Question

If my object has a

protected List<String> fileNote;

What is the right way to define that relationship in an orm.xml?

(note: I do not want to use annotations.)

Answer 1

Most simple, if you are satisfied with defaults is:

<element-collection name="fileNote"/>

If more customization is needed, you can go further:

<element-collection name="fileNote" fetch="EAGER" access="FIELD/>
  <column name="some_name_for_column_that_holds_note" />
  <collection-table name="descriptive_name_for_table">
    <join-column name="some_id" />
  </collection-table>
</element-collection/>