Torque does code-gen as well.  This was before any fancy tools so we basically just had hand generated DDL.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;db.apache.org&#x2F;torque&#x2F;torque-4.0&#x2F;documentation&#x2F;orm-reference&#x2F;running-the-generator.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;db.apache.org&#x2F;torque&#x2F;torque-4.0&#x2F;documentation&#x2F;orm-re...</a><p>Regen, then fix compile issues.  Thats how I used it a long long (10 years?) time ago.<p>jOOQ DSL is nice, this is just as readable(ABC is a generated class)<p><pre><code>  Criteria crit = new Criteria()
    .where(ABC.A, 1, Criteria.LESS_THAN)
    .and(ABC.B, 2, Criteria.GREATER_THAN)
    .or(ABC.A, 5, Criteria.GREATER_THAN);
</code></pre>
Working with XML, not the nicest thing, i do agree, but also not the worst thing.<p>Not a flag-bearer in any way, but I just wanted to point out that if code-gen db access is your thing, there are also other tools to consider.  It most certainly had its warts.  Like issues handling complicated joins.  Or more seriously, whos maintaining it.  Its been a long time since i&#x27;ve look at it with any seriousness, not sure if they have fixed them or not.<p>edit: formatting