Hibernate ORM and Database Dialects: Keyset Pagination Implementation

When implementing pagination in Java applications using Hibernate ORM, developers typically rely on setFirstResult() and setMaxResults(). While these methods provide a standardized API, the resulting execution pattern varies significantly based on the configured database dialect.

Offset-based pagination often leads to performance degradation as the offset increases because the database must scan and discard rows. To mitigate this, keyset pagination (the seek method) is preferred for large datasets by filtering on a unique, ordered column.

There is uncertainty regarding the optimal integration of the Criteria API to ensure the generated SQL consistently avoids full index scans without manually constructing complex predicate logic for every page request.

• Does Hibernate provide a native abstraction for keyset pagination that integrates directly with the Query API?
• How does the framework handle the transition from offset-based to keyset-based retrieval when the underlying dialect supports both?