKE :namePattern
</sql-query>
List people = sess.getNamedQuery("persons")
    .setString("namePattern", namePattern)
    .setMaxResults(50)
    .list();
The <return-join> element is use to join associations and the <load-collection> element is used to define queries which initialize collections, 
<sql-query name="personsWith">
    <return alias="person" class="eg.Person"/>
    <return-join alias="address" property="person.mailingAddress"/>
    SELECT person.NAME AS {person.name},
           person.AGE AS {person.age},
           person.SEX AS {person.sex},
           address.STREET AS {address.street},
           address.CITY AS {address.city},
           address.STATE AS {address.state},
           address.ZIP AS {address.zip}
    FROM PERSON person
    JOIN ADDRESS address
        ON person.ID = address.PERSON_ID AND address.TYPE='MAILING'
    WHERE person.NAME LIKE :namePattern
</sql-query>
A named SQL query may return a scalar value. You must declare the column alias and Hibernate type using the <return-scalar> element: 
<sql-query name="mySqlQuery">
    <return-scalar column="name" type="string"/>
    <return-scalar column="age" type="long"/>
    SELECT p.NAME AS name,
           p.AGE AS age,
    FROM PERSON p WHERE p.NAME LIKE 'Hiber%'
</sql-query>
You can externalize the resultset mapping information in a <resultset> element which will allow you to either reuse them across several named queries or through the setResultSetMapping() API. 
<resultset name="personAddress">
    <return alias="person" class="eg.Person"/>
    <return-join alias="address" property="person.mailingAddress"/>
</resultset>

<sql-query name="personsWith" resultset-ref="personAddress">
    SELECT person.NAME AS {person.name},
           person.AGE AS {person.age},
           person.SEX AS {person.sex},
           address.STREET AS {address.street},
           address.CITY AS {address.city},
           address.STATE AS {address.state},
           address.ZIP AS {address.zip}
    FROM PERSON person
    JOIN ADDRESS address
        ON person.ID = address.PERSON_ID AND address.TYPE='MAILING'
    WHERE person.NAME LIKE :namePattern
</sql-query>
You can, alternatively, use the resultset mapping information in your hbm files directly in java code. 
List cats = sess.createSQLQuery(
        "select {cat.*}, {kitten.*} from cats cat, cats kitten where kitten.mother = cat.id"
    )
    .setResultSetMapping("catAndKitten")
    .list();

16.2.1. Using return-property to explicitly specify column/alias names

You can explicitly tell Hibernate what column aliases to use with <return-property>, instead of using the {}-syntax to let Hibernate inject its own aliases.For example: 
<sql-query name="mySqlQuery">
    <return alias="person" class="eg.Person">
        <return-property name="name" column="myName"/>
        <return-property name="age" column="myAge"/>
        <return-property name="sex" column="mySex"/>
    </return>
    SELECT person.NAME AS myName,
           person.AGE AS myAge,
           person.SEX AS mySex,
    FROM PERSON person WHERE person.NAME LIKE :name
</sql-query>
<return-property> also works with multiple columns. This solves a limitation with the {}-syntax which cannot allow fine grained control of multi-column properties. 
<sql-query name="organizationCurrentEmployments">
    <return alias="emp" class="Employment">
        <return-property name="salary">
            <return-column name="VALUE"/>
            <return-column name="CURRENCY"/>
        </return-property>
        <return-property name="endDate" column="myEndDate"/>
    </return>
        SELECT EMPLOYEE AS {emp.employee}, EMPLOYER AS {emp.employer},
        STARTDATE AS {emp.startDate}, ENDDATE AS {emp.endDate},
        REGIONCODE as {emp.regionCode}, EID AS {emp.id}, VALUE, CURRENCY
        FROM EMPLOYMENT
        WHERE EMPLOYER = :id AND ENDDATE IS NULL
        ORDER BY STARTDATE ASC
</sql-query>
In this example <return-property> was used in combination with the {}-syntax for injection. This allows users to choose how they want to refer column and properties.
If your mapping has a discriminator you must use <return-discriminator> to specify the discriminator column.