Criteria is a simplified API for retrieving entities by composing Criterion objects. This is a very convenient approach for functionality like "search" screens where there is a variable number of conditions to be placed upon the result set.

The Session is a factory for Criteria. Criterion instances are usually obtained via the factory methods on Expression. eg.

 List cats = session.createCriteria(Cat.class)
     .add( Expression.like("name", "Iz%") )
     .add( Expression.gt( "weight", new Float(minWeight) ) )
     .addOrder( Order.asc("age") )
     .list();
 

You may navigate associations using createAlias() or createCriteria().

 List cats = session.createCriteria(Cat.class)
     .createCriteria("kittens")
         .add( Expression.like("name", "Iz%") )
     .list();
 

Hibernate's query language is much more general and should be used for non-simple cases.

This is an experimental API