What's the best way to persist data in a Java Desktop Application?

Question

I have a large tree of Java Objects in my Desktop Application and am trying to decide on the best way of persisting them as a file to the file system.

Some thoughts I\'v

Answer 1

In my experience, you're probably better off using an embedded database. SQL, while less than perfect, is usually much easier than designing a file format that performs well and is reliable.

I haven't used JavaDB, but I've had good luck with H2 and SQLite. SQLite is a C library which means a little more work in terms of deployment. However, it has the benefit of storing the entire database in a single, cross-platform library. Basically, it is a pre-packaged, generic file format. SQLite has been so useful that I've even started using it instead of text files in scripts.

Be careful using Hibernate if you're working with a small persistence problem. It adds a lot of complexity and library overhead. Hibernate is really nice if you're working with a large number of tables, but it will probably be cumbersome if you only need a few tables.