Quick Start Guide¶

We know it can be hard to find the right help sometimes and search engines can be overwhelming, so we will try to put the most commonly asked for topics with some overview and links to more in-depth resources here for you to checkout, before wasting your time searching through our Documentation and Mailing Lists for help.

Runtime Dependencies¶

To use OpenJPA as a stand-alone Java component or with a lightweight non-Java EE framework, please refer to the following Build and Runtime Dependencies page for the supported levels of Java SE.

To use OpenJPA in a Java EE application server, please refer to the following Integration page for the known platforms that either include OpenJPA or have been tested with OpenJPA.

JPA Examples¶

OpenJPA provides some simple examples as part of the binary distribution on the Downloads page. The following Samples page provides quick start instructions on how to build and run these samples, along with pointers to other JPA samples from the Apache Geronimo project.

Enhancing Entities¶

The JPA spec requires some type of monitoring of Entity objects, but the spec does not define how to implement this monitoring. Some JPA providers dynamically generate new subclasses or proxy objects that front the user's Entity objects, while others use byte-code weaving technologies to enhance the actual Entity class objects. OpenJPA supports both enhancement methods, but strongly suggests using the byte-code weaving enhancement. The following Entity Enhancement page includes more details on both enhancement types, along with examples on how to setup build time enhancement in ANT, Maven and Eclipse environments.

Tools¶

OpenJPA provides several design-time and runtime tools, to perform such tasks as entity enhancement, schema mapping, generating metamodel classes and to help migrate from other JPA providers. Please checkout the Tools page for more details.

FAQ¶

Some common questions concerning the history, architecture and usage of OpenJPA can be found on the FAQ page.

Take the Red Pill¶

If you want to dive into the rabbit-hole (Hey, It's open source!), then checkout the Found a Bug page, which covers everything from posting questions to our mailing lists, to getting the source code and building it, and creating bug patches....